Liveblogging the First Trump-Biden Debate

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Well. That was quite a show, wasn’t it? I’ve never seen a debate moderator tell a sitting president to shut up even once, let alone over and over. But Chris Wallace did.

Thanks to Donald Trump’s inability to keep his mind on a single subject for more than a few seconds, there was no real arc to this debate. It sort of swerved and veered from one spot to another based on whatever lies and conspiracy theories popped into Trump’s mind at any given moment. But fact checking, as Biden said, is pointless. I suppose a few brave souls will do one, but it almost misses the point. Of course Trump was lying constantly. That’s just part of his persona and everyone knows it. The question is more about the literary quality of his lies, and tonight I’d judge the literary quality pretty low. Trump was obviously trying to deliver a toned-down version of his rally speeches, but that doesn’t work well in a more serious debate format. Being nothing more than an insult machine turns people off on a stage like this.

And what about Trump’s unwillingness to condemn white supremacist groups? And his unwillingness to urge his followers to stay calm after the election? If those get the 24/7 cable news treatment, it could—and should!—do Trump some serious harm.

Biden was OK. He did his best to deal with Trump’s blizzard of lies without being consumed by them, and that’s a tough thing to do. It’s hard to say if Biden managed to get his points across in the face of Trump’s constant interruptions and bizarre attacks, but I think he did. He also successfully managed to present himself as something more than just an insult machine, which should appeal to moderates. He came across as a decent person, which Trump certainly didn’t do.

Trump’s fans will probably be happy with his performance. He hit all the weird right-wing obsessions that they love so much. But Biden fans will also be happy. He did fine and didn’t stumble or backtrack too much. I think Biden might have won a few votes tonight, but overall, as usual, my guess is that this debate changed very few minds.


It’s time for the big debate. Let’s get to it.

10:38 – And that’s a wrap.

10:36 – Trump is all but guaranteeing that if he loses he will take to the streets claiming the election was a fraud.

10:27 – Trump is trying over and over to tie Biden to the “radical left.” I don’t think it’s working, but what do I know?

10:23 – Trump is going hard on the Green New Deal, claiming it will destroy the economy.

10:17 – Trump just can’t help himself. He simply has to get every single insult out.

10:11 – Hillary!

9:55 – Trump says Biden called Black criminals “superpredators” in 1994. That’s not true.

9:50 – Chris Wallace is doing his best to shut Trump up, but no one can shut Trump up.

9:45 – Trump is just a whirlwind of stream of consciousness attacks and insults.

9:43 – Trump says he paid “millions of dollars” in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017.

9:42 – Trump: “I brought back football.”

9:31 – Trump is now insisting that Biden is stupid. Literally. “Don’t ever use the word smart with me.”

9:20 – Biden: “Will you shut up please.”

9:17 – Biden: “I’m not here to call out his lies. Everybody knows he’s a liar.”

9:12 – Biden: “I am the Democratic Party.”

9:09 – First question is about Amy Coney Barrett. Biden doesn’t say a word about abortion. He focuses solely on Obamacare.

8:55 – Trump has spent the past week claiming that Joe Biden is a doddering old man who’s an embarrassment to the nation, and today the entire right-wing noise machine has kicked into high gear to back him up. This may seem dumb, but it probably isn’t. What they’re doing is priming us. They want everyone to be hyper-attentive to Biden’s performance, ready to criticize him every time he halts or corrects himself or stumbles over something. Even those of us who think we’re immune really aren’t. My advice: if you look at past debates, you’ll see that everyone stumbles a bit here and there. We just don’t notice it. So calm down and ignore the presentation on both sides unless something really grisly happens.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate