CNN's political commentators did not mince words about the presidential debate between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
"Clearly, this was the most chaotic presidential debate I have ever seen," CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said immediately following the debate on Tuesday night. "I suspect most of you, if not all, have ever seen. Most chaotic presidential debate. It will certainly raise a lot of questions, raising a lot of questions about the future of the presidential debate between these two candidates. I wouldn’t be surprised, by the way, if this is the last presidential debate between the president of the United States and the former vice president of the United States."
Jake Tapper, who anchored the network's coverage after the debate and is the moderator of State of the Union, called the whole performance "a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck. That was the worst debate I have ever seen. It wasn’t even a debate. It was a disgrace. And it’s primarily because of President Trump. Who spent the entire time interrupting not abiding by the rules he agreed to. Lying. Maliciously attacking the son of the vice president."
Jake Tapper says what we are all thinking: "That was a hot mess. Inside a dumpster fire. Inside a train wreck. That was the worst debate I have ever seen."
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) September 30, 2020
Danan Bash adds that it was a "shitshow." pic.twitter.com/EiX8h6zEWQ
He then added that the "American people lost" the debate "because that was horrific."
CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash offered a similarly bleak overview of the event.
"You just took the word out of my mouth. You used some high-minded language, I’m going to say it like it is," she said. "That was a shit show. We’re on cable. We can say it. Apologies for being maybe a little bit crude. But that is really the phrase I’m getting from people on both sides of the aisle on text, and it's the only phrase I can think of to really describe it. I couldn’t agree with you more."
