Pundits covering the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden struggled to contain their horror during their post-event analysis, dubbing the throwdown a “dumpster fire” and a “s**t show” live on TV.
President Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden took the stage at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University on Tuesday night, where the two clashed over 90 minutes of debate, seeing frequent interruptions, personal insults and meandering off-topic. Apparently unimpressed by the performance, CNN’s Jake Tapper dubbed the event the “worst debate I’ve ever seen” just seconds after it finished.
“We’ll talk about who won the debate, who lost the debate, but I can tell you one thing for sure: the American people lost tonight,” Tapper said immediately after the event, which he described as a “hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck.”
“You just took the words out of my mouth,” replied correspondent Dana Bash.
You used some high-minded language, I’m just going to say it like it is: that was a s**t show. We’re on cable, we can say that, apologies for being a little bit crude.
Netizens quickly took notice of the explicit line, many voicing wholehearted agreement with Bash’s sentiment, while others merely found her use of vulgar language amusing.
Might be the truest statement of the night: CNN's Dana Bash: "That was a shit show. We're on cable. We can say that."
Commenters were mixed about what exactly made the debate so bad, however, with critics taking aim at both candidates, while some honed in on Fox News debate moderator Chris Wallace.
@TheFive Just want you to know. CNN said the debate was a Shit Show. In my opinion Chris Wallace was the Shit Show!! He became part of the debate and appeared to me to be on Biden’s side. Wallace is a Never Trumper
Going forward, one netizen suggested the candidates’ microphones should be muted while the other speaks to prevent interruptions, however some were at the point of giving up, one calling the entire event an “embarrassment to America” and arguing future debates should be cancelled “if the rest are just like that.”
There are 2 more debates scheduled between Biden and Trump. Mikes should be turned off to prevent interruptions such as we saw tonight by Trump. Somebody on cnn called it a shit-show. I agree.
That shit show was an embarrassment to America. They should cancel the other debates. If the rest are just like that we might as well declare the American experiment a failure.#USA#cnn#Biden#Trump
