Trump (Mostly) Keeps His Cool
Operatives were eyeing which version of Trump would appear on stage Thursday: the brawler who repeatedly interrupted Biden at their first 2020 debate? Or would he be a staid presence that would be interpreted as more presidential? Largely, the latter ended up as a more apt description of Trump’s performance.
To be certain, Trump veered into some of his more bombastic rhetoric — exaggerating the state of the economy under his term and the number of border crossings and crimes taking place under Biden, saying Biden “could be a convicted felon”; and accusing the president of “going after his political opponent because he can’t win fair and square.” But he did not center his arguments around unfounded claims of election fraud or repeated attacks on Hunter Biden, the president’s only surviving son who was recently convicted on felony gun charges. Oftentimes, he returned his answers to favorable topics for him like inflation and immigration, including on a question regarding the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill.
“Let me tell you about Jan. 6. On Jan. 6, we had a great border. Nobody coming through. Very few on Jan. 6. We were energy independent on Jan. 6, we had the lowest taxes ever. We had the lowest regulations ever,” he said. Trump’s campaign swiftly declared victory.
“Tonight President Trump delivered the greatest debate performance and victory in history to the largest voter audience in history, making clear exactly how he will improve the lives of every American,” top Trump campaign hands Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement.
“Joe Biden on the other hand showed exactly why he deserves to be fired,” they said. “Despite taking a week-long vacation at Camp David to prepare for the debate, Biden was unable to defend his disastrous record on the economy and the border.”
New Rules Impose Cleaner Debate, but Less Pushback
Thursday’s debate had novel rules that were largely successful in imposing a cleaner debate than in the past. No audience was in the studio to interrupt with applause or boos, and microphones were cut off when candidates were not recognized to speak. The result was a debate with little crosstalk or disruptions, a stark departure from primary debates earlier this year and debates during 2020 when crosstalk made the candidates’ comments essentially illegible.
However, while the more rigid format helped move the conversation along, there was minimal pushback from moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, who at times opted to move forward rather than correct falsehoods or push for a direct answer to their initial question if a candidate had already used up their time for a response.
And the conversation still veered into the outlandish at times, with both candidates sparring for a few minutes toward the end over their golfing abilities.
“Let’s not act like children,” Trump said.
Lots of Policy Talk, but Little New Ground
The structure also helped the moderators and candidates stick to policy, but little new ground was broken on the contenders’ stances on main issues. Biden vowed to reinstate Roe v. Wade and protect abortion rights, raise taxes on wealthy Americans, and support Ukraine. Trump defended his tax cuts, said he would force European allies to boost their own efforts to back Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and declared that Israel should be able to continue its military operations in Gaza.
However, voters will be left with little new information about what the two candidates believe on key issues that they haven’t heard on the campaign trail.
