Lying, Cheating, Barking, Bullying: Donald Trump Hijacked The First Presidential Debate
“Will you shut up, man?”
It took only minutes into the first presidential debate for Joe Biden to snap at Donald Trump in response to the president’s interruptions during a question about the Supreme Court. But the heated exchange was only a precursor to the ugly night ahead in what was perhaps the most chaotic and toxic presidential debate in modern history.
The debate in Cleveland, Ohio, was meant to cover the Supreme Court, health care, the coronavirus pandemic, law and order and police brutality. But Trump attempted a high-speed highjacking of the debate by relentlessly disrespecting the debate rules — he frequently talked over both Biden and moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News — and by telling ostentatious lies in every segment. Trump falsely claimed he had enacted a comprehensive health care plan, launched personal attacks about Biden’s son Hunter, and advanced disinformation about mail-in voting.
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Although his performance was typical for Trump, it’s not clear the president did anything to sway the millions of suburban and women voters who say they are turned off by his behaviour after nearly four years in office. Throwing a presidential debate into chaos when you are down in the polls might provide a sugar rush on the similarly combative Fox News, but will likely be a poor long-term strategy for the incumbent president.
It was, however, an apt demonstration of how Trump won the White House and governed as president: by trammeling unwritten...
