It was a given that Chris Wallace would be a miserable moderator of the first presidential debate. But if he was useful for anything, it was in cluing President Trump to that, yes, he really is there to fight the supposed middleman as much as he is to fight his actual opponent, Joe Biden.
During Tuesday night’s first presidential debate, Wallace interrupted Trump so much that Trump actually had to say to him, “First of all, I guess I’m debating you and not him.”
Yes, that proved to be true that entire, exhausting event.
Wallace couldn’t help himself. There’s no other way to say it than that Wallace was embarrassingly chummy with Biden.
What else would you call it when Biden said, “I can’t remember which of all his rantings the question was,” only to have a jovial Wallace respond with a chuckle and to say, “I’m having a little trouble myself!”
Candy Crawley is still very much alive, but if she were deceased, she would either be stirring in her grave, proud of Wallace, or else jealous that he has stolen her crown as the most interfering presidential debate moderator in the last 30 years.
.@JoeBiden: “I can’t remember which of all his rantings it was.”
Chris Wallace: “I’m having a little trouble myself.”
Wallace and Biden both mock @realDonaldTrump for “rantings.” pic.twitter.com/P6hx3rJhTK
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) September 30, 2020
The debate was probably a draw, and that means that it goes to Biden. Expectations for him were low, and all he needed was a tie. He got it, thanks in large part to a very sympathetic moderator.
But now, Trump knows. Yes, he’s going to have to fight the moderator with all of the energy he’s going to have to fight Biden, if not more. The deck is as stacked against him as it was four years ago. Biden has been in Washington for decades. So has Wallace.
Guess what? Steve Scully, the moderator for the next presidential debate, has also been in Washington for decades. He may not be Wallace, but the point is that these people know each other. They swim in the same soup.
Trump didn’t win the first debate because it’s two against one. That’s something he needs to understand and also to demonstrate at the next one.
