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Everyone agrees the first Trump vs. Biden debate was a total disaster

It was a real sh*tshow.

Caitlin Welsh

on September 29, 2020

The first 2020 presidential debate was a disaster. A shouty, incomprehensible, undercooked turducken stitched from the carcasses of a debate and a drunken Thanksgiving argument and a phone video of a racist shouting slurs on a bus.

Moderator Chris Wallace spent several full minutes over the course of the 90-minute event literally begging President Trump to stop interrupting and talking over opponent Joe Biden as well as over Wallace himself, reminding him at one point of the terms his own campaign agreed on. An exasperated Biden at one point literally asked the president "Will you just shut up, man?" and later told him to "shush".

And it wasn't just the ranting: When he managed to say anything of consequence, Trump turned an invitation to condemn white supremacist extremist group the Proud Boys into a suggestion they "stand back and stand by" (which they loved) and repeated and expanded upon his recent suggestion that his supporters should go and "watch" polling stations for statistically unlikely incidents of voter fraud.

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Even the pundits agreed that it was a five-dimensional omnishambles, ditching the usual post-debate pablum and spin for some unusually frank, FCC-baiting takes.

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The next debate is the VP candidates, incumbent Mike Pence and his Democratic challenger Kamala Harris, on Oct. 9. And if the next presidential debate goes ahead, it's scheduled for Oct. 15. Start hoarding your wine of choice now.

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Topics Politics

Caitlin Welsh

Caitlin is Mashable's Australian Editor. She has written for The Guardian, Junkee, and any number of plucky little music and culture publications that were run on the smell of an oily rag and have since been flushed off the Internet like a dead goldfish by their new owners. She also worked at Choice, Australia's consumer advocacy non-profit and magazine, and as such has surprisingly strong opinions about whitegoods. She enjoys big dumb action movies, big clever action movies, cult Canadian comedies set in small towns, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Replacements, smoky mezcal, revenge bedtime procrastination, and being left the hell alone when she's reading.