After First Debate ‘Shitshow,’ Calls Mount To Cancel Further Encounters

After First Debate ‘Shitshow,’ Calls Mount To Cancel Further Encounters

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Janet Ybarra
Democrat
Former Washington Journalist
Contributor on The Bipartisan Press

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Talk is mounting among political analysts saying that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden ought to drop out of the last two presidential debates before the election, following an initial encounter which was widely panned for incumbent Donald Trump’s poor behavior.

Biden and Trump faced off for a highly anticipated initial encounter at a campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Trump, however, worked from the beginning by attempting to ignore both moderator Chris Wallace, as well as ground rules for the debate as established by both presidential campaigns. He frequently tried to bully both Biden and Wallace, while failing to disavow white supremacists.

“That was a shit show. We’re on cable, we can say that. Apologies for being maybe a little bit crude, but that is really the phrase that I’m getting from people on both sides of the aisle on text and it’s the only phrase that I can think of to really describe it,” CNN host Dana Bash said on-air. “And I couldn’t agree with you more, Jake. The people who have been hurt the most by that are the people who are genuinely looking to see what each candidate stands for and who they should vote for.

“There are still people out there who haven’t made up their mind, either on which candidate to vote for or whether to vote. And I’m not sure that, particularly on the latter point, that that performance and that the theater there, the reality TV show, the bad reality TV show will help them in the least,” Bash added.

CNN host Wolf Blitzer was among those who raised the question whether Biden ought to forget about showing up to the two scheduled debates based on Trump’s actions Tuesday night.

“Clearly, this was the most chaotic presidential debate I have ever seen. I suspect most of you if not all have ever seen. Most chaotic presidential debate. It will certainly raise a lot of questions about the future of the presidential debate between these two candidates,” Blitzer said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the last presidential debate between the president of the United States and the former vice president of the United States.”

David Alexrod, a former top adviser to President Barack Obama, agreed.

“I don’t think the country will be yearning for these,” he said. “You know what will happen if the Biden says he doesn’t want to dignify another debates? I don’t think the country wants another one of these spectacles.”

The second presidential debate is scheduled for October 15, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, in Miami, Fla. The third presidential debate is set for October 22, at Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn.

However, the next debate up is the vice presidential candidates’ debate on October 7 between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris and held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

The vice presidential debate is not expected to be caught up in the controversy around Trump’s behavior in Tuesday’s presidential debate.

All vice presidential and presidential debates are arranged by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

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COMMENTS (1)

  • comment-avatar

    Cancel the remaining 2 shitstorms. There cant be a debate if the format isn’t honored AND if the rules aren’t followed. It then devolves into masochistic entertainment