I generally eschew politics, but I made an exception this evening to watch the first Presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Here are my random thoughts jotted down during and after the debate. I’m not here to convince the few undecided voters to go one way or the other. I am objectively assessing the forum and the performances of the two players.

Topics

1) Supreme Court

2) COVID

3) Economy

4) Race

5) Law and order

6) Records

7) Climate change

8) Election integrity

Trump

No surprises from Trump. He’s the same person we’ve seen throughout his time as President. He was clearly trying to rattle Joe Biden, and at some points, he succeeded. His constant interruptions lost their effectiveness. I would have liked to hear fewer attacks and more specific plans for the future.

“Insulin..it’ll be so cheap. Like water.”

“He could be speaking to someone 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”

“They started down here. All you had to do is turn on the lights and you pick up a lot.”

“You can’t even say the words ‘law enforcement’ because you’ll lose the radical left.”

Biden

Biden maintained some sense of stability through all of Trump’s attacks. He did not increase my confidence in his ability to do the job because he just seems shaky to me. Like Trump, Biden was lacking in specifics for his plan for the future.

“You are the worst President America has ever had, come on.”

“The final question is..I can’t remember which of all his rantings.”

Moderator

Chris Wallace did his best, but the crosstalk made several moments unwatchable and unlistenable. I think the moderator should have control of the microphones even though the campaigns would probably not agree to it.

No winners or losers. It was a hot mess, and in the US we’d all better buckle up for a wild next few months.