Critique of the First Presidential Debate [2020]
Originally Written: September 29, 2020
Revised April 27, 2022 [Spelling and Grammar]
The first Presidential debate between President Trump and former Vice President Biden recently concluded. The debate was moderated by Chris Wallace. First off, I caught Trump and Biden exchanging pleasantries right before the debate on stage. But other than that, they were not pleasant with each other. I felt Biden was a bit more cordial, but still very blunt.
Also, I felt like Biden held the better
position at the end of the debate.; in terms of being a debater. However,
I felt like Trump made a larger impact on screen due to him being a
former reality TV host and knowing how to rally a crowd. I also have to
say, I think Hillary Clinton did a better job debating Trump than Biden
did. Still I felt Biden held his ground well and preformed better in the
debate. He stayed relevant to the topic more often and he did not need
to resort to lies to support his arguments.
Trump failed to denounce white supremacy and white supremacists groups during the debate and frequently interrupted Biden. Meanwhile, Biden did interrupt Trump, but not as much. And Biden did not need to denounce any radical groups. Biden did call out antifa, but only to say its a idea, because antifa is anti-fascist, not really controversial.
Frequently they did get off topic, especially with the first question which was supposed to be about the Supreme Court Vacancy which quickly devolved into a debate on health care. With the other topics and questions, I do think they did better at staying on topic.
I also believe that this debate was ultimately a failure for both candidates and the candidates only made a positive impression on those already committed to voting for them. I think any undecided voters they may now be more confused than they were at the start of the debate. If I have to declare I winner, I would give Biden a light lead. And if I were to give them a grade, Trump gets a 5/10 and Biden gets a 5.1/10