Takeaways From the Chaotic Presidential Debate

The first presidential debate between President Trump and Joe Biden ended in chaos. Authors of major media publications and critiques have commented that the debate was filled with shouting, bitter exchanges, and interruptions. Throughout the debate, Chris Wallace, the moderator, struggled to control the chaotic and messy situation. What are the things the voters will get out of this debate? The answer remains uncertain. However, here are three main takeaways from the first presidential debate. 

President Trump’s debate strategy 

After looking over the entire presidential debate, it is clear that President Trump’s priority of this debate was not to inform the citizens of his new policies or agenda. Instead, His main goal seems to be mainly focusing on how to distract the audiences’ attention while constantly speaking over Mr. Biden. 

When asked about President Trump’s behavior during the presidential debate, Jason D., a sophomore at AISG stated that “it must be hard for both Mr. Biden and the moderator, Chris Wallace, to present their statements in clarity while enduring this chaotic distraction.”

Joe Biden’s reaction and solution 

As a whole, Mr. Biden was able to carry out a fairly decent debate even when he was distracted by President Trump.

At a point in the debate, Mr. Biden’s anger towards Mr. Trump burst through the screen. Having to clearly carry out his statement while being constantly distracted and talked over by President Trump caused Mr. Biden to eventually lose his temper and called President Trump a clown. When President Trump tried to interrupt Mr. Biden again, Biden said to Trump that he is “the worst president America has ever had.”

But for the most part of the debate, Mr. Biden successfully avoided being carried away by President Trump’s debate strategy. His solution to this chaos is to look directly into the camera to address the American people from his point of view. 

Mr. Biden said to the audience in front of the camera that the COVID-19 pandemic “is about your family. The American people. He doesn’t want to talk about what you need.”

This strong rebuttal of Mr. Biden allowed him to focus more closely on his perspective of the coronavirus pandemic and the economic downturn that is occurring in the U.S. The direct address through the cameras provided Mr. Biden a solution from the stream of attacks and interruptions from President Trump. It also helped him to carry out his most effective statements and lines, which is crucial to successfully appeal to the audience. 

Bitter exchanges in the debate 

Although most parts of the debate was in a state of chaos, there are still a few exchanges between President Trump and Mr. Biden. Both sides attacked each other’s inefficiency when in office. 

President Trump said with great confidence during the debate that “in 47 months, I’ve done more than you’ve done in 47 years, Joe.”

This line was also used by President Trump in the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton. However, this time, Mr. Biden had President Trump’s record to refute Trump’s claims

“He’s going to be the first president of the United States to leave office having fewer jobs in his administration when he became president,” Mr. Biden pointed out to the audience after being challenged by President Trump about the tax code. 

These exchanges between the two candidates, however, did not address anything in terms of their future agenda or policy. 

The next presidential debate will take place soon, and with the election coming up in less than two weeks, these debates may still influence the decisions of some American voters.