THE
MODERATOR
Chris Wallace Tries to Rein In an Unruly Trump at
First Debate
In his second time as moderator of a presidential
debate, the Fox News anchor sought to reset the proceedings midway through.
Chris Wallace faced harsh reviews on social media as
the debate on Tuesday night grew unruly through repeated interruptions by President
Trump.
Michael M.
Grynbaum
By Michael
M. Grynbaum
Sept. 29,
2020, 10:23 p.m. ET
On the eve
of Tuesday’s presidential debate, Chris Wallace of Fox News declared his goal
as the evening’s moderator: “My job is to be as invisible as possible.”
Quite.
With a
pugilistic President Trump relentlessly interrupting his opponent, Joseph R.
Biden Jr., Mr. Wallace repeatedly struggled on Tuesday to keep the proceedings
coherent, reduced at times to pleading with the president to pause and allow
his opponent to speak.
“Mr.
President, I am the moderator of this debate, and I would like you to let me
ask my question and then you can answer it,” Mr. Wallace, sounding more
headmaster than moderator, instructed Mr. Trump early on. (Mr. Trump, the
headstrong pupil, did not accede.)
Known for
his sharp interrogations of political figures, Mr. Wallace — at 72 the youngest
of the three men onstage — succeeded in keeping Mr. Trump more or less in check
during his first go-round as moderator four years ago, when the pundits
declared the veteran Fox News anchor a clear winner of the night.
On Tuesday,
Mr. Wallace faced harsh reviews as viewers assessed his performance on social
media. “Moderate this debate — now,” Michael Beschloss, the presidential
historian, demanded on Twitter 15 minutes in, speaking for a large swath of the
political class.
In a
brute-force style, Mr. Trump flouted the agreed-upon ground rules and refused
to allow Mr. Biden his two minutes to respond to questions, leaving Mr. Wallace
yelping at one point, “Let him answer!”
Not
satisfied with merely speaking over his Democratic opponent, Mr. Trump took aim
at the moderator, too, repeatedly scolding Mr. Wallace. “I guess I’m debating
you, not him, but that’s OK, I’m not surprised,” Mr. Trump said after one
Wallace query he disliked.
The debate
had no breaks. But at the midway point, perhaps sensing that Mr. Trump was
threatening to steamroll the event, Mr. Wallace did something unusual for a
presidential moderator: He effectively called the debate to a temporary halt.
“The
country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer
interruptions,” Mr. Wallace said, directly asking Mr. Trump to yield a higher
civic ideal. “I’m appealing to you, sir, to do it.”
“And him,
too?” the president replied defiantly, nodding at Mr. Biden.
“Well,
frankly, you’ve been doing more interrupting,” Mr. Wallace replied.
The brief
cease-fire did not last.
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