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Trump-Biden Debate Wrap-Up
President Donald Trump faced former Vice President Joe Biden for the first presidential debate Tuesday night in Cleveland. It was a televised headache.
In theory, Chris Wallace was the moderator but immediately proved ineffective at controlling the two septuagenarians bickering for the next 96 minutes. By the end, it felt like the debate was between Trump and a Wallace/Biden tag team.
Trump came out swinging, peppering Biden with interruptions and real-time fact checks. He criticized the Democrat’s 47 years in Washington and pointed out how little he accomplished during that half century.
Biden lost his cool several times, telling Trump “Will you shut up, man?” oddly followed with “Keep yappin’, man.” He called the President a racist, a clown, a liar, and the worst president in US history. He directed most of his remarks into the camera, while Trump faced Biden throughout.
Overall, the Democrat held up well during the break-free debate, making minimal gaffes and keeping a level energy throughout. The Trump team lowered expectations so much that it ended up helping him. The President, however, was definitely the most energetic man on stage.
This is where I’d usually discuss the policies discussed but this brawl was far more UFC than Oxford Union. I offer sincere prayers for the transcriptionists trying to document this thing. It was an hour and a half of crosstalk.
Biden refused to answer whether he supported packing the courts, claimed his Biden-Sanders Manifesto didn’t exist, at one time criticized lockdowns then later supported them.
Trump pressed Biden on the lawlessness raging through Democratic-led cities, Hunter Biden’s sweetheart deals with shady foreign potentates, and the dangers of mass mail-in voting.
Wallace and Biden hit Trump hard on COVID, climate change, and critical race theory (which Wallace deceptively cast as mere “sensitivity training”). The “moderator” seemed balanced at first; by the end, he and Biden were shaking their heads and laughing with each other at Trump’s aggressive approach.
The New York Times headline says it all: “Chris Wallace Tries to Rein In an Unruly Trump at First Debate.” It is not the job of a moderator to “rein in” either side. The fact that a Fox News host ran interference for the Democrat does not bode well for bias at the next two debates.
The next debates are scheduled for Oct. 15 and Oct. 22. Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris will meet on Oct. 7.
Published in Elections, General
It would be nice if a moderator would just ask a straightforward question. I think David Mamet said the frustration is that when you engage in a dialog you have to agree on some basic elements. Wallace assumes the fires in California are caused by climate change, and Trump explained how dry layers of tinder can be set fire with a cigarette, and that forest management could be the issue. Smoky the Bear used to tell us that all the time.
Anyone want to talk about Biden’s proposed 500,000 vehicle recharging stations?
Someone in the chat last night said that there are only 115,000 gas stations in the U.S. right now? They have been on decline since the 90s.
I just saw the most wonderful amazing ad on Fox Business. In so many ways–freedom to be a charity, freedom to help kids rather than take the route the Brits have taken as we saw painfully with little Charlie–this is what this election is all about.
So after you donate to the Trump campaign, send a couple of bucks to the best charity I know. :-)
Trump has repeatedly denounced white supremacists. That is something the MSM cannot afford to cover lest it debunk their narrative. Thank goodness there are alternative news outlets out there, and I’m not referring to The Bulwark . . .
It’s his underpants gnome idea.
Ralphie,
You got it exactly. Wallace assumed the phony premise of climate change causation in his mode of questioning. Chicken Little grew up and went off to lefty University. So Chicken now knows that somehow Oak Trees caused the acorn to fall on his wittle head. So Chicken wants to ban all the Oak Trees.
Clearing out the underbrush was smart forestry for 100 years until the idiot environmentalists got involved. Now there is a huge amount of underbrush kindling to start and expand wildfires because the idiot environmentalists stopped normal forestry. The fire just got less than half a mile from my sister’s house in Northern Cal again this year. I’d like to go punch Gavin Newsom in the mouth. I’ll let my sister slap Kamala Harris across the face.
Regards,
Jim
Drew,
It’s the end of the world as Gary knows it. Oddly enough, I feel fine.
Regards,
Jim
Paging @troysenik ! Moderator skills needed. Although Troy frequently loses control of @richardepstein and @johnyoo on the Law Talk podcast, he does within a few minutes bring the discussion back to the point. If Troy can exhibit control over Epstein and Yoo, he clearly could moderate a Trump / Biden debate, certainly better than the “news media” big names.
Weren’t the proud boys founded by a black Cuban? Gary’s comment caused me to check out their web site, because I know so little about them. This is the list of their “core values” from the web site.
How many white supremacists do you know that have Anti-Racism as a core value?
I think last night’s biggest loser was Chris Wallace.
I remember well his famous slogan: “Only the Paris Climate Change Accord can prevent forest fires.”
In looking at the transcripts it seems the only reason the president mentioned the Proud Boys at all was because when he was badgered that he didn’t denounce white supremacists, he said “Sure I will! Give me names and I’ll do it!” That’s why Biden barked out Proud Boys. The “stand down” thing was from Wallace, who said he wanted to hear the President tell White Supremacists to stand down.
My only disappointment is that the President took Biden’s “Proud Boys” bait, since from what I can tell, in 2020 they have been conspicuously absent from the plague of riots.
That is an ad hominem response.
You are changing the subject. Why can’t Trump condemn groups that engage in political violence? It is an intentional softball that he used as a way to play footsie with extreme groups.
Jim-why do the Proud Boys not turn the other cheek? Why do the choose to return violence with violence? Blaming others for their actions does not make sense to me.
Maybe because pacifism in the face of rioting BLM terrorists is how you die quickly.
I believe he’s been condemning antifa and BLM for several months. Will you?
They get smeared as white supremacists because they’re on the right, nothing more.
Because they’d be hit on that cheek as well.
I am willing to bet that Gary Robbins has no idea what the Proud Boys are or anything about them that didn’t come from some SPLC/DNC talking point.
LOL. I didn’t realize they were being nominated to be Saints.
That comment is enough for me to relegate anything coming from you as pure nonsense.
Truth no longer matters. I mean, I still have friends who think that President Trump wants to lock up the gays! Just last week he was telling the UN that they needed to decriminalize homosexuality all across the globe. But hey, it doesn’t matter what he says. They can read his mind and his heart. I could explain that the President is fundamentally incapable of having unexpressed thoughts, but that wouldn’t matter. As far as they’re concerned, he’s anti-gay — no matter how many gay people he has in his administration.
Those people might be the same fools who were shocked to learn that straight men don’t want to date “trans-women”. We are so screwed.
If, when I was of a dating age, someone had told me I was transphobic for not wanting to date a person with a penis, I would have said “You’re damned right.”
Of course Biden didn’t “instruct” Antifa to “stand by.” Nobody on the left wants Antifa to “stand by.”
Wouldn’t that be assuming that the 91,629 votes were all – or almost all – Trump supporters?
No, not to Biden. You predicted that Trump-Pence would lose to Klobuchar-Buttegieg.
But you need more charging stations than gas stations, because electric cars have limited range.
That’s me extrapolating that Donald Trump wins with 57.9% of the vote. Even if Lyin’ Biden gets the None of the Above and the Unsure vote, he still doesn’t win.
I got there much earlier.
or comic relief?