The first presidential debate (U.S.)

Image from Axios

Coming into the first presidential debate of the season in the United States, I had very low expectations considering both of the candidates seem to hold both GOP and DNC mainstream views, unlike 2016 when candidate Donald J. Trump had some pretty "radical" ideas and actually gained a lot of traction. Those ideas being things that regular folk who earn less than $20/hr perceive to be a problem or a threat. 

Joe Biden's "How are you doing,  man?" did not quite set the stage for the rest of the debate, but it strengthened the "Joe from Scranton" persona. 

Chris Wallace seemed to do a good job of moderating the debate and the questions were pointed, however he did not seem to touch on the issues that blue collar and gig workers face every day amid the corona virus pandemic. Most of the questions asked were just not relatable to a majority of the public. Law and Order was discussed, however the root causes of the situation were not talked about. 

The president seemed to have very strong establishment GOP talking points and seemed as if he would have rather debated Bernie Sanders than Joe Biden. GOP talking points include unimportant things such as a V-shaped economic recovery, shutting down the economy and socialism. He also went after Joe Biden's family, which any respectable candidate should not. Donald J. Trump could have effectively hit Joe Biden for being the senator from MBNA, the bankruptcy bill, cutting social security, China trade polices, etc but he chose not to talk about any of that, instead focusing on repealing the ACA, during a pandemic.

Joe Biden did not fare any better because he lied about his sons, Hunter Biden's, affairs in Ukraine and other foreign countries. That being said I did not expect any of them to be factually correct other than the moderator. 

It was really hard to watch the debate, considering how bad it was, adding Joe Biden's gaffe's and Donald J. Trump's embrace of libertarianism did not help. It was a dismal performance at best. Based upon the performance alone, I would not be surprised if people who had an option other than the GOP or DNC at the top of the ticket would vote for Howie Hawkins of the Green Party.