Having slept on my initial reactions and looked at the headlines this morning, I conclude no participant covered himself with glory. Biden was weak, Trump was likely too strong, and Wallace was a hot mess.
The debate was like a Rorschach test, a blob where peoples’ reactions to it tell us more about the people reacting than about the candidates debating. It was ambiguous enough that people saw in it what they wanted to see, few felt forced to admit the candidate they favored lost.
Part of this pattern of reactions is the result of the debate itself, and perhaps a larger part is the result of our widely noted political polarization, which is currently extreme by American standards.
I suspect if you could get people to tell you their honest opinions, if you could get past their defensiveness, partisans on both sides were disappointed with their guy’s performance. Both candidates are, in different ways, flawed men.
Setting aside their personal quirks, on the basis of their policies and accomplishments, Trump was and is my clear choice. Biden is disqualified by his allegiance to the Dismal Swamp.
There was one clear loser. Nobody liked Chris Wallace, who seems to be angling for a job with a legacy TV network where his late father and stepfather worked. Last night moved him no closer to that goal.
