Dear all,

> for the curious among you, here is attached a summary and one or two reactions to today's debate.

> And a very useful and clear recap on who stands where on key issues. Let me know if you can't open the page, but normally you're entitled to several free articles: https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2020/trump-policies-vs-biden-policies/ > fact-checked the candidates' sweeping statements https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/09/29/us/debate-fact- check?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage > But so did Breitbart News. It is worth taking a look at tome of the articles here: https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2020/09/29/joe-biden-ditches-bernie-bros-debate-denounces- medicare-for-all-defund-police-green-new-deal/

> If you want the short version, here it is: https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000007368667/presidential-debate- highlights.html?action=click>ype=vhs&version=vhs-heading&module=vhs®ion=title- area&cview=true&t=172 or HERE https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/wallace-struggles-to-stop-trumps-repeated- interruptions/2020/09/29/f0d7fb0b-a83a-4364-a151-4f5d152eee9a_video.html Or in this short text: Politics Analysis Trump’s baffling debate strategy was to tweet out loud for 90 minutes The president decided to counter substance with bluster — admittedly more favorable territory for him

The Washington Post, Sept 30 President Trump is trailing former vice president by 10 points, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll. The Post’s average of national polls has Biden leading by eight points. In swing states, Biden has consistent leads, more than enough to win both the popular and electoral votes in November. The first debate, held Tuesday, was one of the few remaining chances for Trump to redirect the race. It was an opportunity for him to shift public perceptions of what his presidency has accomplished and to present Biden as a less desirable alternative. It would not be easy, given the deficit he faced coming into the evening, but it was at least theoretically possible. What Trump did instead was something quite different. Instead of engaging with Biden in good faith, his approach was quite simply to bluster and bully his way through every discussion. Rather than let Biden offer a thought and respond to it on the merits, Trump decided not to let Biden offer any thoughts in the first place. At first, he was clearly trying to fluster Biden, probably in an effort to reinforce his long-standing, baseless assertion that Biden is suffering from mental decline. And for a while, it worked: Biden, clearly expecting an actual debate, was forced to adjust. But soon, he adjusted, at times letting his frustration with Trump’s flailing punches seep through, as when he flatly suggested that the president “shut up.” But Trump’s strategy didn’t change. On question after question, he tried to pester Biden so he couldn’t offer any coherent answer — not because Biden had any deficiency but simply because no one could, any more than one could have an elegant tea party in the middle of a dodgeball game. Trump attacked moderator Chris Wallace as readily as he did Biden, taking advantage of Wallace’s stated preference for sitting back and letting the two candidates take on one another. It was a fundamental mistake on Wallace’s part, and he should have expected the results: Trump was never going to debate Biden on policy in a traditional sense. But really, it would have been hard to predict the extent to which Trump threw out the idea that a sincere debate should even be an option.

Commentators were not impressed with the debate, and some say they’ve seen enough.

People in Atlanta watched the first presidential debate at a drive-in watch party. Credit...Lynsey Weatherspoon for The New York Times

The country has never seen a debate like the one it saw Tuesday night. From the shouting and interruptions — mostly from President Trump — that made it almost unintelligible at times, to Mr. Trump’s call-out to the Proud Boys, here is what some political commentators thought. By far the most discussed moment was the one in which President Trump refused to condemn white supremacists.

“The refusal of the President of the to denounce white supremacists on nationwide TV when asked to do so directly, launches us into a new and very, very ominous place.” — Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, on Twitter

“He wouldn’t say he condemned white supremacy. He wouldn’t say he condemned white supremacy. He wouldn’t say he condemned white supremacy. He wouldn’t say he condemned white supremacy. He wouldn’t say he condemned white supremacy.” — Amanda Renteria, board member of Emerge America, which supports Democratic women, and former national political director for , on Twitter

In an extraordinary remark on CNN, former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania blamed the moderator, Chris Wallace, for Mr. Trump’s call-out to the Proud Boys.

“He was asking the president to do something that he knows the president doesn’t like to do, which is say something bad about people who support him.” — Rick Santorum, who subsequently acknowledged that he was referring to white supremacists

More broadly, commentators remarked on the aggression of Mr. Trump’s approach. “Not only was this Trump engaging in spectacle. This was spectacle on steroids. It was a clear display of aggressive masculinity meant to mobilize and appeal to white male voters.” — Anna Sampaio, professor of ethnic studies and political science at Santa Clara University, on Twitter

“Trump was also nasty and crazy towards Hillary in the 2016 debates, but he had a discernible message — on being an outsider, on immigration, on corruption. There was absolutely no argument from Trump tonight, just arguing.” — Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for President , on Twitter

Many expressed disgust at the chaos of the debate, and there were some calls for Mr. Biden to refuse to participate in subsequent ones. (His campaign rejected those calls.)

“A hot mess inside a train wreck inside a dumpster fire.” — Jake Tapper, a CNN host

“As a political matter Biden did fine, and Trump hurt himself. But for the sake of the country Biden should consider refusing to do any more such ‘debates.’ Biden can do weekly town halls, including Trump supporters. But he shouldn’t dignify Trump by being on stage with him again.” — Bill Kristol, editor at large of The Bulwark and “Never Trump” conservative, on Twitter

“We need to hear tomorrow from the Presidential Commission on Debates. They must outline a plan for how this is going to work going forward including cutting off mics for interrupting. 2020 is far too important to have two more episodes of that. Because that was not a debate.” — Robert Gibbs, former press secretary for President Barack Obama, on Twitter

Few thought the debate would change the race substantially.

“Trump is behind & needed it more. conservative media will make use of some Biden speech patterns. But Trump bullying was obvious & confirmed by Wallace. Biden mobilization message could also cause instant ballot requests/returns.” — Matt Grossmann, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University, on Twitter

Mr. Trump, interrupting throughout the debate, appeared aggressive and assertive, at one point challenging Mr. Biden to name law enforcement groups that had endorsed his campaign. The president also claimed that antifa would overthrow Mr. Biden. “It’s hard to get a word in with this clown,” Mr. Biden said. The president’s performance is likely to please members of his base, who saw the entertaining, loudmouth fighter onstage whom they come out to see at rallies in the middle of a pandemic. But it was not clear that he had changed the tenor of the campaign, or made any sort of appeal to voters who are still persuadable. Mr. Biden also didn’t appear overly rattled, and took opportunities to point out that the country has become “weaker, sicker” and “more divided” under Mr. Trump’s leadership. “Will you shut up, man?” Mr. Biden said at one point, channeling, perhaps, the voice of a tired nation that has been tuned into the Trump show daily for four years. At another point, Mr. Biden called his opponent racist and “Putin’s puppy.” But he managed to look interested in issues, rather than a slapfest. “I’d like to talk about climate change,” the moderator, Chris Wallace, said, cutting off a discussion about . “So would I,” Mr. Biden said.

Low blows in Ohio A dismal presidential debate will leave voters unimpressed

Donald Trump and Joe Biden brawled. Neither landed a knockout punch

The Economist, Sep 30th 2020

NEITHER JOE BIDEN nor President is known for his oratory. But one might still have expected them to manage a few coherent sentences during their first presidential debate ahead of the election in November. Yet rather than an exercise in deliberative democracy, it was the least dignified and most dispiriting debate of the modern era of American politics—a snarling, shouty, excruciating affair, marred by Mr Trump’s verbal incontinence.

Perhaps voters should not have expected conventional civility, given Mr Trump’s intemperance. He has been consumed by the continuing disorder of a half-managed pandemic, the hectic rush of Republicans to confirm a new justice to the Supreme Court, and the recent revelations, published in the New York Times, that the president had paid laughably little in tax in many years despite his pretences to moguldom. So Mr Trump needed something unconventional. Because for all the tumult of the previous months, the poll numbers for the fast-approaching election have remained stable. They show a substantial advantage for Mr Biden, who leads national polls by an eight-point margin. Given that, The Economist’s election forecast model gives Mr Biden an 87% chance of winning the contest in five weeks.

The strategy that Mr Trump and his advisers alighted on was one of constant interruption to prevent his opponent (and the unfortunate moderator) from finishing their sentences. “Will you shut up, man” was the most memorable quip of the evening, coming from an exasperated Mr Biden. His campaign has already emblazoned it on a campaign T-shirt (available for $30). Perhaps the idea was sufficiently to confuse the former vice-president, a fellow septuagenarian, as to suggest that he is senile, as Mr Trump has repeatedly insinuated. This is part of a broader conspiracy: that a semi-lucid Mr Biden is really captive to the socialist wing of his party. Mr Trump mocked, among other things, his opponent’s intelligence, that he attended a less prestigious university and that his son was discharged from the army because of drug addiction. But if Mr Biden’s alleged inarticulacy is really such a liability, the duelling streams of consciousness never gave viewers any opportunity to witness it. Occasionally stammering, Mr Biden’s rebuttals often lacked force, but this was easily missed in the pandemonium. Amid the extraordinary levels of polarisation in America, there is limited evidence that debates meaningfully alter votes any more. This unwatchable 90-minute cacophony is unlikely to reverse that general trend.

Pity the voter craving some substance, trying to make sense of it all. Mr Trump embraces the hyperpartisan mentality of American politics so perfectly that there is no inconvenient truth that cannot be swept away by simple assertion. Debates only really work if the debaters acknowledge the same reality. But in the world as Mr Trump sees it, his utterly effective coronavirus response saved millions of Americans from certain death; no president has ever done so well with the economy; and there is a real plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, which provides medical insurance for Americans with pre- existing conditions, without jeopardising health care for millions. The most lucid rebuttal from Mr Biden came after Mr Trump repeated his assertion that Democrats wished to destroy the suburbs with a wave of low-income housing projects. “This is not 1950. All these dog-whistles on racism don’t work any more,” Mr Biden responded, pointing out that what was killing the suburbs at the present moment was covid-19.

Other areas of debate were more farcical. In one episode, Mr Trump accused his opponent of supporting the Green New Deal (he does not) which, he said, would cost $100trn (a somewhat high estimate) that America would need 100 years to pay off (even though this gargantuan sum is “only” five times GDP). Mr Biden pointed out his climate-change plan was different, before confusing the two a few minutes later and saying that “the Green New Deal will pay for itself”.

Amid all the bluster, the most damaging and worrying episode was Mr Trump’s undisguised aim of sowing doubt about the legitimacy of the election that he looks likely to lose. “This is going to be fraud like you’ve never seen,” he warned. The president said that Hillary Clinton had conspired to launch a coup against him, that mailmen in West Virginia were selling ballots, and that a Democratic-run area was sending double ballots to rig the election. The naked disdain for Democrats was also remarkable to see for a sitting president. Mr Trump argued that states run by Democrats were choosing to idle their economies until after the election, not to control covid-19 but to damage his prospects of victory.

This is the sort of undermining of the democratic process that, many fear, precedes violence. A sizeable share of Americans are already telling pollsters that the use of force would be justified if the election does not go their way. Mr Trump refused to condemn white supremacists and called out to the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a penchant for brawling, telling them to “stand back and stand by”. Mr Biden for his part tried to calm things down and reassert American norms. “Once the winner is declared after the ballots are counted, that’ll be the end of it,” he argued. Before that though, there are two more presidential debates to endure.

With Cross Talk, Lies and Mockery, Trump Tramples Decorum in Debate With Biden

Interrupting Joe Biden nearly every time he spoke, Yet Mr. Biden also lobbed a series of bitingly personal President Trump made little attempt to reassure swing attacks of his own. voters about his leadership. Mr. Biden hit back: “This is “You’re the worst president America has ever had,” he so unpresidential.” said to Mr. Trump. “In 47 months I’ve done more than you have in 47 The New York Times, Sept. 29, 2020 years,” Mr. Trump shot back, referring to his rival’s WASHINGTON — The first presidential debate between career in Washington. President Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. unraveled into The president’s bulldozer-style tactics represented a an ugly melee Tuesday, as Mr. Trump hectored and significant risk for an incumbent who’s trailing Mr. interrupted Mr. Biden nearly every time he spoke and Biden because voters, including some who supported the former vice president denounced the president as a him in 2016, are so fatigued by his near-daily attacks “clown” and told him to “shut up.” and outbursts. Yet the former vice president veered between trying to ignore Mr. Trump by speaking In a chaotic, 90-minute back-and-forth, the two major directly into the camera to the voters, and giving in to party nominees expressed a level of acrid contempt for temptation by hurling insults at the president. Mr. Biden each other unheard-of in modern American politics. called Mr. Trump a liar and a racist. Mr. Trump, trailing in the polls and urgently hoping to Mr. Trump peppered his remarks with misleading revive his campaign, was plainly attempting to be the claims and outright lies, predicting that a coronavirus aggressor. But he interjected so insistently that Mr. vaccine was imminent when his own chief health Biden could scarcely answer the questions posed to advisers say otherwise, claiming that his rollback of fuel- him, forcing the moderator, Chris Wallace of , efficiency standards would not increase pollution and to repeatedly urge the president to let his opponent insisting that a political adviser, Kellyanne Conway, had speak. not described riots as useful to Mr. Trump’s campaign, “Will you shut up, man?” Mr. Biden demanded of Mr. even though she did so on television. Trump at one point in obvious exasperation. “This is so And even as he went on the offensive against Mr. Biden unpresidential.” on matters of law and order, Mr. Trump declined to condemn white supremacy and right-wing extremist groups when prompted by Mr. Wallace and Mr. Biden. “He said very strongly ‘masks are not good,’ then he said When Mr. Wallace asked him whether he would be he changed his mind,” Mr. Trump said of Dr. Fauci. The willing to do so, Mr. Trump replied, “Sure,” and asked president later said his own F.B.I. director, Christopher the two men to name a group they would like him to Wray, was “wrong” after Mr. Biden noted that Mr. Wray denounce. had said the radical left group antifa is more of an idea than an organization. The debate, at Case Western Reserve University in But when Mr. Biden named the Proud Boys, a far-right Cleveland, quickly descended into name-calling and group, Mr. Trump did not do so and even suggested hectoring in the first 15 minutes, derisive attacks that they be at the ready. were extraordinary even by the standards of Mr. “Proud Boys? Stand back and stand by,” the president Trump’s unruly presidency. said, before pivoting to say, “Somebody’s got to do When Mr. Biden attempted to discuss voters who had something about antifa and the left.” lost loved ones to the coronavirus, Mr. Trump Mr. Trump also intensified his baseless claims of interjected. “You would’ve lost far more people,” he widespread electoral fraud from the debate stage. He declared. again invoked the prospect of a “fraudulent election” The former vice president alternated between smiling and disregarded contrary evidence about mail-in voting and shaking his head in bemusement and firing off offered by both Mr. Wallace and Mr. Biden. And Mr. attacks of his own as Mr. Trump kept interrupting. Trump encouraged his voters to “go into the poll and In an exceptionally charged moment, Mr. Trump spoke watch very carefully” for any signs of misconduct — an dismissively about Mr. Biden’s deceased son, Beau, who encouragement that could cause disruption on Election died from brain cancer in 2015, rejecting an opportunity Day. to show a modicum of personal grace toward his Mr. Trump’s volcanic performance appeared to be the political opponent. Mr. Biden alluded to Beau Biden’s gambit of a president seeking to tarnish his opponent military service as he rebuked the president for having by any means available, unbounded by norms of reportedly referred to America’s fallen soldiers as accuracy and decorum and unguided by a calculated “losers.” sense of how to sway the electorate or assuage voters’ Mr. Trump answered with a rhetoric roll of the eyes, reservations about his leadership. and began attacking Mr. Biden’s other son: “I don’t In an election marked by sharply defined and stubbornly know Beau; I know Hunter,” he said, proceeding to stable opinions about both candidates, the president’s ridicule Hunter Biden for his business dealings and conduct was the equivalent of pulling the pin on a hand struggles with drug addiction. grenade and hoping that the ensuing explosion would Amid Mr. Trump’s onslaught, Mr. Biden repeatedly harm the other candidate more. offered blanket denials that there was anything But Mr. Trump made no effort to address his most inappropriate in Hunter Biden’s overseas work, and said obvious political vulnerabilities, from his he was “proud of my son” for confronting addiction. mismanagement of the pandemic to his refusal to One of the few phases of the debate that might have condemn right-wing extremism, and it was not clear been taken by an open-minded viewer as an extended that he did anything over the course of the evening to and articulate exchange of views came on the subject of appeal to voters who have disliked him, including those the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Trump voiced who reluctantly supported him four years ago. impatience with a range of public-health restrictions and Mr. Biden criticized the president for being dismissive of measures like mask wearing and social The president did not take aim only at Mr. Biden; he also distancing. undercut his own advisers. After Mr. Biden criticized “If we just wore masks between now — and social him for his handling of the coronavirus — “he’s a fool distanced — between now and January, we would on this,” the former vice president said — Mr. Trump probably save up to 100,000 lives,” said Mr. Biden, who mocked his opponent for wearing “the biggest mask I’ve also alluded to the disclosure in the journalist Bob ever seen” and then belittled Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Woodward’s recent book that the president had nation’s top infectious disease expert. intentionally misled the American people last winter The president projected disbelief, though the decision about the severity of the virus. would plainly be vulnerable to being overturned by a Mr. Trump, reiterating his demands that the country conservative court. “There’s nothing happening there,” return to normal, called on Democratic governors to Mr. Trump insisted. “open these states up” quickly. Mr. Trump had no defense for Mr. Biden’s warning that But even on a matter as grave as the pandemic, Mr. if the Supreme Court struck down the Affordable Care Trump indulged freely in personal mockery. When Mr. Act it could imperil women and people with pre-existing Biden called him “totally irresponsible” for holding mass conditions, nor did he offer a substantive response to rallies without health protections in place, Mr. Trump Mr. Wallace’s question prompting him to articulate a responded by mocking Mr. Biden’s more constrained specific vision for health care policy. events, suggesting the former vice president would hold The president argued that he had already done so, large events, too, “if you could get the crowds.” The though he has not, and said that his success in repealing president, at another point, falsely claimed Mr. Biden the Obama-era law’s individual mandate was a “big had finished at the bottom of his college class. “There’s thing” on its own. Instead of finally filling in the blanks nothing smart about you,” Mr. Trump said to his of his health care agenda, Mr. Trump sought to go on opponent. the attack against Mr. Biden, tying him to the “socialist” Mr. Biden at times mocked Mr. Trump, recalling at one aspirations of the left wing of the Democratic Party. point the president’s suggestion that people inject Mr. Biden, who campaigned against socialized medicine disinfectant into their bodies to combat the virus, a in the Democratic primary, deflected the attack — “I am gaffe that for a time ended Mr. Trump’s daily briefings. the Democratic Party right now,” he said — and sought “That was said sarcastically,” Mr. Trump claimed, to keep the focus on Mr. Trump’s lack of health care though his remarks appeared to be in earnest at the policies besides gutting the A.C.A. time. “He doesn’t have a plan,” Mr. Biden said. “The fact is, For all his evident frustration with Mr. Trump for not this man doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” abiding by the rules, Mr. Wallace made no attempt to For Mr. Trump, this first debate appeared to be his best correct the president as he unspooled a series of chance to change the trajectory of a presidential race falsehoods. Mr. Trump, for example, insisted that Mr. that has so far resisted all manner of Trumpian efforts Biden had once called criminals “superpredators.” But to shake it up. The president has cycled through an it was Hillary Clinton who said it, in 1996. And he did not array of attacks against his Democratic challenger in correct Mr. Trump when he said Ms. Conway did not recent months, criticizing or outright smearing Mr. describe riots as helpful to Mr. Trump’s campaign. Biden’s governing record, personal ethics, economic In addition to lobbing false allegations, Mr. Trump also policies, family finances, and mental and physical health was unable, or unwilling, to discuss policy issues in a — often relying on misinformation and falsehoods. detailed manner. Pressed on whether he believed in Over the last month, Republicans have made an climate change, the president said, “I think to an extent especially concerted push to brand Mr. Biden as overly yes,” before quickly adding: “We’re planting a billion sympathetic to racial-justice protests that have turned trees.” unruly and insufficiently committed to maintaining Overshadowed though it might have been, the policy public order. content of the debate’s opening phase mirrored the Yet that argument has not budged the race an inch in stark contrasts already on display in the race. On the Mr. Trump’s direction, or changed the minds of a Supreme Court, the two men split over whether it was majority of voters who take a negative view of his appropriate for Mr. Trump to name a new justice to the personal character and his leadership during the court in the final months of his term, with the president pandemic. From the outset of the race, Mr. Trump has offering a defiant rationale for doing so: “We won the prioritized his largely rural and conservative base ahead election,” he said, “and we have the right to do it.” of all other constituencies, and he has done little to Perhaps more surprisingly, Mr. Trump dismissed Mr. reach out to Americans who do not already support Biden’s warning that Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court him. decision guaranteeing women’s right to abortion Rather, in a year of tumult, there has been one access, was “on the ballot.” constant: Mr. Biden has enjoyed a steady lead in the polls since he effectively claimed the nomination in leaning constituencies than Mrs. Clinton did in 2016, April. the former vice president is better positioned going into Propelled by women, voters of color and whites with the final month of the election than any challenger since college degrees, and faring better with Republican- 1992.

Opinions Trump blows up the debate — and himself

Opinion by Jennifer Rubin Columnist , September 30, 2020

Former vice president Joe Biden entered the first presidential debate Tuesday night with a solid polling lead both nationally and in critical battleground states. With more states starting early and absentee voting each week, President Trump needed to shake up the race in a dramatic way. Trump did neither, leaving Biden’s lead intact — or perhaps larger than ever. When faced with questions about his actual record and policy, Trump threw up word salads, switched topics, made scurrilous accusations and convinced any rational viewer he is in over his head. He mostly interrupted, repeatedly and falsely accusing Biden of harboring positions that his more progressive opponents in the Democratic primaries held. Trump was a walking Twitter feed — no facts, all bluster and all insults. Unfortunately, moderator Chris Wallace was never able to control Trump, so the debate devolved into constant interruption. Trump wound up arguing with Wallace, who correctly pointed out that Trump does not have a comprehensive health-care plan. Trump insisted he was lowering drug prices (he hasn’t) without addressing his lack of a replacement for Obamacare. Biden explained that he is not in sync with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Medicare-for-all, as Trump claimed. As Trump tried to interrupt again and again, Biden asked derisively, "Do you have any idea what this clown is doing?” At another point, Biden quietly said, “Will you shut up, man?” He made the point that Trump has never had a health-care plan. Bizarrely, Republican operatives and conservative pundits prior to the debate seemed bent on lowering the bar for Biden, casting him as senile and feeble. Instead, Biden scored a TKO on Trump’s response to the covid-19 pandemic. He methodically walked through the horrendous statistics of death and illness from the disease. “It is what it is because you are who you are,” Biden said calmly. He reminded us that Trump told The Post’s Bob Woodward that the novel coronavirus was deadly just as he was telling the American people it was no worse than the flu. He said Trump thought Americans would panic, but that Trump was the one to panic. Trump wound up in another argument with Wallace over his own advisers who dispute Trump’s rosy timeline. At times, Trump just threw out insults to rattle Biden. (“Don’t ever use the word ‘smart’ with me,” the president said.) He insulted Biden for wearing masks too often. He defended his rallies, dismissing concerns about covid-19. He bragged about the size of his crowds, in effect admitting that he cared more about turnout at his events than about preventing the spread of the virus. On the economy, Trump boasted of his “best-ever” economy, but Biden took the side of the little guy, pointing out that the economy may be bouncing back for the rich but not for ordinary workers. Biden then threw Trump’s tax avoidance back in his face, after which Trump refused to confirm whether he paid $750 in federal taxes in 2016 and 2017, as the New York Times recently reported. Trump then lied that he had relatively little debt (he reportedly owes $421 million) and insisted he paid “millions” in taxes. Biden heckled him, taunting him to release his tax returns. Biden pointed to studies showing his own plan would create more jobs and grow faster under his proposals than under Trump’s. In response to Trump’s taunts, Biden said bluntly, “You are the worst president America has ever had.” Biden said they handed Trump a booming economy but Trump “blew it” and didn’t save manufacturing. When Trump went after Biden’s son Hunter, Biden tried to respond only to be perpetually interrupted. Wallace tried to tell Trump to be quiet and chided him for interrupting. Still, Trump continued to speak over Biden. Wallace hollered at Trump, telling him no, he could not carry on about Biden’s child. On the issue of race, Biden went through the list of Trump’s race-baiting and sympathizing with white supremacists. He sneered at Trump’s notion that he has been better for African Americans than any other president. Trump responded by dredging up the 1994 crime bill, listing his police endorsements and making wild accusations that Biden will not say the phrase “law and order.” Biden calmly spoke about convening a conference on policing to bring all sides in, reiterating that violence is never appropriate. While Trump insisted he ended racial sensitivity training for federal workers because it was trying to make people “hate America,” Biden stressed there is racism and we need to address attitudes. Biden made a quiet but impassioned plea for unity, bashing Trump’s dog whistles aimed at the suburbs, making clear they are not lily-white as in the 1950s and defending community policing. Trump could only respond with insults and non sequiturs. Biden was most convincing when he accused Trump of “pouring gasoline on the fire.” Wallace challenged Trump to condemn white militias and white supremacists, which Trump hedged and dodged. In fact, he seemed to cheer on a violent, white-supremacist group. (“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by! But I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left.”) It was possibly the worst moment of the debate. Near the end, Biden accused Trump of being “Putin’s puppy” and criticized him for not confronting the Russian leader on placing bounties on U.S. troops. As Biden raised the issue of Trump’s insults to the military and his son Beau, Trump once more began ranting about Hunter Biden. On climate change, Trump stuck to his line about blaming fires on poor forest management. He at one point conceded humans cause climate change but then reverted to his rant about forests. It’s this sort of mind- numbing stupidity that turns off the overwhelming majority of voters. Trump refused to give a coherent answer to explain his efforts to roll back gas mileage requirements and repeal Obama-era regulations. Biden explained his own plan for renewable energy and green construction (A plan! An actual policy!), but then Trump started spewing right-wing talking points about the Green New Deal. Biden calmly responded that his plan is not the Green New Deal. Finally, on election integrity, Biden debunked specious claims about absentee and early voting, flat-out accusing Trump of trying to discredit the election. He dismissed Trump’s threats and antics, telling voters they have the power to vote Trump out. Trump then lashed out with unhinged accusations about President Barack Obama spying on his transition team, revealing just how nuts he is. And, proving Biden’s point, he tried to claim widespread mail-in ballots will amount to fraud. “This is going to be fraud like you’ve never seen,” he said, evidencing the same contempt for voting that Biden had just accused him of harboring. Trump even went so far as to say he might have to ask the Supreme Court, with his new justice, to decide the election. Chris Wallace, who vowed to make himself “invisible," actually got walked over, leading to a chaotic debate that was at times impossible to follow. He should have halted the debate or cut Trump’s microphone until he agreed to abide by the rules. Trump’s strategy was to be so obnoxious and aggressive that he could avoid answering questions and defending his record. Trump’s job was to win over voters. It’s hard to believe anyone not already part of his cult would be persuaded to support a rude, blustering know-nothing. Biden remained calm and collected, showing off his knowledge and his normalcy. In this election, that puts him head and shoulders above Trump. WINNER: Joe Biden LOSERS: President Trump and Chris Wallace

Opinions Only the Proud Boys can take pride in Trump’s debate hooliganism

Opinion by Dana Milbank Columnist The Washington Post, September 30, 2020

Halfway through Tuesday night’s first presidential debate, moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News raised his voice and took the extraordinary step of scolding President Trump. “The country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions,” Wallace said. “I’m appealing to you, sir, to do that.” Trump interrupted: “And him, too!” he said, referring to Democratic nominee Joe Biden. “Well, frankly, you’ve been doing more interrupting,” Wallace said. “He’s done plenty,” Trump said, interrupting again. “Well, less than you have,” the moderator replied. That was wry understatement. It wasn’t a debate in the traditional sense. Biden and Wallace were participating in a debate. Trump was shouting, hectoring, interrupting and generally making it impossible to have a discussion: “Socialist!” “Pocahontas!” “Manifesto!” “Socialized medicine!” “Wrong!” “There’s nothing smart about you, Joe!” “China ate your lunch, Joe!” When he did produce more than a taunt or an insult, Trump’s sentiments were either odd (“the forest floors are loaded up with trees”) or dark. He refused to condemn violence by white supremacists and hinted that he might rely upon their violence if he loses the election. He offered an ominous message to the white- nationalist group Proud Boys: “Stand back and stand by.” Ahead of the debate, Trump had suggested that Biden be tested for performance-enhancing drugs that supposedly cure his supposed senility (Biden “doesn’t know he’s alive,” Trump often says). But on Tuesday night, Biden was calm and in control, while Trump was the one operating in altered reality: ranting, irrational and seemingly unaware of the conversation occurring in his midst. Wallace kept trying, and failing, to rein in Trump: “Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President! . . . If I may ask a question sir. . . . Mr. President, I am the moderator of this debate, and I’d like you to let me ask my question.” Biden answered Trump’s stream-of-consciousness invective with appeals to unity. When Trump went after Hunter Biden and Burisma, the former vice president, speaking directly to the camera, noted that he could go after Trump’s family, but “this is not about my family or his family. It’s about your family. . . . He doesn’t want to talk about what you need — you, the American people.” When Trump called racial sensitivity training “absolutely insane” and part of a “radical revolution,” Biden responded: “We’re all Americans. The only way we’re going to bring this country together is bring everybody together. . . . We can take this on and we can defeat racism in America.” Biden let his erratic opponent get under his skin a few times, calling him a “fool” and asking him to “just be quiet for a moment” and “shush for a minute,” and even this: “Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential. . . . Keep yapping, man.” The Democratic nominee called Trump “the worst president America has ever had” and said “it’s hard to get any word in with this clown.” Biden caught himself. “Excuse me, this person.” If you could hear him through the din, the challenger landed some solid blows, criticizing Trump’s dismissal of the covid-19 death toll by saying “it is what it is.” Said Biden: “It is what it is because you are who you are. . . . He said he didn’t tell us or give people a warning of it because he didn’t want to panic the American people. You don’t panic; he panicked.” Biden told Trump to “get out of your bunker and get out of the sand trap on your golf course and go in the Oval Office and bring together the Democrats, Republicans and fund what needs to be done now to save lives.” By way of parrying Biden, Trump offered falsehoods, claiming Anthony Fauci doesn’t approve of mask- wearing (“he said very strongly masks are not good”), claiming his rallies were only outdoors (they have been indoors, too) and said Biden errantly claimed to have attended the wrong university (a right-wing online claim that has been debunked). But for all his heckling, shouting and nonsense talk, Trump made one thing perfectly clear: He’s getting ready to take his chaos and mayhem from the debate stage and use it to try to disrupt the election itself. In the final segment, not long after Trump stood up for the Proud Boys, Wallace asked the candidates to “reassure the American people” that the “legitimate winner of this election” will be the next president. Biden offered that reassurance, and he urged Americans to vote, because Trump “cannot stop you from being able to determine the outcome of this election.” Trump, by contrast, went on a final rant about “crooked Hillary Clinton,” people “spying on my campaign,” and about how mail-in balloting is “a fraud and it’s a sham.” He told Wallace: “Don’t tell me about a free transition.” “This is a horrible thing for our country,” Trump concluded. “No, this is not going to end well.” The president, by his actions Tuesday night, made it abundantly clear that this is not a prediction. It’s a promise.