None of the ten—former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and multimillionaire businessmen Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer—claimed that they were the only one who could actually defeat Trump.

Instead, in the latest nationally televised “debate,” in Atlanta, most spent their time outlining various plans and talking points they said could unite voters to come out on Election Day and turn Trump out of office. The event took place just hours after the conclusion of another day of revealing testimony in the Trump impeachment inquiry.

At the debate, Kamala Harris charged that the impeachment hearings reveal a massive conspiracy across government departments to work with Trump to overturn congressionally mandated funding to Ukraine to pressure that country into granting Trump favors useful to him personally.

Sondland, who spoke before the inquiry yesterday morning, was a handy target for Elizabeth Warren’s condemnation of the pay-for-play culture in D.C.; she noted Sondland’s $1 million contribution to Trump’s inauguration committee showed the corrupt clout of big private corporate money.

The testimony also showed “there is a different set of rules for two different groups of people”: Trump and the rest of the 1% on one side and everybody else on the other, Harris said. “We have to bring justice back for everybody.”

When questioners in the audience reminded Bernie Sanders that his crowds now sometimes chant “Lock him up!” in reference to Trump, the Vermonter turned that question aside with a smile. “People are now catching on to the degree this president thinks he is above the law. And they’re saying ‘If he breaks the law, he should be prosecuted like anyone who broke the law,’” Sanders commented.

“We have a criminal in the White House,” Harris, the former San Francisco DA and state attorney general declared. “We have a criminal enterprise by the president, the vice president, the Secretary of State, and the (White House) chief of staff.” She would prosecute him, post-presidency, she said.

By contrast, Joe Biden said that as president he said he would leave that decision up to his Attorney General. “And I would back him up,” Biden said. Trump often demands his Justice Department should prosecute Hillary Clinton, his 2016 Democratic opponent.

Aside from impeachment, the rest of the debate covered territory already familiar after previous discussions by the candidates, particularly health care.

Despite differences on issues like Medicare for All, all the candidates supported ending the Republican attacks on Obamacare, whether they come from Trump and GOP lawmakers in Washington or from GOP-run state governments that refuse to expand Medicaid as allowed under the Affordable Care Act. Beyond that, all the plans enunciated go in the direction of expanding rather than shrinking the availability of health care.

Biden made some of the most divisive statements by saying again that Medicare For All wouldn’t pass Congress, and that Sanders’ “revolution” wouldn’t fly with the U.S. at large. He claimed, incorrectly, that “a majority of Democrats don’t want Medicare for All.” The bill, HR1384, already has a majority of House Democrats as co-sponsors and polls show huge Democratic support for Medicare For All.

Buttigieg and Klobuchar also joined in criticizing Medicare For All. Buttigieg told Warren: “There’s a majority in the country for doing something on goals like Medicare For All who want it without commanding people to give up private health care whether they want to or not.”

The women candidates on the stage spoke with particular force on the need for stronger support to working families struggling to both raise children and care for the elderly. Harris, like Klobuchar, came out strongly for legislation that would benefit the nation’s women who, she said, bear heavy burdens in today’s economy. Harris advocated six months paid leave for women taking care of children while Klobuchar called for three months.

Sanders challenged the narrative that the country is hopelessly divided and the idea that only by “moderating” positions would Democrats appeal to the majority. He reiterated his points about people living paycheck to paycheck and one step away from bankruptcy due to health care costs. On a broad range of economic issues, from healthcare to taxing the rich, he said the overwhelming majority of American people are actually united around key issues.

The Democratic Congress has passed 300 progressive bills—on everything from election reform to workers’ rights to a national minimum wage—but all have gone nowhere in the Republican-dominated Senate. All would provide opportunities for building unity across the moderate-left divide, and pledging to sign them into law if elected could allow candidates to show they have the power to build a winning coalition. Such a possibility went unmentioned Wednesday night, however.

Sanders and Gabbard were the only candidates who dissented from the general consensus about the U.S. military’s role in the world. Sanders reminded Biden that while they were both senators, Biden voted for both the Gulf War and the Iraq War, while Sanders voted against the Gulf conflict and led the opposition to GOP President George W. Bush’s Iraq invasion. Arguing in favor of diplomacy for the region, he said the U.S. should play the role of broker in negotiations between Saudi Arabia—which he bluntly called a “pariah state”—and Iran, as well as between Palestinians and Israel.

He said the Palestinians deserve a state and peace, too. Sanders said recently at a meeting in Washington of the progressive Jewish group J Street that U.S. aid to Israel should be conditioned on reversing right-wing-backed settlements in the West Bank. Trump reversed the U.S. position that the settlements are illegal, a policy for the past 52 years, the day before the debate. (People’s World — IPA Service)