“Will you shut up, man.” – Joe Biden, September 29, 2020
President Trump and Joe Biden squared off last night in the first presidential debate of 2020. The entire thing was an embarrassing debacle from start to finish – a rowdy shouting match with little of substance and nothing to enlighten the American People. This piece discusses my key takeaways from the debate and why it is more important now than ever to dig your heels in, not on party politics, but on principles.

First, let’s get something important out of the way. President Trump’s tie choice was lackluster. He chose a dull, dark, forgettable tie whereas Biden’s white and black-striped tie jumped out at you. Of course, I jest – the tie choice wasn’t important (though I stand by my analysis). However, with the way this train wreck went down last night, we might as well be talking about tie choices and aesthetics.
A debate is supposed to be something of substance. In Webster’s trusty 1828 dictionary, one of the definitions for “debate” is a “discussion for elucidating truth.” If that was your expectation going into last night’s debate, which it ought to have been, then you, like me, were terrifically disappointed. All things considered, this was perhaps the worst debate I’ve ever watched.
Right at the beginning, the debate devolved into a verbal brawl, with both the president and Biden interrupting each other every few seconds and exchanging insults and personal jabs. Both President Trump and Joe Biden are thin-skinned. That’s always been obvious. This characteristic was on full display last night. Bumbling Biden, however, scored the highest marks in the “offended” category.
As per his usual, whenever Biden is challenged, he angrily lashes out with personal attacks rather than stick to the issues. During the night, he showed his immaturity and impatience by saying things such as: “Will you shut up, man,” “You’re not going to be able to shut him up,” “Will he just shush for a minute,” “Keep yapping, man,” “He’s a fool,” “Well, it’s hard to get any word in with this clown,” “He’s a racist,” “Everybody knows he’s a liar,” and “You’re the worst president America has ever had. Come on.” It took the Biden campaign mere minutes to put “Will you shut up, man” on a shirt and market it, making one wonder if he had planned to say it at some point.
Biden’s body language betrayed him as the petulant individual he is. At various times, he scoffed, shook his head, rolled his eyes, laughed, and generally wore an expression somewhere between dumbfounded and condescending. He also kept his head and eyes down for an unusually high amount of time. Not what you want in a leader.
Biden has also been known to get into people’s faces, challenge them to push-up and IQ contests, call them fat, insult them in bizarre ways (such as calling a girl a “lying, dog-faced, pony soldier” during the Iowa caucus), and generally deride anyone who steps on his toes. He toned it down for last night’s debate, but, as the above quotes show, some of the insults slipped through.
President Trump’s body language stayed steadier, shifting back and forth between shades of frustration. He appeared to be biting his tongue, holding back things he really wanted to say.

Two of my favorite moments, which sum up the entire debate if you think about it, were the following exchanges:
Biden: “He wouldn’t know a suburb unless you took a wrong turn.”
Trump: “Oh, I know suburbs.”
And another time:
Biden: “A lot of people died and a lot more are going to die unless he gets a lot smarter, a lot quicker.
Trump: “Did you use the word “smart”? So you said you went to Delaware State, but you forgot the name of your college. You didn’t go to Delaware State. You graduated either the lowest or almost the lowest in your class. Don’t ever use the word “smart” with me. Don’t ever use that word.”
Biden: “Oh, give me a break.”
Trump: “Because you know what? There’s nothing smart about you, Joe. Forty-seven years you’ve done nothing.”
As these exchanges demonstrate, the entire debate was a pithy back-and-forth worthy of pubertal junior high boys and wholly inappropriate for two seasoned men running for the highest office in the land. Can you imagine Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, or James Madison behaving like this? They were cordial. They were gentlemen. They discussed the issues. They dealt with principles. President Trump and Biden barely touched principles, instead opting to play on emotions and perceptions.
If we judge this circus of a debate on substance, which we should, President Trump was the clear winner. Naturally, the Lugenpresse, or lying press, will invert reality and claim Trump lied about this or that. But anyone even marginally conversant with reality knows that President Trump, for all his antics, told the truth, whereas Biden, with all his buffoonery, lied from start to finish.
Among the yarns Biden spun were the debunked myths that President Trump told people to inject bleach into themselves, that he proposed dropping nuclear bombs on hurricanes, and that he disparaged American troops. These are popular media talking points, but they’re each demonstrable lies. There’s plenty that President Trump has done wrong – why do you need to resort to fables and lies that any honest person can look up and disprove in five minutes?
It seems that the Democrats are thoroughly convinced that their mindless base hates Donald Trump so emphatically that they’ll swallow the lies hook, line, and sinker. So, the bigger and more salacious the lie, the better because it taps into raw emotionalism. Emotionalism is the enemy to rational thought. All people of a socialist orientation (i.e. nearly all Democrats and many Republicans) feed on emotion and have abdicated their reasoning ability. They don’t care what’s true – they only care if the narrative makes them feel warm and fuzzy and backs up their delusions.
Surprisingly, Biden didn’t make any major gaffes during the 90-minute spectacle. He did say some weird things, though. At 16:03, when President Trump said everyone would eventually see his tax returns when they’re completed, Biden dropped an Arabic term that I didn’t catch in the live debate, but only saw when reading through the transcript. He responded to the president’s pledge: “When? Inshallah?” Al Jazeera explained the meaning: “While the Arabic language phrase translates to “God willing,” it also has colloquial connotations of ambiguous commitment.” In other words, Biden was speaking in tongues to mock the president, something that sent his Arab supporters into a joyful tizzy. First-class pandering.
Another interesting moment was when Joe Biden threatened Brazil with economic repercussions if they don’t halt “tearing down the forest.” He said that as president he would reenter the failed Paris Climate Accords and help round up $20 Billion which he would give to Brazil to stop cutting down trees. If they don’t accept, “then you’re going to have significant economic consequences.” Perhaps he was speaking in generalities about the alleged economic problems that would result from forests being cut down, but if you listen to how he said it, it sounds more like a threat.

It was also somewhat comical when Biden roared, channeling his inner Darth Sidious: “The party is me. Right now, I am the Democratic Party.” In reality, President Trump was correct when he said, in the context of Biden’s glaring refusal to denounce the mob violence of Black Lives Matter and Antifa:
“I don’t think you have any law enforcement [supporting you]. You can’t even say the word law enforcement. Because if you say those words, you’re going to lose all of your radical left supporters. And why aren’t you saying those words, Joe? Why don’t you say the words law enforcement? Because you know what? If [they] called us in Portland, we would put out that fire in a half an hour. But they won’t do it, because they’re run by radical left Democrats. If you look at Chicago, if you look at any place you want to look, Seattle, they heard we were coming in the following day and they put up their hands and we got back Seattle. Minneapolis, we got it back, Joe, because we believe in law and order, but you don’t. The top 10 cities and just about the top 40 cities are run by Democrats, and in many cases radical left. And they’ve got you wrapped around their finger, Joe, to a point where you don’t want to say anything about law and order. And I’ll tell you what, the people of this country want and demand law and order and you’re afraid to even say it.”
True, true, and true. Biden is the last person who can say: “I am the Democratic Party.” He’s a doddering front man for a group of Bolshevik psychopaths waiting in the wings to control his presidency, from philandering Kamala Harris to the homosexual radical Pete Buttigieg. Biden is wrapped around their finger. He’s their dupe.
A small gaffe Biden made was skipping a number while listing. He jumped from number one to number three. President Trump corrected him: “No, you’re on number two.”
Another moment that some have seen as a gaffe was when Biden refused to condemn the communist terrorist organization Antifa, saying: “Antifa is an idea, not an organization.” There’s a kernel of truth to this statement. There’s not a well-defined hierarchy or structure to Antifa. However, it is a wing of the larger communist conspiracy. Antifa members have traveled to Syria, learned terror tactics from Kurdish communist terror outfits YPG and PKK, and imported those tactics back to the United States. Millions of dollars are funneled to local Antifa organizers, as well as truckloads of supplies. No, they may not have an office or headquarters like the Communist Party USA, but they’re becoming marshaled and disciplined for war against the United States and must be crushed.
While Blundering Biden may not have made many notable gaffes, he did, however, spew a long litany of lies. Almost every time he opened his mouth, he said something demonstrably false. I have already mentioned several of his lies. He also twisted statistics, fumbled words, and generally came off as unintelligent. He was only saved from his native stupidity by two factors: Chris Wallace and Donald Trump himself.
Chris Wallace, one of FOX News’ many liberal reporters, moderated the melee. I believe Wallace was given the assignment to do everything he could to make President Trump look like an out-of-control bully. Wallace also did everything he could to interrupt President Trump’s best monologues as well as his best gotcha moments against Biden. Whenever President Trump brought up things that would be very embarrassing for Biden, Wallace quickly jumped in to bail out Biden and rebuke Donald Trump.
For example, around the 58:30-mark, President Trump pointed out the fact that Joe Biden called our troops “stupid bastards.” Biden quickly claimed he didn’t say it. President Trump responded: “He said it on tape.” And so he did. Anyone can find the tape online and see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears that Biden angrily called the troops “stupid bastards.” When they see the clip, and then remember that Biden denied saying it on national TV, they’ll know for themselves that Biden is a liar.

Wallace, however, tried to nip this in the bud. He jumped in and said: “Please, sir. Stop. Stop.” Why would the moderator stop the president from pointing out the truth that Biden called our military men “stupid bastards” – on tape?! He didn’t stop Biden when Biden claimed, falsely, that President Trump disparaged our troops. He allowed him to speak. But when the president quoted the actual words Biden said on tape, Wallace derailed the moment and diverted the discussion to global warming, saving Biden from needing to answer for his words.
Every honest viewer knows that Wallace was on Biden’s side during the debate and participated in a tag-team effort to paint the president into a corner. President Trump pointed it out himself, saying to Wallace just after the twelve-minute-mark: “Well, first of all, I guess I’m debating you, not him, but that’s ok. I’m not surprised.” Perhaps the best analysis of the entire debate was given by Ann Coulter when she pointed out on Twitter how lopsided it all was:
“Every time Trump is nailing Biden, Chris Wallace interrupts. “That’s the next topic!””
This happened numerous times. I’ll give just two examples. During the back-and-forth about Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, Biden claimed that Roe v. Wade was an issue “on the ballot” and “at stake” in both her nomination and the general election. President Trump rightly said that it’s not on the ballot anywhere. He also asked Biden if he even knew Justice Barrett’s position on Roe, at which point, the 10:40-mark, Wallace butted in and said “we’ll come back to Roe v. Wade.” They never came back to it.
In another instance, President Trump began highlighting the mountains of corruption Biden’s family, especially his son Hunter, is involved in. He correctly said that Hunter took millions of dollars from Red China. He also pointed out that Hunter received $3.5 million from a Russian oligarch, which recently came to light in federal investigations. As he was pursuing this line of questioning, which Biden attempted to deflect and deny, Wallace jumped in, interrupting the president repeatedly with things like: “Mr. President,” “Mr. President, please. You’ve asked a question,” “Mr. President, this is an open discussion,” “Mr. President, please stop,” and, finally, after Biden got in a slight rebuttal, “That’s the end of the segment. We’re moving on.” I guess Wallace doesn’t want the American People to know that Joe Biden’s family is one of the most corrupt families alive today – a family that has colluded with both Red China and Putin’s Russia.
Several other examples of Wallace’s diversionary tactics could be brought forth, but these suffice. Wallace was clearly on team Biden and tried to undermine President Trump throughout the debate. His goal was to show the president as a bully and aggressor and he essentially achieved that goal.
Ann Coulter and I were not the only ones who noticed the obvious. I was talking with a relative after the debate, and he made the remark: “It was the Trump vs. Wallace debate… did Biden show up? It was a lousy debate… Wallace was clearly biased and was absolutely terrible at doing his job. I blame him for a lot of it.”
Similarly, from the perspective of a random person on Facebook, this is how the debate went down:
“Trump: “WELL YOU SEE I’M DOING GREAT AND IM THE BEST”
Biden: “Well… no… this is… shut up”
Wallace: “Trump pls shut up””
Brian Killmeade also Tweeted:
“Why is @JoeBiden allowed to interrupt? @realDonaldTrump is not?”
The entire debate was a debacle, complicated by the moderator choosing sides and allowing Biden to say what he wanted without interruption while trying to undermine the president’s ability to point out Biden’s defects and get in a complete sentence.

President Trump, however, is partially to blame for Biden avoiding major gaffes. On FOX News today, during the Bill Hemmer Reports segment, commentator Chris Stirewalt voiced an observation that I made last night as well. He said, referring to Biden’s surprising lack of gaffes: “It was Trump who saved him . . . [Biden] is a gaffe monster. He is the king of gaffes. All you have to do is let him talk.” This is spot on. There’s an old saying, attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte: Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. Donald Trump hasn’t learned that lesson, apparently. Instead of letting Biden blather on and trip himself up, showing everyone how daft he really is, President Trump interrupted him constantly, diverting the course of the discussion, and giving Biden chances to lash out, as well as Chris Wallace the chance to rebuke Trump, making him look like a schoolyard bully. Terrible debate strategy.
Most people seemed disappointed in the debate performance on both sides. How could they not have been? The controlled media, however, has predictably hammered President Trump as a big bully, a buffoon, and a racist. The press both domestically and abroad latched onto the opportunity to crucify Donald Trump yet again.
I couldn’t care less what anyone else in the world thinks of the United States or our politics, especially Europeans, but, out of curiosity, I wanted to see their response to the debate. For the most part, they excoriated President Trump, singling out the moment when he addressed the Proud Boys, telling them to “stand back and stand by.” This is an important moment since it’s the one the Establishment media has focused on.
To couch the moment correctly, let’s just cite the transcript:
Wallace: “You have repeatedly criticized the vice president for not specifically calling out Antifa and other left-wing extremist groups. But are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha and as we’ve seen in Portland.”
Trump: “Sure, I’m willing to do that.”
Wallace: “Are you prepared specifically to do it?”
Trump: “I would say almost everything [i.e. the rioting and violence] I see is from the left wing not from the right wing.
Wallace: “But what are you saying?”
Trump: “I’m willing to do anything. I want to see peace.”
Wallace: “Well, do it, sir.”
Biden: “Say it. Do it. Say it.”
Trump: “What do you want to call them? Give me a name, give me a name. Go ahead, who do you want me to condemn?”
Wallace: “White supremacists and right-wing militias.”
Trump: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem, this is a left-wing.”

Interesting, is it not, that President Trump did what he was asked to do, said “Sure” he was willing to condemn so-called white supremacy, and specifically told the Proud Boys to stand down and not be involved. Yet, the ravenous media twisted this to mean that President Trump refused to condemn “white supremacy.”
The idea that America is plagued by “white supremacy” and “racism” by whites against minorities is one of the biggest canards in history. It’s utterly false in every way. Yet, the Marxist media is hell-bent on pressing their nonsense narrative and to divert people away from the reality that blacks commit the overwhelming majority of violent crime in the United States, followed by Latinos, and spurred on by communist provocateurs. So, last night and today, they traipsed out their tired Marxist talking points. From ABC to the BBC and everywhere in between, the controlled press honed in on the idea that President Trump didn’t denounce “white supremacy” but, rather, encouraged it and even called his fellow “racists” to arms.
Similarly, Chris Wallace lied when he tried to blame “white supremacists” and “right-wing militias” on the violence in Kenosha and Portland. The reference to Kenosha is obviously a reference to Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who defended himself from a mob of pedophiles and felons who were assaulting him. You can see my article here, and my podcast episode here, where I lay out the real story that media shills like Wallace won’t tell you about how Kyle Rittenhouse is a hero who must be freed from jail. And the reference to Portland is similarly laughable seeing as that city is thoroughly controlled by Antifa and is the scene of constant rampaging by Antifa and Black Lives Matter criminals.
When you take everything into account, and when you consider who told the most truth, President Trump was the clear winner of the debate. Most polls, as unreliable as they are, show that people agree with my assessment. Yet, because he is thin-skinned and brash, he allowed himself to be presented as the aggressor at a time when he should have made his case from the moral high ground – a position which he in fact occupies. His performance was disappointing at a time when he needed to be a beacon for others. Had he stuck to principles and made substantive principles, the contrast with Biden’s petulant insults and impatience would have been obvious.
And that’s what this is all about – principles. Elections are not about who wins, but about which principles will prevail. Principles, not parties, are what’s important. We should be debating which worldview will hold sway in America. Indeed, we should be discussing what America stands for and whether our time-tested institutions will be upheld or torn down.
Judging by last night’s debate, neither President Trump nor Joe Biden has what it takes to truly lead America to her destiny as a shining city on a hill and as a refuge for those seeking Liberty. We could very well hold up the debate as clear evidence that the two-party system is defunct and must be superseded. I suspect third-party candidates will use this sad spectacle as proof of the justice of their cause.

God help America find our George Washingtons and Thomas Jeffersons to help lead us out of our downward spiral, because the inglorious cast of characters on both sides aren’t cutting it; though President Trump is at least trying his best and sometimes gets things right, buying us perhaps some time to get our act in gear before the darkness closes around us.
Zack Strong,
September 30, 2020