Don’t blame Chris Wallace
It is one thing to tell the nine candidates in a primary debate not to interrupt each other and to stick to the time limits, as many moderators have done, and another thing to cut off a ranting man who listens to no one and simply won’t stop, especially when that man is the president of the United States.
Can you imagine what Donald Trump would be saying today if moderator Chris Wallace had successfully cut him off during the first presidential debate?
Wallace couldn’t stop him, and maybe that’s just as well. Debates are not supposed to be exercises in repeating quotes from stump speeches and briefing books. Debates that matter are ones that have moments that really show us who the candidates are. Most debates have none, frankly. They are mostly boring; both sides claim victory; and the polls don’t move.
This debate had 93 such moments. It may not have told you much about Democratic nominee Joe Biden, except that he maintained his position as an adult, even though calling the president a “clown,” but it said almost everything you need to know about Trump. I have always believed that presidential races ultimately turn on the voters’ judgments about character, which is not as easy to test in polls as the economy and pandemics. The question I’ve always looked at first in polls is a variation of “Does he care about people like me?” and then “Can you trust him?”
For those who have watched Trump for years in horror, there was absolutely nothing new. My friends ask how anyone could vote for Trump after last night. There was nothing new for them either. Many of them are glad that he ran over Chris Wallace and the rules. The headlines of the leading newspapers on Wednesday are blaming Trump for chaos; by the time you read this, Trump and his campaign and media mouthpieces will be blaming the liberal news for any bad reviews.
The New York Times can and should chastise Trump with the truth every day between now and the most important election in my life, and I have no doubt it will. That’s easy, just as easy as