WASHINGTON – Politicians on both sides of the aisle on Wednesday agreed that the first presidential debate of the 2020 election season, held on Tuesday night in Cleveland, was far from ‘presidential’ as President Trump refused to condemn white supremacy.
“It’s hard to call that a debate when one of the people on the stage ignores all of the rules of the debates, talks over his opponent constantly and cannot be admonished to the point where he pays attention to letting the other person speak,” said Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin of Illinois early Wednesday, adding that he felt “outrage” about some of Trump’s comments about white supremacy.
Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a frequent critic of the current White House, said, “It was not a Lincoln Douglas debate, that’s for sure,” while also noting that the President should have “of course” condemned white supremacy. He later told reporters that he thought the debate was an “embarrassment.”
Both the Democratic and Republican National Committees depend on presidential debates to help woo undecided voters, especially in swing states where margins of victory can come down to hundreds of votes.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Commission on Presidential Debates — a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that coordinates the debates — announced that it is reviewing rule changes for the three remaining debates due to the chaotic scene that unfolded on stage Tuesday night.
“Last night’s debate made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues,” the CPD’s announcement read, posted on the organization’s website. “The CPD will be carefully considering the changes that it will adopt and will announce those measures shortly.”
Of the few members of Congress who publicly commented on the debate on Wednesday, most agreed that the event was heated and difficult to watch.
Republican Sen. Shelley Capito of West Virginia told reporters, “I thought it was rough.” Fellow Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska went a step further and said that the debate was a “shit show.”
Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota called the debate “raucous” and “good theater”. He also said he thought President Trump had condemned white supremacy during the debate, but “he should clarify that he also denounces them.”
For many politicians, the President’s refusal to clearly denounce white supremacy was underlined by his failure to condemn the Proud Boys, a self-described group of ‘western chauvinists’ who have clashed with Black Lives matters protesters in the past.
“It was a simple question: Will you condemn white supremacy? Trump repeatedly refused,” tweeted House Representative Adam Schiff, who led the impeachment proceedings against Trump last year. “Stand by for what? His own FBI said far right extremist groups are the most serious domestic terrorist threat to America. Trump’s coddling them is dangerous and disgraceful.”