Biden was Biden (unimpressive) and Trump was Trump (a mendacious blowhard). Two polls–CNN and CBS--showed that Trump lost.
Biden would be well within his rights to say that Trump’s obnoxious behavior and continuous lies make debates a farce, and refuse to participate in any more. But hey, why not let Trump self-inflict more damage? And he can hardly help but do so: when he tries to affect a more restrained, dignified persona, it doesn’t work; he seems strained and stiff. Either way he screws himself. So let the debates go on!
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Marcia September 30, 2020 at 3:07 pm
To me one of the most puzzling questions was why Chris Wallace did not simply cut the mic on Trump when he interfered or went over his time allotment.
I agree that one hopes that Trump aggressive and abusive behaviour would turn off voters but it did not seem to have the effect on voters in 2016.
Marcia
tonygreco September 30, 2020 at 5:23 pm
I’ve always thought that moderators should have and use the ability to cut off the mic, but I don’t know if Wallace had that available to him. I think it’s under consideration for the next debate. Wouldn’t it be great to watch Trump repeatedly shooting off his mouth with no sound coming out!
Lisa September 30, 2020 at 7:56 pm
He couldn’t. The campaign had refused to agree to that rule. I understand the rules have been changed for the next debate, but don’t know what they are.
John September 30, 2020 at 4:15 pm
– The real problem was Trump’s interrupting.
CNN today had a pretty good summary:
“… There were times .. when almost every comment from Trump was inaccurate. Most of his false claims were ones he’s made before and which have been repeatedly fact-checked and found to be false, rather than one-time slips or gaffes …”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/29/politics/fact-check-biden-trump-first-presidential-debate/index.html
NYT:
“Tuesday’s Debate Made Clear the Gravest Threat to the Election: The President Himself.
His comments amounted to a declaration that he would try to throw any outcome into the courts, Congress or the streets if he was not re-elected.”
https://www.nytimes.com
Unusually strong statements from 2 conventional sites.
A Zoom format would make more sense so the moderator
could control Trump’s microphone, but Trumps’s campaign
would never agree.
Biden was at his best speaking directly into the camera
and ignoring Trump.
Trump’s trailing badly in the polls. His plan seemed
to be to try to throw Biden off his game. He succeeded
in blocking any real discussion of issues but failed
since Biden managed to hold it together for 90 minutes.
– “Biden wins instant polls. …the news was generally good for Joe Biden. … Solid instant results for Biden. CNN found that Mr. Biden decisively won the debate, 60 percent to 28 percent … good news for Mr. Biden. His favorability rating improved by a net four percentage points… The president’s rating declined by a net four points. …”
https://www.nytimes.com/…/presidential-polls-trump-biden
I suspect a week from now the polls will still be about
where they were pre-debate.
Trump’s base is remarkably stable:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/voters/
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Frank Burd September 30, 2020 at 8:53 pm
Muting him is not enough if they are on the same stage because his strategy is to distract by being loud. We must make it so Biden can’t hear him when he is talking, except when it is Trump’s turn and Biden can respond. If Biden debates him again, they must be put in isolation booths (like they did in the 50’s on the $64,000 Question TV show) so they can hear the other and respond, but the speaker can’t hear anyone outside the booth.
Al wegener September 30, 2020 at 6:37 pm
It all depends on who VOTES. If Biden people don’t VOTE, he will lose.
Paul Villano September 30, 2020 at 7:00 pm
Tony,
George Carlin once said about politics, “Sit back and enjoy the show!”
As an independent I normally vote the Green Party. More a protest vote because I think we need a strong third and even fourth party.
Trump could have made (arguably) a better showing based on the strength of the economy, historical gains in the middle east peace and zero successful terror attacks on US soil. However, as you stated, he retreated to his baser instinct and let his bully mentality got the better of him. Not sure why true Republicans have kept quite about Trumps behavior. After all this was Lincoln’s party.
Tomorrow it will be interesting to get my kayak buddies, one a Trump supporter, the other Biden. Should make for an interesting paddle.