Tuesday marked for the first night of the second round of the Democratic presidential debate which was held in Detroit, Michigan. The night was filled with highlight moments from Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who were joined onstage by former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg and author Marianne Williamson, among others.
Here are five of the best moments from Tuesday night's Democratic debate.
1. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called out moderate Democrats for using "Republican talking points."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren jumped into the opening question surrounding health care after it sparked a debate between Sanders and former Rep. John Delaney.
Delaney, attempting to paint the Medicare-for-All plans put forward by Sanders and Warren as extreme, was cut off by Warren, who said Delaney was using what she called "Republican talking points."
'We should stop using Republican talking points' — Watch @ewarren shut down this attack on Medicare for All #DemDebate
pic.twitter.com/dbPmKuteNa— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 31, 2019
2. Sen. Bernie Sanders let Rep. Tim Ryan know that he "wrote the damn bill".
The debate surrounding health care turned into a talk about union members and their chances of keeping their health insurance, after comments by Ohio Rep.Tim Ryan insinuated that Sanders' plan would take it away. Sen.Bernie Sanders, in his rebuttal, noted that his health care plan would actually be more comprehensive, before Ryan interrupted him, saying Sanders couldn't know that for sure.
Sanders' snarky clapback to Ryan sparked some energy into the crowd, as he pointed out exactly why he knew his plan would work.
"I wrote the damn bill," Sanders responded.
“You don’t know that,” Rep. Tim Ryan tells Sen. Bernie Sanders when Sanders says “Medicare For All” will provide union members with better health coverage.
Sanders responds: “I do know that — I wrote the damn bill.” https://t.co/eLVyIAvatR
#DemDebate
pic.twitter.com/sjDMx6dnG5— CNN (@CNN) July 31, 2019
Me when Bernie Sanders said "i wrote the damn bill " #DemDebate
pic.twitter.com/PiEKmeCRZe— naomii???? (@naomiibouyerr) July 31, 2019
3. Marianne Williamson offered a concrete plan for reparations.
While many candidates have supported the call for a commission to study the best way to go forward with reparations for American descendants of slavery, Williamson called for $200-500 billion in payments to the descendants of slavery and confidently defended the math on the payments by stating it would be more politically feasible than the trillions that the original promise of 40 acres and a mule would calculate out to today.
@marwilliamson on reparations: “Well, actually, SIR, if you did the math—“ #DemDebate
pic.twitter.com/qfU6PEokKw— Rachelle Henderson (@rachenderson) July 31, 2019
Marianne Williams came through with the receipts and did the math on 40 acres and a mule and says that Black people are technically owned 200-500 billion dollars at least in #reparations. #DemDebate
— Aisha C Moodie-Mills (@AishaMoodMills) July 31, 2019
Yesss Marianne is going to run me my money #Reparations
#DemDebates
pic.twitter.com/fUBcJx9V0E— Laura Martin (@LauraKMM) July 31, 2019
4. Candidates were continually cut off by the moderators.
CNN's moderators Jake Tapper, Don Lemon and Dana Bash were very strict with their time limits on the candidates and quickly jumped in as one of their answers crossed the 30-second mark.
Candidate: I'd like to respond on a serious ish–
Jake Tapper: WE'RE OUT OF TIME#DemDebate— Oliver Willis (@owillis) July 31, 2019
Many viewers began to see the theme from early on in the debate, with Jake Tapper reaching Twitter's trending list with complaints about the quick interjections.
Jake Tapper is not being a moderator.
He’s being a guy who wants to prove certain points that he himself has in mind.#DemDebate
— Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) July 31, 2019
Jake Tapper: “Senator Sanders, if Governor Hickenlooper said you were unelectable, you’d want me to tell you, right?” pic.twitter.com/FE3DVKdoeR
— Ira thee Third (@ira) July 31, 2019
CNN will be hosting the second night of debates Wednesday night, with Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, former Vice President Joe Biden, entrepreneur Andrew Yang and others in attendance. The amount of qualified candidates is bound to shrink, as the polling qualifications get more stringent going into September's debate.
