The ABC News moderators were great. No, actually they were a ''disgraceful failure." They cut off Kamala Harris too much. No, actually they corrected Donald Trump unfairly.
Such is the contentious tenor of the times in 2024's campaign season. And so it went Tuesday night at Trump's and Harris' first — and possibly only — debate.
In an illustration of how difficult it is to conduct a presidential debate in a polarized country, ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis fact-checked and corrected Trump four times Tuesday and were attacked angrily by the former president and his supporters. The moderators asked about economic policy, the war in Ukraine, abortion, the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection and changes in Harris' stances since her 2020 presidential run.
It was the only scheduled debate between the two candidates, although Fox News Channel has proposed another one. Trump, following Tuesday's session, said he'd be ''less inclined to because we had a great night.'' On social media, Trump echoed many of his supporters in criticizing ABC, saying the debate was essentially three on one.
In the end, Trump logged 43 minutes and 3 seconds of time talking, while Harris had 37 minutes and 41 seconds, according to a count by The New York Times.
Opinions on the coverage were a political litmus test
The debate's stakes were high to begin with, not only because of the impending election itself but because the last presidential debate in June — between Trump and sitting President Joe Biden, whose performance was roundly panned — uncorked a series of events that ended several weeks later with Biden's withdrawal from the race and Harris stepping in.
Opinions on how ABC handled the latest debate Tuesday were, in a large sense, a Rorschach test on how supporters of both sides felt about how it went. MSNBC commentator Chris Hayes sent a message on X that the ABC moderators were doing an ''excellent'' job — only to be answered by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who said, ''this is how you know they're complete s—-.''