DEBATE- WHAT DID YOU MISS?

First of all, congratulations: you made the right choice and went to bed.

It was the most scrappy and terrible debate I've seen.

It is genuinely hard to say who won- in different ways, they both lost and probably confirmed their worst negatives.

This was the oldest presidential debate in history and it showed. You had two old men, one ranting, one who sometimes seemed very confused. As I said earlier, Hillary Clinton would have beat either of them hands down.

Trump was at his most bombastic. He kept interrupting Biden, greeting him with a wall of noise. He did so deliberately because it knocked Biden off his script, where he struggled. Trump confirmed that he has transformed the presidency. No debate like this was imaginable before.

I can't imagine Trump's comportment will have endeared him to many undecideds, especially women. His unadulterated bombast is actually what saved Biden. Had he been 30% less dominating, less combative with the moderator, he might have won.

Biden meanwhile was doddery and repeatedly thrown off script. He missed many, many obvious chances for riposte and rebuttal. But most of the time he didn't get his lines out or think on his feet. But he did get better, marginally.

The moment of the night was this. Utterly remarkable https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1311130741691101185?s=20

No-one watching that could conclude there was a clear winner. Biden was the least offensive but was flat. Trump the most dominant, in an extremely crude way. No-one could watch it and think American democracy is in a healthy state.

If you had to push me, in electoral terms I'd say Trump came off marginally worse as a) he had a worse political position going in b) he needed a moment. They both got moments but of the wrong kind.

In democratic terms, Biden said little of consequence. Trump refused to condemn white supremacists and refused again to commit to a fair transfer of power. Beyond all of the sound and fury, these are the things which are most important.

In sum, US voters got little insight into their next 4 years in policy terms. But as terrible as the debate was, the potential visions of the presidency were in plain sight though. Four years of deep volatility and bombast, or a more doddery but quieter future. That really is it.

And we've got used to it but we shouldn't and it's worth saying: there was a torrent of misinformation during that debate and it was mainly coming from one podium- the President's. Getting to used that in a polity is not a good thing.

Anyway, I've made better decisions than staying up for that. Night all.

Some snap polling confirming my instincts that it’s marginal Biden win. And when you consider trump’s weak political position going in that’s a bigger Biden win. But hey Hillary won the debates so https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1311138274707111936?s=21 https://twitter.com/chriscurtis94/status/1311138274707111936

Am remembering fondly all the hottakes of 2016 which said “Trump will be changed by the presidency.” If tonight had any purpose it was to remind us that it’s been the other way around.