Sophia Carson is a freshman public relations major who writes "Brutally Honest” for The Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Sophia at secarson@bsu.edu

The 2020 presidential race is already underway, with the third Democrat debate Thursday night. This was the first time all 10 candidates were on the same stage, and this was something many people, including myself, were happy to see. Having two different nights for all the candidates was exhausting and confusing.

Going in, I hoped to hear more about gun control regulations and medicare. While immediately off the bat, Medicare was brought up, gun control was only briefly mentioned.

Not only that, all I felt I got out of last nights’ debate was a lot pettiness.

The debate started out with each candidate giving an opening welcome, and of course, seven out of the 10 candidates mentioned President Donald Trump. At this point, it’s a string left of a blanket. We should all know that Trump needs to be out of office by now, it would be useful if the candidates wouldn’t speak of him while answering every question.  

I would like to personally thank Pete Buttigieg, Andrew Yang and Elizabeth Warren for not mentioning Trump in their openings as the other seven candidates did.

The first question right off the bat boiled the feud between Joe Biden, Warren and Bernie Sanders about Medicare. The question was directed at Biden, and I will admit it was a bit professional at the beginning, but then he spiraled into the pettiness, saying “How are we going to pay for it? I want to hear tonight how that’s [going] to happen… [Warren] has not indicated how she’s to pay for it, and [Sanders] has said how he’s going to pay for it, but it only gets him halfway there.” 

Sanders got a little risky when it came his turn to talk. While passionately speaking about the pharmaceutical companies and taxes ripping off lower-income families, Sanders dropped a hard “damn” and followed it by an “if I may say so.” How rebellious.  

Still on the topic of Medicare, Julián Castro called out Biden for leaving 10 million people uncovered for health insurance. Not only did he call Biden out for denying a fact check of his words, he also asked him “Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?” after Biden tried to claim that people would not have to buy into his private insurance plan. But he did, in fact, say “The largest out of pocket payment you’ll pay is $1,000.”

Castro may come across to some as vindictive, but in his defense, he was interrupted by the former vice president, so who could really blame him if his response came out as what some may consider “aggressive.”

Although it was Yang’s turn to talk on Medicare, Buttigieg interrupted with some words of wisdom after Castro’s steaming clap back: “This is why presidential debates are becoming unwatchable, this reminds everybody of what they can’t stand about Washington.” Beautifully said, Buttigieg, beautifully said. 

During closing statements, protests broke out as Biden began talking about his most professional setback, which he really denied having one but that’s besides the point. The few began chanting, starting off with “We are DACA recipients, our lives are at risk.” This outburst visibly threw Biden off his game for a hot second. 

Out of all the closing statements, a quote from Cory Booker’s seemed to be the most likely to be hanging up in a suburban mom’s kitchen, but that’s what makes it the most endearing: “If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.”

ABC NEWS Special Correspondent, Matthew Dowd, said during the debate he believed this debate was rather “unformed;” the top candidate is still at the top and the bottom one still at the bottom. 

All in all, this debate was aggressive. Castro came off very combative in his clapback at Biden while talking about Medicare, and while Warren is already very popular among voters and in the party, I feel as if she gave herself a boost up in this debate by not engaging in those arguments the entire time. 

I felt at some points I was watching children fighting over a toy. The way in which they explained their opinions on topics, not the way they’d fix it, came off immature and I left not really knowing what they were going to do about anything. 

With that being said, the 10 candidates I watched last night, even with their flaws, are still worlds better to me than the president they were unable to keep from talking about.

In future debates, I want to hear about where these candidates are going to get the money to fund these ambitious projects they are blabbering about. How are you going to afford Medicare without raising taxes that impact lower-income families who need it most? They mention all of their plans, all of the beautiful ways they want to fix this country, but I feel are forgetting the massive amount of debt we are in. How are we going to do all these things with that over our heads?

This debate really showed us whose claws are out and whose are dipped into the catnip a bit too much. Hopefully we’ll get more policy talk in the future instead of seeing who can scream louder.

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