THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: JOE BIDEN AND DONALD TRUMP – A TRAIN WRECK IN CLEVELAND

Farce. Debacle. Disgrace. And those were the kinder terms applied to the first presidential debate held September 29 in Cleveland. Commentators expressed shock and dismay

at how the proceedings disintegrated into a shouting match involving President Donald Trump, Democratic challenger former Vice President Joe Biden, and moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow declared, “This sort of debate shouldn’t happen in a democracy.”

                 

It unfolded as it did because Trump wouldn’t comply with the rules. He constantly interrupted Biden and engaged in verbal battles with Wallace. Trump behaved that way

so consistently, he must have gone in with a strategy of provoking Biden into a temper tantrum or making him appear mentally unstable. For the most part, Biden kept his cool and, under trying circumstances, demonstrated command of his faculties.

The rules had been worked out between the parties, with each candidate given two minutes of uninterrupted time for responses to

questions from Wallace on six broad topics, followed by a discussion period. Instead of adhering to that, from the beginning Trump talked over Biden’s answers and sparred with Wallace about the nature of questions and his efforts to enforce the rules. At the end, many who watched found themselves exhausted and embarrassed. One of our daughters sent a text saying that after 45 minutes she’d broken into the wine and “tapped out.”  Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville said, “I was being paid to watch and I had a hard time getting through this.”

 

A Few Memorable Moments

Presidential debates often become known for a memorable line or a gaffe by one candidate. Who can forget Gerald Ford in 1976 claiming

the old Soviet Union didn’t dominate Poland? Or Ronald Reagan in 1980, telling Jimmy

                                                   

Carter, “There you go again?” Then there was George H.W. Bush looking at his watch in

1992, suggesting his impatience with being on stage with Bill Clinton and H. Ross Perot.  No such moment occurred in this debate. The closest anyone came was when Biden said about Trump’s handling of the pandemic, “It is what it is because you are who you are.” But there were things people will remember.

First, Trump wouldn’t, when given a direct opportunity, condemn white supremacy. Instead, he urged that a right-wing group known as the Proud Boys, “stand back and

stand by,” an ominous warning seemingly inviting preparations for future mayhem. Trump’s pass on condemning white supremacy earned him widespread condemnation in the media and from anti-hate groups.

Second, Trump wouldn’t recognize the military service of Biden’s late son, Beau.  When Biden told Trump his son wasn’t a “loser” or a “sucker” as Trump reportedly  described fallen

American soldiers, Trump attacked Biden’s other son, Hunter, for alleged improprieties in connection with business activities in Ukraine, allegations that have proved unfounded despite several investigations.

Finally, Trump demonstrated an astounding lack of respect for American traditions and empathy for people lost in the pandemic. Biden showed the opposite on both counts.   

Impact on the Race?

Beforehand, we laid out objectives each candidate might have, with the idea we’d look for how each did or didn’t achieve them. We quickly realized we couldn’t do that kind of analysis. Trump’s behavior defied a rational

accounting of objectives set versus objectives achieved. Trump took the role of Disrupter-in-Chief and the debate resembled a wrestling match with a pig in a mud puddle.

Dramatist George Bernard Shaw once warned about the danger of getting into such a contest. “You get dirty,” he said. “Besides the

pig likes it.” Biden did his best, succumbing only a few times to the  frustration. He had good moments when he faced the camera and spoke directly to the American people about race, the pandemic, their economic concerns, and climate change.

The entire ugly affair was so far off the norm of presidential debates there’s no framework – historical or otherwise – for  evaluating it. Biden

won a CNN “instant poll” of debate watchers, 60-28, but that wasn’t a sample of the electorate in general. Few pundits believed Trump’s bullying won him support anywhere except with members of his hard-core base. It will take several days before new polling tells us what the country as a whole thought.

Biden reportedly raised a record amount of money from on-line donations the night of the

debate, meaning his spending advantage should continue as the campaign moves into its final days. That fact made it more likely Biden can keep the advantage he began the debate with, a seven-to-eight-point edge in the polling averages published by websites like FiveThirtyEight.com and Real Clear Politics. That doesn’t address the damage the spectacle did to American democracy and our image in the world.   

Any More?

Currently, the schedule calls for two more

presidential debates – a town hall October 15 in Miami and another six topics-with-a-moderator encounter October 22 in Nashville. On October 7, vice presidential candidates Mike Pence and Kamala Harris square off in Salt Lake City. How much of that will actually occur?

After the Cleveland fiasco, cries rang out for calling off the remaining debates. That

probably won’t happen, but the possibility of a repeat of the first debate left a bad taste in many mouths.

Killing microphones when it’s not a candidate’s

turn to speak was suggested for the remaining debates. Everyone knew Trump wouldn’t agree to that, since disrupting things is his objective. But that suggestion made contemplating more debates palatable.

Advice anyone?