SHOCK AND AWE — Gripped with the televised train wreck that hit fast, then stretched out for forever? Other politics addicts across Canada couldn’t look away, either.
Playbook gathered some initial impressions on the debate, edited for length and clarity: → ROLAND PARIS, director of University of Ottawa’s graduate school of public and international affairs: Oh, god. Well, it was painful to watch it — Trump's lies and Biden's feebleness. But I'm not convinced it will move the needle one way or another. So many Americans know these two men and most of them already know which one they will support. → SHACHI KURL, president of the Angus Reid Institute: Oh my god! It feels like it was over in the first five minutes — that very first moment when Biden completely lost his train of thought. I am sure many people watching saw that moment happen and said to themselves, “Oh, no.” The debate was not substantive. It didn't really showcase strengths of either candidate, and it reached a low point when they started chirping each other over their golf swings. But the theater of televised debates is often not about substance, it’s about impressions. It's how those moments become clipped, get circulated on social media, become part of ad campaigns on network television or other places. Biden's performance has the potential to be just devastating. → SCOTT REID, principal at Feschuk.Reid: The first five minutes of the debate was as catastrophic a political event as I've ever witnessed. Biden arrived hoping to lay to rest questions about his capacity to serve a second term as president and he's now triggered a crisis in the Democratic Party about his ability to proceed toward the nomination. He looked old. He looked frail. At times he looked confused. His voice was raspy and weak. Trump's irrationality and rambling and rage was entirely eclipsed by the spectacle of Biden's failure. It’s an absolute nightmare scenario for Democrats. I said this in advance many, many times: I fear the stakes of this gamble for Biden were high. I never dreamed it would be this bad. Jaw on floor. → YAROSLAV BARAN, co-founder of the Pendulum Group: I suspect most Americans watching this debate tonight were thinking, wow, out of 330 million Americans, it's unfortunate that this is our choice. Biden looked very old and highly scripted. Trump looked far more natural. Biden losing his train of thought talking about taxing billionaires and trailing off into his plea about Medicare — that was a bad moment. It set the tone for the evening. I can't see how the Democrats would be thinking they had a good night. Both candidates went into this needing to fight the dominant negative narrative against them: Biden had to fight that he's not of sound mind and Trump needed to fight that he's unhinged. Biden didn't hit that one out of the park. In contrast,this is probably the calmest, the most well behaved we've ever seen Trump in this kind of setting. Interesting that Trump mentioned Ronald Reagan several times in a positive light. That signals he very much realizes there's a narrative within his own party that there's the traditional Ronald Reagan Republicans versus the wrecking ball, populist Republicans, and he’s clearly trying to fight that and reconcile those two factions. — Lessons for Canada: “Here's the parallel,” Baran says. “This debate for the Dems and St. Paul’s by-election for the Liberals. Many Democrats will now be privately talking about whether they have time to replace their candidate before the election. The same thing appears to be happening here after the St. Paul’s by-election. In both cases, the quiet conclusion of partisans is: We needed to do better.” Reid disagrees: “There is no analog to be drawn between Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau. People that might say tonight was a burning bush, warning leaders about knowing when it's time to pack it in — I think would be overreaching. This wasn't about popularity, it wasn't even about performance. It was about capacity.” Reid says there are profound consequences and implications for Canada. “The likelihood of a second Trump presidency just skyrocketed. The need to fortify ourselves against that threat … has become more pronounced,” he said. “Our political center of gravity just shifted because a Trump presidency almost immediately overwhelms any other political issue.” — In related reading: US allies say Trump-Biden debate ‘isn’t a great look for America.’
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