North American Observation丨The general election hits: the first debate turned into a wrestling match, American public opinion frantically complained
On the evening of September 29, local time, the first election debate between US President Trump and his opponent Biden ended in chaos.
In this 90-minute melee, Trump's constant interruption and mutual insults between the two sides are a spectacle in modern American politics.
After this "personal attack show" and "policy smear show" ended, the "media complaints show" broke out in an instant, and almost no one discussed their policy propositions.
After the "mud wrestling match" between Trump and Biden ended, according to a poll conducted by the independent agency SSRS, 60% of the respondents believed that Biden performed better, and only 28% of the respondents believed that Lampe performed better.
The analysis believes that Trump may continue to play cards in the next two debates unreasonably in order to save his disadvantages, and Biden will fight back hard, which will fill the entire October with the smell of gunpowder.
Data map: US President Trump.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Mengtong
"Personal Attack Show"
The first debate of the US general election was held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio on the evening of the 29th. For those middle voters who want to understand the policies and propositions of both sides, this debate will obviously disappoint them.
Soon after Trump and Biden stepped onto the stage, the debate quickly degenerated into a "personal assault show" of constant interruptions, mutual insults, and mutual scars, and the host often lost control of the situation.
Trump, who is lagging behind in the polls and eager to restore the election, has obviously adopted a provocative strategy, hoping that Biden will make mistakes in his response.
Trump's constant harassment and interruption made Biden almost unable to speak coherently, forcing the host of the debate, Chris Wallace from Fox News, to repeatedly demand Trump's temperance and not interrupt Biden's speech.
In many cases, the audience even felt that it was not Biden who was debating with Trump, but Wallace sitting in the audience.
Despite Wallace's repeated interventions, Trump still went his own way. In addition to repeatedly interrupting the conversation, he also launched attacks on Biden's IQ and family members.
When Biden criticized Trump for not being "smart" in responding to the new crown epidemic, Trump questioned that Biden was not worthy to talk about "smart", claiming that "You graduated with the lowest or close to the lowest ranking in school. Don't tell me to be'smart'. this phrase".
Trump also attacked Biden's son, claiming that Hunter Biden was expelled from the army for using cocaine and was still doing business overseas.
And Biden is not to be outdone.
"Dude, shut up!" Biden, who was once irritated, said, Trump is "the worst president in the history of the United States."
Sometimes he tried to ignore Trump's harassment, speaking directly to the camera, and sometimes couldn't help turning to Trump to curse, and his words became more intense.
If the most difficult person in this "personal attack show" is selected, it may be the host Wallace.
He has been trying hard to control the situation and often argued with Trump. Although he kept asking Trump to stop interrupting, Trump still went his own way, which made it difficult for everyone to hear what they said, let alone conduct coherence. The policy is stated.
Although Wallace insisted on raising sensitive issues to Trump and Biden, and repeatedly tried to grasp the direction of the issue, the two often digress in order to insult each other, and the scenes are often chaotic.
Some analysts believe that if Biden’s goal is to prove to Americans that although he is old, he can still bear the pressure, he can still achieve this goal successfully. This is due in part to Trump, because Trump has repeatedly Interrupting Biden while speaking may prevent Biden from saying something that might harm him.
However, although Trump continued his campaigning style of being silent and insulting others, which would make many people disgusted, he did successfully disrupt the opponent's rhythm on several occasions, making Biden look a little flustered.
"Policy Discrimination Show"
According to the agenda setting, this debate between Trump and Biden should have focused on these themes: their past political achievements, the appointment of Supreme Court justices, the new crown pneumonia epidemic, racism, election fairness, and economic performance.
However, due to continuous interruption in harassment and personal attacks, the two sides were either digressed by the other side, or unable to coherently elaborate their policy propositions, which made the scene appear "larger destructive and less constructive" and ultimately reduced to a "policy smear show." .
Regarding the political achievements of both parties, Trump described Biden as a tool for progressives in the Democratic Party, and said that Biden did not even dare to use the term "law enforcement" for fear of losing the support of radical leftists.
Biden has repeatedly accused Trump of "no plan", lack of preparation for the presidency, and criticized his climate change policy. Trump also rebutted and questioned whether Biden had not been in Washington during his more than 40 years of political career. Get any achievements.
For the audience, apart from discrediting each other, they rarely hear specific political opinions.
When talking about the appointment of the Supreme Court, Biden was dissatisfied with Trump’s appointment of new judges in the last few months of his term. Trump’s reason was that he had the right to make appointments because he won the election four years ago. .
Unsurprisingly, the topic turned to Obamacare. Biden warned that the Supreme Court might overturn the Affordable Care Act. Trump said that he successfully abolished the mandatory personal regulations during the Obama era and instead attacked Biden. Your party is a socialist party and they will dominate you."
Throughout the process, neither party proposed any specific plans.
In response to the new crown epidemic, Biden repeatedly criticized Trump for ineffective response during the debate, which caused the epidemic to cause at least 200,000 deaths in the United States.
He also criticized Trump’s attitude towards masks, claiming that “if we start wearing masks in January and maintain social distancing, as many as 100,000 lives may be saved.” He also mentioned that reporter Bob Woodward was in Trump deliberately downplayed the epidemic as disclosed in his new book.
Trump's strategy is to avoid talking about the response to the epidemic, and directly said, "If it is you, more people will die."
Similarly, during the entire process, the two sides rarely talked about how to control the epidemic in the future, and were just busy destroying the credibility of the other party.
On the issue of racism, despite the common pressure of the host and Biden, Trump refused to condemn white supremacy and extreme right-wing organizations. When Biden called by name and asked to condemn the far-right organization "Pride Boys", Trump only asked the "proud boy" to take a step back and at the same time to be "ready" and constantly change the subject, demanding that society must deal with anti-fascist movements and left-wing radical organizations.
Biden claimed that Trump would create "racial hatred and division" in any way. Trump rebutted, claiming that Biden once described African Americans as "super hunters."
During the offensive and defensive process, the audience did not hear any insights on how to solve systemic racism.
In addition, Trump has hardly quelled American society's concerns that the election results may trigger protracted disputes.
Trump did not urge his supporters to remain calm. Instead, he called on them to be vigilant at voting locations, claiming that the election was fraudulent, and saying that he would fight against the "rigged" election results.
Biden urged voters to vote and said that he would accept the election results regardless of victory or defeat.
The analysis believes that in this unprecedented “dirty water” campaign, the winners of the “policy smear show” are often not those with more halo, but those with less mud. At least in terms of election demeanor, Biden The mud on the body looks less.
Data map: On February 2, local time, Biden, the US Democratic presidential candidate, held a rally in Iowa.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Mengtong
"Media Tucao Show"
After the "Personal Attack Show" and "Policy Smear Show" on the evening of the 29th, the headlines used by the stunned American media were surprisingly consistent: there is no policy report, only endless complaints.
The headline of the "New York Times" wrote that sharp personal attacks and mutual insults occurred in the chaotic first election debate; the headline of the "Washington Post" wrote that personal attacks and fierce confrontations marked the chaotic first debate; Bloomberg's headline wrote Said, the chaotic debate ended with Trump questioning the mailing vote; the headline of the "Capitol Hill" wrote that Biden called Trump a "liar" and a "clown" in the first debate; the Associated Press headline wrote, Debate anger: Biden said "buddy, shut up" to Trump who was constantly interrupting; CNN headline wrote that the first debate was pure chaos...
In addition to making complaints, the mainstream media’s evaluation of the outcome of this debate generally tends to believe that Trump loses more points because his performance is too aggressive, leading to chaos in the debate, and Biden looks more like exercising self-defense. right.
The New York Times commented that the two candidates' acrimonious contempt for each other is unheard of in modern American politics.
The first debate in the general election, which was of national concern, eventually became a "war of speech" between Trump and Biden.
Trump's bulldozer-style strategy demonstrates the huge risks faced by the current president, who is behind Biden, because voters-including some who supported him in 2016-have attacked him almost every day And get bored with the outbreak.
The Washington Post stated that the debate between Trump and Biden on the evening of the 29th was a trough in television, politics, and even the entire United States-95 minutes, which proved that this country has fallen into incurable darkness. Among.
One of the candidates, Biden, came prepared, while Trump came with destructive intentions, indifferent to any attempt by the helpless host to control the situation.
According to the Wall Street Journal, it is safer to say that the first debate between the two parties in the 2020 U.S. election was not the kind of peaceful exchange of policy ideas that the host might have expected.
From the beginning, the debate has evolved into multiple rounds of quarrels and personal attacks to see who has the loudest voice. Even Trump and the host have disputes, during which the host repeatedly begged the president not to interrupt.
Biden's performance was stronger than the conservative expectations of Trump and his allies.
The National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) stated that Trump may be the only person in the United States who is afraid of Biden. Before their debate on the 29th night, he and his allies asked Biden to take a drug test and asked officials to check Biden's headset. .
Trump did not show the slightest presidential demeanor. He was aggressive, intimidating, slanderous, and constantly lying in the debate. His campaign manager also praised him for "controlling the conversation."
In fact, Trump's words and deeds reflect that he is a candidate who knows he is failing but does not know how to recover.
According to Bloomberg, Trump brought his chaotic and confrontational style to the stage for his first duel with Democratic candidate Biden. During his entire performance, frequent interruptions and personal attacks made him dominate the tone of the debate. And decided the subject of the debate.
The debate has been reduced to a mud wrestling match. Trump is obviously not worried that his actions will alienate independent and moderate voters. This is his campaign strategy.
However, although he is aggressive in this debate, he may not have much influence on voters.
The question now is, in the second debate on October 15, can the dialogue between the two be more civilized?
The Huffington Post stated that some Republican lawmakers believed that Trump did not perform well in the first debate with Biden, especially when he refused to explicitly condemn white supremacists and militia groups.
There are also Republican lawmakers who regret the poisonous nature of this debate, but they still try to avoid putting the blame on Trump, even if Trump is primarily responsible for the derailment of this debate.
After the end of what is known as the most chaotic debate in history, a debate poll conducted by the independent agency SSRS commissioned by CNN showed that 6 out of 10 viewers thought that Biden performed better, and only 28% of the interviewed Some believe that Trump has performed better.
At the same time, 65% of respondents believed that Biden’s answers were more sincere than Trump’s, and only 29% of respondents believed that Trump told the truth.
In addition, overall, 69% of the interviewees think that Biden's attack on Trump is fair, and only 32% of the interviewees think that Trump's attack is fair.
(CCTV reporter Gu Xiang)