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After a chaotic night in Cleveland, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) issued a surprise statement Wednesday. She said she would soon announce “additional structure … to the format of the remaining debates, to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.”
CPD said it was grateful to Chris Wallace for his “professionalism and skill” as moderator of the first debate, but nodded at criticism of the Fox News anchor’s handling of Donald Trump’s aggressive and abusive behavior when he said he would provide “additional tools to maintain order”.
Thanks to Trump, the debate in Cleveland will surely continue to live in infamy. The president interrupted or ignored Wallace, persistently intimidated Biden, attacked his family and even refused to repudiate white supremacists, a low point of what experts called a “garbage dump fire,” a “train wreck.” and a “shit show”.
Two presidential debates remain. As the dust settled early on, Biden felt that he had come out stronger, many wondered if Trump would now be the one to come out, or if he should.
The Biden campaign roundly rejected that idea.
“Joe Biden will never refuse to speak to the American people,” California Sen. Kamala Harris, Biden’s running mate, told CNN.
As it happens, the next campaign debate, in Salt Lake City on October 7, will be between Harris and Vice President Mike Pence. A tough prosecutor versus a soft trader should present a fascinating, even comforting and familiar spectacle of point and counterpoint.
The second round of Trump v Biden will follow, scheduled for October 15 in Miami, a week before a final meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.
Biden, Harris said, would take “any opportunity he can to speak directly to American families and talk about the issues, tell the truth and address the facts of where we are now, but also address the hopes and dreams of American families and where We could be and Joe has a plan to deal with those hopes and aspirations as well.
As luck would have it, at least for Biden and Harris, pending CPD changes, the Miami debate will see the candidates answer questions from the audience.
On Tuesday, Brian Klaas, associate professor of global politics at University College London and a columnist for the Washington Post, tweeted who understood “those who say ‘cancel the debates’ now”, but also pointed out that the second debate “is a town hall format”.
“Biden is at his best, especially with empathy and compassion, when speaking to individual voters,” Klaas wrote. “Trump, on the other hand, does not have those capabilities, and that will be seen.”
Among discussions of the actual little debate that was possible in Cleveland, former Republican strategist and Lincoln Project member Rick Wilson pointed to Biden’s handling of questions about the coronavirus pandemic.
“One of the things I think Biden did very, very well at was blaming Trump for the Covid deaths,” Wilson said on his New Abnormal podcast. “He went straight to that. He named it, it was a chapter and a verse about him. “
More than 7 million people have been infected in the US and more than 205,000 have died since February, when, Bob Woodward reported, Trump was aware of the threat but decided to downplay it.
Wilson added: “Trump’s reaction was, ‘I have the respirators, you would never get respirators.’ It was such a pathetic and careless defense of his mishandling of this, and I think it was important for Biden to really hit that and hit it. “
In the right-wing media, Trump drew predictable praise. On Fox News, expert Dan Bongino insisted, “Trump’s strategy tonight was brilliantly executed,” adding: “Trump is a supreme predator. He is the lion king. Trump came out tonight and did what Trump does. He is the shark in the ocean and he acted like one. He did not lose anyone from his base, anyone. “
But Trump is behind in the national and state polls and needs to go beyond his base. Evidence that his behavior in Cleveland did not do so could be found freely.
Conservative focus group guru Frank Luntz gathered independent or undecided voters for a session streamed on YouTube. People described Trump as “hideous,” “chaotic,” “unpolished,” “baffling,” “anti-American,” “unhinged,” “energetic,” “unhinged,” “arrogant,” and a “bully.”
One voter, Ruthie from Pennsylvania, a vital watershed state, instantly became an internet star. She had been indecisive, she said, but would now vote for Biden, whom she had seen trying to “win an argument with a crack addict.”
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