In the first half hour of the first presidential debate of the 2020 general election, President Donald Trump hardly let former Vice President Joe Biden — or, even, moderator Chris Wallace — get a word in edgewise.
Frustrated, Biden often simply spoke while facing the camera directly, rather than Trump or Wallace.
“Do you believe for a moment what he’s telling you?” Biden said at one point, addressing the camera after Trump asserted that he’d spoken “to the scientists in charge, and they’ll have the [COVID-19 vaccine] very soon.”
Biden Asks Voters: 'Do You Believe For A Moment What He's Telling You?' pic.twitter.com/BJXphGilWa
— Matt Shuham (@mattshuham) September 30, 2020
Trump’s strategy, as it often is during contentious interviews, appeared to be simply talking over any inconvenient questions or effective attacks.
Most notably, when Wallace attempted to ask him about his attempt to eliminate Obamacare in federal court without a plan to replace it, Trump tried to smother the question entirely.
Fox News' Chris Wallace reminds Trump that he is the moderator of the debate pic.twitter.com/8hMI67mvWD
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) September 30, 2020
Wallace at times got Trump to follow the debate’s rules and allow Biden time to answer. But Trump appeared frustrated at not being allowed to speak unfettered.
“I guess I’m debating you, not him,” he said to Wallace, after the moderator managed to get his health care question in.
Biden was more blunt.
“Would you shut up, man?” he said at one point, before calling Trump “unpresidential.”
Biden grows tired of Trump's constant interruption: "Would you shut up, man?" pic.twitter.com/gE9XXI1POW
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) September 30, 2020
“Would you shut up, man?” is my new motto!
Complete disaster all around. I quit watching after 15 minutes.
I’m all in for Biden, but there is no reason to watch this train wreck.
Prediction - either Chis Wallace gets royally skewered for letting this go nuts ( to be fair it was an near impossible task) or Trump takes a beating for being a raging ass … Biden’s probably safe from any downside …
My guess is that the poll about “who won this debate” will go to Trump simply because they only poll people who watched the whole thing and most sane people couldn’t sit through all of this.