For the people who were lucky enough to skip out on the first presidential debate, here are a few words that would describe it: Unwatchable. National embarrassment. A nightmare come to life. Like having periodontal surgery without anesthesia. “The worst thing I have ever experienced and I made out with a duck.” Largely, this was because Donald Trump came to Ohio as himself, and spent 90 minutes incessantly interrupting Joe Biden, fighting with moderator Chris Wallace like a four-year-old, ranting about “antifa” and the “radical left,” basically inciting violence, mocking Biden’s son who’s struggled with substance abuse, and generally making the case that he‘s the worst person on earth. And it wasn’t just Democrats who thought so; his base also found his performance painful to watch.
But what about the strange class of people known as “undecided voters,” who look at the two candidates and say, “You know I’m just really struggling here; one is a decent human being who really seems to want what’s best for the country, and the other is a con man who likely spent decades committing tax fraud, separates immigrant children from their parents, helped kill more than 200,000 people, and openly muses about dating his daughter— it’s such a tough choice”? What did they take away from the evening? In fact, they largely thought the same thing as most sane people who tuned in, describing the president as “unhinged,” “arrogant,” “forceful,” a “bully,” “chaotic,” and “un-American,” per Politico. Qualities that apparently do not disqualify a person from winning a second term! The outlet writes: