President Trump gave Democrat foe Joe Biden such a beating in the pair’s first debate that the Commission on Presidential Debates will rework the rules for the next one in Miami on October 15.
The CPD hasn’t announced how it will protect Biden from another hurricane of Trump’s jabs, hooks, and uppercuts during the town hall meeting, but the commission and the critics are agreed.
The Donald was a beast, and put a beatdown on Biden despite the best effort of leftist Fox moderator Chris Wallace to protect the glass-jawed 78-year-old candidate.
And though some think Biden should not debate Trump again, the Democrat’s cornermen say the contender will be ready to put on the gloves in two weeks.
No More Debates?
The debate “was widely panned as an embarrassing debacle,” the Washington Post reported:
Trump’s aggressive and norm-shattering tactics on the stage in Cleveland on Tuesday drew criticism even from some Republican allies, who joined Democrats on Wednesday to express how demoralizing they found the debate.
As some Democrats encouraged Biden to skip future debates, the commission in charge of the events said it would take swift action to help “maintain order” going forward. One area of agreement? Something needs to change.
“It was awful,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
And, we learn, the debate invited “near universal condemnation of the event as a disturbing spectacle unworthy of a presidential race.”
Thus did the presidential historian at The University of Virginia unbosom himself of the opinion that debates must end, at least for now.
“This doesn’t need to happen again,” U.Va.’s Russell Riley, told the Post. The debate “was the latest example of why such events have outlived their value as a means to inform voters. ‘It does not serve any useful purpose. It’s just ugly, and it reflects poorly on our political system.’”
Unsurprisingly, Riley blamed Trump:
“Could the debates serve a useful purpose? Yes, but not this year. I do not believe that there is any set of circumstances — short of a kill button on Donald Trump’s microphone — that would allow these to proceed in any fruitful way.”
The CPD agrees apparently, and announced the next day that changes are coming.
“The Commission on Presidential Debates sponsors televised debates for the benefit of the American electorate,” CPD announced:
Last night’s debate made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues. The CPD will be carefully considering the changes that it will adopt and will announce those measures shortly.
Those changes are as yet unknown.
Biden: It Was Trump’s Fault
At issue was Trump’s interrupting Biden and his ally Wallace, and refusing to permit Biden to duck questions and deliver unanswered smears.
Although Biden called Trump a liar, a racist, a clown, and told him to shut up, the Democrat blamed Trump for the supposed “debacle” and said he was nasty and “unpresidential.”
“Biden, who began a train tour Wednesday through parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania, said he could ‘understand’ if some voters were discouraged by the nastiness on display. He blamed Trump,” the Post reported, and Trump, of course disagreed:
“Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but the president of the United States conducting himself the way he did — I think it was just a national embarrassment,” Biden said.
Trump described it differently.
“I thought the debate last night was great,” he told reporters Wednesday before leaving for a rally in Minnesota. “We’ve gotten tremendous reviews on it.”
As well, the Post noted, Trump tweeted the take of Fox News contributor Dan Bongino, who said Trump won and “executed brilliantly.”
“This is a base election — forget independents,” Bongino said. “It’s a base election. So Trump is an apex predator. He’s the lion king. Trump went out there tonight and did what Trump does. He’s the shark in the ocean, and he acted like it. He lost no one from his base. No one.”
Probably true. And as for interruptions, former White House press chief Ari Fleischer, who worked for President George W. Bush, explained that Biden broke the debate rules that forbid interruptions before Trump did:
No Changes
As for the changes, Trump’s opposed.
Said campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh, “President Trump was the dominant force and now Joe Biden is trying to work the refs. They shouldn’t be moving the goal posts and changing the rules in the middle of the game.”
Biden is ready for the mayhem in Miami “under whatever set of rules the commission develops to try to contain Donald Trump’s behavior,” spokesman Kate Bedingfield said.
Bedingfield did not say how many times Biden would call Trump a liar, clown, or racist.
