The US presidential debate was the worst debate I have ever seen

I watched the entire US presidential debate from start to finish and it was truly terrible by anyone’s standards.

From the very start, the insults, interruptions and wild accusations commenced. It was a very angry and personal debate that induced a headache for me during my viewing of it with the continual yelling and intense, draining atmosphere that clouded it.

By the end of the debate, I hadn’t learnt much on where the two candidates stand on election issues in terms of policy or what they plan to do if elected as president.

Trump’s behaviour was markedly different from his distinctive, jocular debating style as seen in previous gameshow-like debates he took part in back in 2016 before he became president.

In the debate with Biden, he was clearly annoyed, and I don’t think he was enjoying the experience. He came across as insecure and not overly confident, which explains why he was in attack mode for most of the debate.

Biden tried to smile off the attacks and ignore Trump, instead looking at the camera to address viewers at some points. However, Biden ultimately got drawn in to responding to Trump’s rants towards him, particularly when Trump had involved one of Biden’s family members into the debate.

After this had happened, I noticed Biden’s signature smile faded and he was a lot more assertive in his handling of the debate.

Perhaps the only thing both candidates could agree on is their mutual dislike of the experience that the world had witnessed.

Political commentators had expected this debate to be rough but it was more chaotic than I think anyone could have expected.

I would not be surprised if both candidates decide not to debate again, as neither came out of it well.

Trump had overplayed his attacks on Biden and just came across as rude and bad-tempered, not even showing common courtesy in debate etiquette.

If his goal was to deflect attention on his presidential term and drown out any meaningful discussion that could be listened to with ease, he succeeded in this, though he certainly wouldn’t have won over any support outside his base.

Biden tried his best to be presidential but like with Hillary Clinton before him, Trump is an unorthodox politician with a debating style that’s difficult to counter rationally like with other conventional politicians.

He tried not to engage with Trump, but this is difficult to do for a prolonged debating session and Trump knew what buttons to press.

Biden might benefit from being more respectful as the elder statesman many voters would like to see in the office of president, but will voters be motivated enough to turn out to vote for him?

After this debate, politics in the US is likely to remain deeply polarised and we won’t know what impact this will have on undecided voters until the day of the election.

Michael Palmer, Newtownards

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