In Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday night, a battle cry went up, heralding that the two runners in the marathon election have entered the final stretch in their uncompromising fight for the world's most–desired job. It was the first of the three TV debates between President Trump and the challenger for the title, Joe Biden, and seen as the last window of opportunity for the president to close the gap in the polls and take the lead.
Indeed, the history of TV debates – which began with the legendary duel between Vice President Nixon and Democratic Senator John Kennedy in 1960, where the bright star of the young senator shone immediately and catapulted him straight to the White House – shows that they have often given birth to defining and tie-breaker moment, which in effect decided the fate of the whole campaign.
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This is true especially for debates that strengthened the existing images of nominees. Examples of this can be seen in three elections, where the fates of Republican President Ford in 1976, Democrat Michael Dukakis in 1988 and President George Bush in 1992 were doomed as a direct result of embarrassing failures on their part, which strengthened their widespread public image. This time, however, the debate in Cleveland did not provide any defining moment of that sort, one that would be remembered collectively by the nation. On the contrary, if it is remembered for anything – it will be for its low level and the trading of barbs between the rivals, with the president playing first fiddle in the cockfight between the two.
Indeed, it was a debate that broke the traditional rules of the game of respectful, yet poignant, a discussion between rivals who usually, in the past, were careful to respect allotted time frames, the moderator and viewers. In Cleveland, the dam that held back the process of disengagement from the legacy of the past was broken. This process began four years ago, and accelerated during the sparring, of which the challenger Biden was also a part.
Therefore, since the debate did not supply a watershed moment, it is doubtful that it will significantly influence the positioning in the polls of the two candidates. However, one must highlight the milestones that, despite all of the above, may hurt Trump's campaign as a result of his performance in the debate.
First, he refused to clearly denounce the despicable movement that heralds white supremacy and in essence returned to his sad comments after the events in Charlottesville in 2017. This may hurt his support among minorities, including the Jewish vote. Second, the president did not commit to respecting the election results, and this stance could somewhat weaken his support among undecided independent voters, who fear a tectonic crisis in the rules of the game.
Biden, on his part, made a grave mistake by not focusing enough on Trump's tax issues and the significance of the fact that the amount of federal tax Trump allegedly paid over the past years has been extremely low (or, that he didn't pay any taxes whatsoever in certain years).
It should be noted that the Democratic candidate also did not do particularly well in his performance, especially during the first third, which was somewhat anemic. However, in general, Biden didn't collapse in front of the nonstop pressure from the president, and sometimes even tried to impersonate the style of John Kennedy by turning and speaking directly to the American people, ignoring his rival, Trump.
At the end of the day, it was not a debate that will be fondly remembered, and it is doubtful that it will drastically alter the direction of the great battle for the White House, which will only intensify the closer we get to election day.
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