If you missed the US presidential election debate between Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden featuring moderator Chris Wallace, here’s a recap: Blah blah blah COVID-19, blah blah blah ObamaCare, blah blah blah income taxes, blah blah blah Mr President, please! blah blah blah I’m the moderator, blah blah blah will you shut up, man! – blah blah blah!!!
In what has been dubbed the most chaotic presidential debate in history, both runners hurled anger-fuelled remarks at one another. So much so, the debate itself featured more of Trump’s interjections and Biden’s angry responses, than it did either answers or questions from Fox News’ veteran political journalist Wallace, who often found himself caught in the crossfire.
“I hate to raise my voice, but why should I be any different from the two of you,” Wallace exclaimed following the first segment of questions. Wallace later clarified that his remark was predominantly directed at Trump, who interrupted both Biden and Wallace on countless occasions.
Throughout the debate, multiple claims and accusations were made from both parties. President Trump accused Biden’s son of having a serious drug addiction, of which Biden later confirmed his son had recovered from – and in an attempt to make the remark constructive for his campaign, the former Vice President compared it to situations that “many American families have experienced”.
Key questions and topics were addressed throughout the debate, however, not as frequently and thoroughly as a more “traditional” and “standard debate”.
COVID-19, racial justice, the economy, public safety, the Supreme Court nominee, climate change, and of course, most notably, Trump’s income taxes were the main topics discussed.
Following the sparring, both opponents made their feelings clear on how they thought the debate went.
“Maybe I shouldn’t say this – the president of the United States conducted himself the way he did – I think it was a national embarrassment,” Biden said during a campaign stop in Ohio late yesterday.
“I just hope that the American people and those undecided voters try to determine what each of us has an answer for their concerns, and allow it to actually speak.”
President Trump, on the other hand, decided to take an optimistic approach.
“I thought it was a great evening,” Trump remarked before boarding Marine One in the hours following the debate.
“It was an exciting evening. I see the ratings were very high. And it was good to be there. It felt very comfortable. And I appreciate all the good words.”
Ultimately, experts and political pundits have ruled the winner of the debate: chaos (by a landslide)!
The Commission on Presidential Debates, which organises these events, has reportedly made, in an unprecedented move, plans to switch off Trump and Biden’s microphones if they continue to break the rules in future debates.
That’s right… future debates. There are still two more to go.
The two will meet again at debate number two in Miami, Florida in two weeks time.
It will be a different format to the first one, whereby South Florida-area residents will ask questions of the two candidates in a town hall-style event.
Buckle up.
If you missed it, you can watch below (if you’re game).