Dan Balz: “No one alive has ever seen a presidential debate like Tuesday night’s unseemly shout fest between President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden — 90 minutes of invective, interruptions and personal insults. It was an insult to the public as well, and a sad example of the state of American democracy five weeks before the election.”
“On the margins, the debate probably did more to help Biden than the president, at a moment when Trump needed to change the shape and trajectory of the campaign. But that’s not what people will remember. Even partisans locked into their choices were probably dispirited at what they were witnessing. One can only imagine what the next two debates between the two men will look like.”
Walter Shapiro: “I am old enough to have watched —as boy and man— every fall presidential debate since John Kennedy went up against Richard Nixon and his five o’clock shadow in 1960. And never have I witnessed a guttersnipe, bully-boy performance like Trump’s on the debate stage.”
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