Debate was a blown opportunity for Trump

Washington Times ^ | September 30, 2020 | Editorial

[lasereye]

President Trump came into Tuesday night’s debate trailing both nationally and in key battleground states. The debate gave him the largest audience of the campaign and provided him the first real opportunity to press his case against Joe Biden and shake up the race. Instead, it ended up as a blown opportunity.

Right out of the gate, Trump pursued an aggressive strategy of interrupting Biden, speaking over moderator Chris Wallace, and launching a flurry of attacks.

At first, one could perhaps see a method to his madness, as Biden seemed frustrated and rattled. At one point, an exasperated Biden snapped, “Shut up, man!”

As the debate wore on, however, the constant cross-talk and interruptions and arguments with Wallace overshadowed the debate. Nobody will remember any of the actual details of the debate. They will just remember it being a chaotic mess.

In all of his interruptions, Trump, despite his reputation for being a master at messaging over the TV medium, lost chances to damage Biden. He often set up attacks only to fall back into repeating phrases that didn’t communicate to outsiders what he was talking about.

Trump, if he had one goal, was to establish that Biden, despite his centrist image, would ultimately be beholden to the radical Left. However, he never clearly explained this point.

For example, when he said that Biden would usher in socialized medicine and lead 180 million people to lose health coverage, he didn’t offer details. Had he taken a breath, he may have been able to point out that Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, explicitly said during the primary that she wanted to eliminate private coverage. Or, Trump could have explained how the purpose of Biden’s plan to add a government-run “public option” to Obamacare is to migrate to a socialized health insurance system over time. Instead, Trump just started shouting about socialism.

Biden, explaining his plan, falsely claimed that his public option was only limited to those poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. “Anyone who qualifies for Medicaid would automatically be enrolled in the public option,” Biden said. “The vast majority of the American people would still not be in that option.”

Yet Biden’s actual healthcare plan says the public option would be made available “whether you’re covered through your employer, buying your insurance on your own, or going without coverage altogether.” Rather than apply to a small number of people, in other words, the option could eventually replace every form of private insurance that exists.

Instead of explaining this to voters, Trump interrupted Biden with statements such as, “Joe, you agree with Bernie Sanders, who's far Left, on the manifesto we call it, that gives you socialized medicine.” But what sort of voter who is learning about Biden’s healthcare position knows what Trump was referring to?

Trump then interjected multiple times during Biden’s same answer with pointless political analysis. When Biden denied supporting socialized medicine, Trump replied with, “You just lost the Left” — a silly comment given that the whole point of this line of attack is to convey that Biden would be beholden to the Left if elected. Trump then said Biden got lucky in the primaries because “if Pocahontas would have left two days earlier, you would have lost every primary.” What does that sort of punditry, and potshot at the increasingly irrelevant Elizabeth Warren, do to advance the ball for Trump? And why was it so important to make this comment that it was worth interrupting Biden for?

There were other examples, such as on the Green New Deal and tax policy, on which Trump failed to land obvious blows because he was too busy interrupting with pointless cracks.

Another problem was that Trump’s constant barrage of interruptions threw a lifeline to Biden when it would have been better to step back and let Biden stumble over the answer.

Toward the end of the debate, Trump went down the rabbit hole of discussing mail voter fraud, Michael Flynn, the Logan Act, spying on his campaign, and so forth. While such issues may receive a “Thatta boy!” from the talk radio crowd, Trump already has the vote of those this will impress. The point of the debate was to win over undecided voters, or to convince those leaning toward Biden to give him a second look.

One could argue that the mess of the debate essentially made it a draw. Biden failed to land his planned blows on Trump on tax returns, the coronavirus, or the Atlantic story claiming based on anonymous sources that Trump referred to service members as “suckers” and “losers.”

But debates cannot be viewed in a vacuum. They must be viewed in the context of the broader campaign. And given that Trump is losing, he needed to show that Biden was too far left and too mentally unfit to be president. But Trump did not accomplish that. After months of attacks claiming Biden doesn’t even know that he’s alive, Biden exceeded that low standard by showing he could stand and debate for 90 minutes, remaining more or less composed in the face of Trump’s relentless attacks. The tie, thus, went to Biden.

If there are two more debates, something that has to be seen as uncertain after Tuesday’s debacle, Trump is going to have to change his strategy to make focused and substantive attacks on Biden. Because the status quo means that Trump likely loses the election.

[Monty22002]

Trump said the green deal would cost $100T, didn’t he? That sounds a lot more realistic than ‘just’ $10T.

[kevao]

Until this week, I had never heard of Proud Boys. And I’m probably more informed than 98% of people. Where did these guys come from all of a sudden?

[hawkaw]

Trump did say “sure” after Wallace asked the question and then Wallace quickly went somewhere else with another group.

[1Old Pro]

correct 100 trillion

[RetiredArmy]

I think Trump missed a great chance to tell America WHAT HE ACCOMPLISHED during this 4 years. He should have beat that into the heads of everyone listening last night. We did this, this, this, this, this. He should have beat it into everyone’s heads about the China Virus and beat it in hard.

[Regulator]

“stunned to hear that Wallace was allowed to select the questions”

And the questions were really all Democrat talking points.

Obamacare? When has that come up in the summer of no love?

Riots by organized militant Leftists have dominated the news. Trump stuck to that even after Biden claimed Antifa is an “ideology” and used Chris Wray’s lies to back that up.

Wallace’s questions reflected his ideology which is totally down with the Rat party. It was a coordinated attack on the President.

Fox News conservative my butt.

[BEJ]

“There were other examples, such as on the Green New Deal and tax policy, on which Trump failed to land obvious blows because he was too busy interrupting with pointless cracks.”

I think this article is a bit skewed. Trump now has plenty of material for advertisements of what Joe had said. Joe is being exposed.

[dfwgator]

There are black members in the Proud Boys, so they are most definitely not a White Supremacist organization.

[rob from twitter]

It’s obvious to Trump supporters on Twitter that Chris Wallace was biased. So people are beginning to realise that Trump had to get scrappy

I’m proud of Trump.

And I think he is crazy like a fox. To say more might be saying too much. Loose lips sink ships.

[blueunicorn6]

What does standing at a lectern arguing with somebody have to do with being a good President?

President Trump is a builder.

Joe Biden bickers with people.

Which one do you want as President of The United States?

[reformedliberal]

Well, someone got a message. Trump clearly won in the flash polls last night and with key demographics.

Biden clearly lost.

I’m elderly. I remember weatherization. A failed boondoggle fraught with economic bars and hoops to jump thru that got a few poor people a new roof or siding.

Meanwhile, same decade, we built the Alaskan Pipeline in 18 months, guys who went up there to work made real money and learned real skills and we recovered from Carter in record time.

As for the debate: I want a junkyard dog. I do not want Good Old Joe and the debate cemented that for me.

[lasereye]

IMHO Trump's plan was to constantly badger Biden until he lost control, since this was the only debate that will likely take place.

That was my impression too. It was a miscalculation. You can't make everything ride on that. It was like someone putting everything on one roll of the dice. I think Biden loses his train of thought due to fatigue, but it was obvious he was resting up. Trump should have realized that. And it's not the only debate either.

[Regulator]

“When Wallace asks Trump about “$750 per year income tax,”

Which is starting with a conclusion: that it was a true statement which it was not.

[nathanbedford]

What I said in real time:

I don't like to say this, I'm distressed to have to say this, but candor requires me to say that Trump entered the debate with the overwhelming advantage of incumbency As President of the United States Of America and left the debate a brawler who was behind in the Real Clear Average of polls. Biden entered the debate as a demented septuagenarian ahead in the polls and left the debate a viable candidate for president of the United States in possession of his faculties ahead in the Real Clear average of polls.

Trump's objective was to turn the polls around, I believe he failed to do that tonight. Biden's objective was to appear presidential rather than demented and to safeguard his lead in the polls, I believe he did that.

[reformedliberal]

Trump did more in 47 months.
_______________________

One of POTUS’ talking points and you remembered it.

Advantage Trump.

[joethedrummer]

Yep.

These “debates” are basically- political WWE.
-put on simply for our entertainment.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Having slept on it I think I understand what Trump’s strategy was.

Many on the Left are calling for Biden to back out of the next two debates.

His campaign says he won’t. He can’t.

Trump would just claim that he is afraid after getting bloodied in the first one. A future POTUS can’t be afraid.

So in the end there was some logic behind what Trump was doing.

I agree thoughh with criticism that at times it would have helped for Trump to just shut-up and let Biden talk. Inevitably Slow Joe is going to step on his own phallus.

[nwrep]

Agreed with the take. Everyone, including the Trump campaign, understands that Trump is behind in the polls, and has been behind for a while. He is doing significantly worse against Biden than he was in polls against Hillary:

=====================================================

[Revolutionary]

A key part of Trump’s strategy was to get Biden to dis all of the far left’s dogma and reopen a gaping wound the dems thought they closed.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Your theory requires one to believe the polls.
Few do.