1st Presidential Debate 2020

This past Tuesday, President Donald Trump and former United States Vice President Joe Biden, who is the Democratic nominee for president, had their first debate for the upcoming election in November. Many expected a very memorable first debate and that is exactly how it turned out, just not quite the way that it did turn out. The debate began at approximately 9pm Eastern Standard Time and right away, we noticed that this was unlike any other debate. Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News began the debate with some very interesting but much needed protocols. The debate was done under COVID-19 Protocols, which were enforced by the Cleveland Clinic.

The first thing that we noticed as the Presidential nominees walked in, was that they did not shake hands because of the COVID restrictions. The Podiums for the candidates were located across the stage from each other. However, Joe Biden’s group of people were wearing masks and following the recommended protocols by Cleveland’s Clinic. The Trump group on the other hand did not believe in following these guidelines and this seemed very interesting especially with the current situation going on in the world today. This was brought to our attention at the end of the debate when the spouses of the Presidential Nominees were brought up on stage at the same time and Mrs. Biden was seen with a mask, while Mrs. Trump on the other hand was seen on stage without one. Then the audience was shown, and every Trump individual was without a mask. This was very interesting because many interpret this as a sign that the president has little concern over the virus.

Now, for the actual debate, which was very painful no matter who you are voting for. Before the debate started, both campaigns agreed to two minutes of no interrupted discussions and then an open discussion afterwards which in total would be 15 minutes on one topic out of six topics overall. Many will say that Trump was the one interrupting and was the one who was not following the terms agreed on prior to the debate. However, there were many instances of Biden interrupting as well. We witnessed both candidates bicker and go off topic the entire night and this was very frustrating to all. You could not believe in what either candidate was saying, and it was extremely frustrating to hear that many individuals view our presidential debate as a comedy show. After the event completed, each of the commentators who spoke about the recap of the debate called this a disaster that was hard to watch. George Stephanopoulos even admitted that he has covered many debates and this one was by far the worst that he has ever seen. Why did he believe that this was such a disaster? It is because of all of the interrupting and name calling that occurred by both sides and even went into each other’s personal life. The link below shows Joe Biden getting into his sons’ life and then Biden makes a comment how we’d be here all night if we discussed Trump’s family and both started to raise their voices and represented themselves very unprofessionally.

Now, for the actual debate, which was very painful no matter who you are voting for. Before the debate started, both campaigns agreed to two minutes of no interrupted discussions and then an open discussion afterwards which in total would be 15 minutes on one topic out of six topics overall. Many will say that Trump was the one interrupting and was the one who was not following the terms agreed on prior to the debate. However, there were many instances of Biden interrupting as well. We witnessed both candidates bicker and go off topic the entire night and this was very frustrating to all. You could not believe in what either candidate was saying, and it was extremely frustrating to hear that many individuals view our presidential debate as a comedy show. After the event completed, each of the commentators who spoke about the recap of the debate called this a disaster that was hard to watch. George Stephanopoulos even admitted that he has covered many debates and this one was by far the worst that he has ever seen. Why did he believe that this was such a disaster? It is because of all of the interrupting and name calling that occurred by both sides and even went into each other’s personal life. The link below shows Joe Biden getting into his sons’ life and then Biden makes a comment how we’d be here all night if we discussed Trump’s family and both started to raise their voices and represented themselves very unprofessionally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR-Z4F5xhx4

The moderator was Chris Wallace of Fox News and many criticized him for not stepping in soon enough and he agreed. Wallace stated “I do wish I would have done more to step in when there was interruption, I did not realize that Trump was going to come into the debate with a bullying type strategy. Initially, I thought it was great, this is what a debate is supposed to be. As it went on though, I began to realize this is not good, and we need to make a change fast and unfortunately I couldn’t stop the president.” It became very clear, especially when Wallace called the debate to a halt, that this is not what Wallace was expecting when he was given the opportunity to be the moderator. With everything that occurred Tuesday evening, The Commission on Presidential Debates ensured everyone that changes were going to be made for the upcoming debates. However, unlike the many who criticized Chris Wallace, the committee praised him for the professionalism and skill he displayed during an event like this which was going so poorly. Ideas have already come to the committee where they should mute the microphones when the other candidate is speaking. Wallace was opposed to this and said, “Trump would still have made an interruption to Biden and his voice probably would have picked up on Biden’s microphone anyways.”

Whether there will be changes for the next debate or not remains to be seen. Listening to the debate committee though, it sounds like they will be making some much needed changes in some way or another. Steve Scully of C-Span will be the moderator for the second debate,he has already began adjusting to the style of debating that occurred in the first debate. Also, the Vice-Presidential Debate will be this Wednesday and according to a variety of experts, there is expected to be much more of a reality feel that will occur during the debate.