President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden went head to head for the first time Sept. 29 in the first presidential debate of the general election. The incumbent and his Democratic challenger were both on stage together at Case Western University in Cleveland in front of moderator Chris Wallace, of Fox News, but following public health guidelines, there was not a live audience.The 90-minute debate was split into six 15-minute segments, with no ad breaks. They focused on: Trump’s and Biden’s records, the Supreme Court, COVID-19, the economy, race and violence in U.S. cities and the integrity of the election.
On Tuesday night, history was made. Millions of viewers (at least those who didn't shut off their TVs after the first painful, embarrassing 15 or so minutes) watched what was almost certainly the worst presidential debate in the history of the United States.
From the very beginning—with a scowling Donald Trump alternating between spewing lies and repeatedly interrupting Joe Biden; the former vice president retaliating in frustrated response ("Will you shut up, man?") and occasionally hurling insults of his own ("You're the worst president America has ever had"); and the out-matched moderator Chris Wallace completely unable to control the two men on the stage in front of him—this debate resembled nothing more than a Real Housewives reunion gone totally off the rails. Wallace should have been pulled mid-debate and replaced by Andy Cohen.
Moments after the Cleveland debate ended, CNN's Jake Tapper intoned, “That was a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck.” His colleague, Dana Bash, responded. “That was a shitshow,” adding, “We're on cable, I can say that.”
On Fox, the moderators were clearly trying to avoid criticizing the president, but Dana Perino opined, “Joe Biden cleared the very low bar that was set for him,” while Karl Rove added, with perhaps the understatement of the night, “Well, that was not very edifying or enlightening for the viewer.”
On ABC, Martha Raddatz, herself a former debate moderator, said “This was not a presidential debate, it was mud-wrestling." And as the debate ended, NBC's Lester Holt, another former moderator, said “If hearing that this debate is over was music to your ears, you may not be alone.” He added, “I’m at a bit of a loss for words.”
How bad was it? Where to begin? Maybe with the very first question, about the Supreme Court and the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett less than 40 days before the next election, with Trump arguing that “I won the election” and he had the right to name a justice as long as he still held office, while Biden countered that a new election was already underway and the process should wait until that election was decided. But it quickly escalated into an out-of-control brawl, with Trump interrupting Biden so much that Wallace had to repeatedly ask him to let the former vice president answer the question. As Wallace put it at one point, ““Mr. President, I am the moderator of this debate, and I would like you to let me ask my question and then you can answer it.” Trump ignored him.
WATCH: The first 2020 presidential debate
