(NEXSTAR) – The notion of “looking presidential” went out the window early in Tuesday’s debate in Cleveland between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Within minutes of taking the stage the candidates began speaking over each other, muddling their messages to the American public and devolving the supposed debate into an exchange largely divorced from real solutions to the economic and health crises facing the country.
Mr. Trump seemed intent on disrupting his opponent, even forcing host Chris Wallace to stop the proceedings and ask him to adhere to the debate rules and allow his opponent to speak. At one point, after being badgered by Trump during a segment on the Supreme Court, Biden asked of the president “will you shut up, man?”
Author Jill Filipovic called it the moment of the night, before referencing Hillary Clinton’s restraint under similar circumstances in 2016. Her comment drew a response from Clinton herself.
In many ways, the focus on racism, Trumps credibility and competence mirrored the first debate of 2016, however Clinton avoided the same level of back and forth bickering that Biden and Trump undertook Tuesday.
Like Clinton, Biden has a clear polling lead just over a month out from the election. Though Biden enjoys a slightly larger margin in battleground states that swung the 2016 campaign. There are also fewer remaining undecided voters than in 2016, and it remains to be seen how those few voters were swayed by what they saw on stage in Cleveland Tuesday night.
2020 ELECTION COVERAGE

LATEST UPDATES
- President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to former White House aide Steve Bannon as part of a wave of pardons and commutations he issued during his final hours in office.
- Calls are getting louder for the 25th Amendment to be invoked in order to remove President Donald Trump from office. This comes after his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol Wednesday.
- Three Republican Virginia delegates signed a letter asking Vice President Mike Pence to nullify the commonwealth's certified election results.
- All eyes are on Washington as the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will come together Wednesday to certify the 2020 Presidential Election results.
- Wednesday's congressional joint session to count electoral votes has taken on added importance this year as congressional Republicans allied with President Donald Trump are pledging to try and undo Democrat Joe Biden’s victory and subvert the will of the American people.
- President Donald Trump put forth a dizzying array of fuzzy accounting and outright false claims in an extraordinary phone call to Georgia's secretary of state seeking a reversal of his election defeat, fabricating a slew of votes that he said should've been counted in his favor.
- WASHINGTON (AP) — Wednesday's congressional joint session to count electoral votes has taken on added importance this year as congressional Republicans allied with President Donald Trump are pledging to try and undo Democrat Joe Biden’s victory and subvert the will of the American people. The Republicans — a dozen senators and many more House members […]
- Vice President Mike Pence filed Thursday to dismiss Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert’s lawsuit against him. Pence’s legal team stated that the vice president is not the proper defendant in the case.