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4 FRONTLINE Documentaries to Watch on Tonight’s Presidential Debate Topics

Trump and Biden: Watch 4 FRONTLINE documentaries before tonight's first presidential debate
Gain context on topics slated for tonight’s first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden via four FRONTLINE documentaries. (Leah Millis/REUTERS; Mario Tama/GETTY IMAGES)

By

Patrice Taddonio

September 29, 2020

Moderator Chris Wallace has selected a list of official topics for tonight’s nationally televised presidential debate, the first of several prior to Nov. 3. Before you tune in tonight, Sept. 29 at 9 p.m. EDT, watch these FRONTLINE documentaries for context on four key subjects slated for discussion, from the coronavirus to the Supreme Court.

Trump and Biden’s Records

The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden offers interwoven investigative biographies of both men, focused on how they have responded to crises throughout their lives.

The Supreme Court

Supreme Revenge traces Sen. Mitch McConnell’s decades-long effort to shape America’s highest court, a push that has continued in the wake of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death.

The COVID-19 Pandemic

The Virus: What Went Wrong? examines why America was so unprepared when the coronavirus pandemic hit, and how it became the country with more coronavirus deaths than any other.

Race, Policing and Violence

Policing the Police 2020 investigates efforts to reimagine policing amid a national reckoning with racism in the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s killings.

And stay tuned: FRONTLINE will premiere a documentary that speaks to another slated debate topic, the integrity of the election, on Oct. 20 at 10 p.m. EDT. With Jelani Cobb and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Whose Vote Counts will dig into allegations of disenfranchisement, questions about voter fraud, and the realities of how the pandemic is swaying election turnout.

Watch tonight’s presidential debate via our colleagues at PBS NewsHour.

COVID-19
Patrice Taddonio.
Patrice Taddonio

Senior Digital Writer, FRONTLINE

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FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. Web Site Copyright ©1995-2025 WGBH Educational Foundation. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; Park Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. Web Site Copyright ©1995-2025 WGBH Educational Foundation. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

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