Daily Times

The first US Presidential Debate Tuesday night left everyone from political pundit to the common US citizen shocked as the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, took on the Democratic Presidential nominee and former Vice President, Joe Biden.

Conducted under the moderation of Veteran Fox News journalist Chris Wallace, the debate was unlike any other from previous years, leaving even Wallace appalled. The candidates seldomly discussed their prospective plans/policies, lacked the Presidential stature’s and mannerism, and failed to strongly sway voter opinion to either side.

President Trump, a billionaire, was already in hot water before the commencement of the debate as a The New York Times report, on Monday, claimed Trump paid $0 in federal income tax 10 of the last 15 years, and only paid $750 federal taxes in his first 2 years as President. Being the first US president since Nixon (1969) who has not made his tax returns public, Trump’s campaign has been marred by his unwillingness to release his tax returns and this claim by the NYT had put the Trump campaign in even more trouble. Secondly, Trump’s poll ratings had been concerning as the numbers showed Biden leading Trump in seven states Trump had won the majority in the 2016 election. Therefore, the Trump campaign needed a desperate turn-around, which many hoped would be fueled by his ability to sway voter’s opinion through his performance in this debate.

On the flip side of the coin, the Biden campaign faced different challenges heading into this debate. Biden’s composure and temperament, his ability to sustains Trump’s attacks, and his ability to successfully draw himself a more appealing image compared to President Trump were under the light. This is because 77-year-old Biden’s mental competence, health, and ability to maintain assertive body language and strongly defend his policy have been top concerns making the rounds in the media since the start of his presidential campaign. Additionally, Biden’s ability to successfully handle expected personal attacks about his son Hunter, who was discharged from the Navy in 2014 due to drug addiction, was under the light. Therefore, it safe to say that a strong performance was expected from both candidates in order to steer their campaigns to success in the November 3rd US Presidential elections!

Having seen President Trump’s strategy of a continuous offensive and personal jibes in the 2016 election against Secretary Clinton, this debate was expected to get heated. However, it turned out to be much more chaotic. Within the first 20 minutes of the debate, tired from Trump’s continued crosstalk and interruptions, a frustrated Joe Biden said “Will you Shut up…this is so unpresidential” as well as calling the President a “clown” and “full of lies”. Although personal attacks are seen in presidential campaigns, this language was extremely unbecoming and against the norms of that seen in presidential debates in the past.

Trump’s behavior of continually interrupting Biden and not letting him respond to question, raised skepticism among the audience about his ability to sustain a proper debate and defend his record and policies as the incumbent President. Unable to put the brakes on this unproductive chatter, Wallace stepped in and told Trump he had “been doing more interrupting than he (Biden) has” and telling him to comply with the rules of the debate. Although justified by the chaos going on, Wallace’s comments drew sharp criticism as moderators have rarely said things against/in favor of either candidate in past debates, let alone call out one candidate on live television.
Throughout this directionless pandemonium, political analysts saw the biggest/most important factor, discussion about the proposed policies of both campaigns, missing. Major questions such as the proposed COVID-19 economic recovery plans were diverted, to Trump saying Biden would have handled the pandemic much worse, and Biden blaming Trump for the loss of 200,000 American lives. Trump’s main campaign narrative for this debate, which he repeated numerous times, seemed to be his opinion that he (Trump) has done more for the country than Biden did in a 47-year career as a public office holder.

Biden’s main strategy seemed to be to try to evade personal attacks and directly address the American people. Using this, Biden came out as the stronger performer, as on numerous occasions, he starred directly down the lens of the camera and addressed the American people. He decently evaded getting bogged down by Trump’s personal attacks on his family and past record and avoided getting personal with Trump. Moreover, he delivered a strong closing statement urging/encouraging the American people to vote, delivered a promise of unity and hope (similar to Obama narrative in 2008) if elected, and lastly a belief in the US democracy and a peaceful and fair election.

President Trump’s performance was rated as subpar by many political pundits. Trump failed to hammer key points in the debate, such as concerns surrounding Biden’s health/mental competency, his inability to defend his policies, and his fiascos as former Senator and Vice President of the United States. On the contrary, some of Trumps statements turned out shocking. When asked if he would condemn White Supremacists, such as those that had caused in the death of women in Charlottesville in 2017, Trump failed to not only denounce them but rather told them to “ Stand back and Standby”.

Moreover, when asked if he would urge his supports to remain peaceful through the unique COVID-19 US election, Trump declined to do so raising eyebrows. As someone who has continuously refused to publicly commit to a peaceful transition of power, Trump mentioned the possibility of “fraudulent elections” in the 300+-year-old US democracy which has astonished many.

In conclusion, although stakes were high going into this debate, neither candidate emerged as the clear winner in a chaotic debate that is likely to produce controversy. Although Joe Biden will come out feeling better, he failed to put in the robust performance which could have put him safely ahead in the Presidential race. President Trump’s campaign, which was already on the backfoot before the debate, will likely feel more trouble, and hope to turn things around in the coming week, before the Vice-Presidential debate on Wednesday, October 7th. With both Presidential candidates leaving a lot of ground left to cover, as Chris Wallace said at the end of the debate, this discussion “is to be continued.”