First 2020 presidential debate met with bipartisan criticism
Graphic by Julia Zawitowska
The first presidential debate of the 2020 election cycle, between President Donald Trump
and former Vice President Joe Biden was held Tuesday, Sept. 29, in Cleveland, Ohio.
The debate was moderated by Fox News host Chris Wallace and featured six 15-minute
segments on various topics. The candidates discussed the Supreme Court, healthcare reform, COVID-19, the economy, Trump’s taxes, racial tension, and climate change.
The debate was met with heavy criticism from both liberals and conservatives.
During the debate, former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang tweeted, “Chris Wallace has his hands full. Talking over the other person makes for a very choppy ‘debate.’”
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro tweeted a few days after the debate, “I frankly cannot believe that people stuck around until the end of that debate. We are a country of masochists.”
Although both candidates interrupted one another, Trump repeatedly refused to yield to the moderator, which led Chris Wallace to pointedly tell Trump, “Mr. President, your campaign agreed… both sides would get two-minute answers.”
Neither Biden nor Trump refrained from personally attacking each other. Biden described Trump as a clown, and asked him to “shut up, man.” Trump countered Biden by saying, “There’s nothing smart about you, you’ve done nothing in 47 years.”
Professor of Political Science at Elmhurst University, Dr. Constance Mixon, said the debate was, “unlike anything we’ve seen in presidential history.”
Mixon said that she is worried this debate will discourage people who are just getting involved with politics and that this debate will make these people more “cynical” and “frustrated with the system.”
Viewers also criticized the candidates’ policy decisions. Critics said that Trump refused to disavow white supremacists after the president told the Proud Boys, a right-wing militia group, to “stand back and stand by” during the debate.
Biden was criticized by viewers for inconsistency after initially saying that he did not support the Green New Deal, a proposed progressive environmental policy, then later saying the policy would “pay for itself.”
In an official statement released by the Commission on Presidential Debates, the debate format is now reportedly undergoing amendments to ensure a “more orderly discussion of the issue.”
