Morning Glory: The worst debate in the history of presidential debates

Not one question Wednesday night about the execution of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages two weeks ago, or about any of the Americans murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7?

Not one question on Iran, which is within weeks of acquiring a nuclear weapon and which is paying and perhaps precisely directing repeated attacks by its proxies on American forces in the Gulf or Arabia, the Red Sea, Iraq or Jordan?

Not one question about the capacity of President Joe Biden to continue as president?

And not one, single fleeting question about the People’s Republic of China, and its genocide against the Uyghurs, its oppression of Hong Kong, its threat against Taiwan or the Philippines, or its military buildup, the largest, most expensive peacetime military buildup in history? 

Perhaps ABC’s parent Disney put the kibosh on questions that would upset the People’s Republic of China and endanger the company’s theme parks in the country or the release of its movies in China? Who knows? But ABC and Disney made time for a long exchange on abortion rights (which have been discussed again and again in this campaign) and for an idiotic exchange of "regrets, I’ve got a few, but then again too few to mention" question to Trump about January 6. There were at least four moderator interventions/rebukes disguised as "fact checks" of former President Donald Trump and none of Vice President Kamala Harris. The bias pulsed. It could be felt by everyone. Democrats and leftists cheered, Republicans were first shocked and then outraged. 

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ABC Presidential Debate co-moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis fact-checked former President Trump four times during the 90-minute event and failed to correct Vice President Kamala Harris a single time on Tuesday evening.  (ABC News)

When, post-debate, Trump declared it was his best debate ever because it was three against one, very few agreed with the first part of his statement and very few disagreed with the second part. 

In interviews Wednesday morning with conservative thought leaders Matt Continetti, Mary Katharine Ham, Bethany Mandel, National Review’s Rich Lowry and Jim Geraghty, not one of them thought Trump won the debate and many thought he lost, some calling it an awful performance etc. But none of them defended ABC and its moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis. I have not seen one center-right to conservative pundit do so (the opposite reaction to the CNN debate between Trump and Biden moderated by Dana Bash and Jake Tapper which was widely praised as fair on the right.)

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It is also widely agreed across the center to the right to have been the worst moderated, most biased presidential debate since they began in 1960. This will eventually be admitted by the left after the election is over. Harris performed well and Trump did not. Trump got angry early and by the time he had his best moment —his closing statement—the audience had no doubt shrunk. 

But while Trump lost the battle he may have won the war. The naked suppression of news, the oozing bias, the ignorance of or refusal to reference key facts—Snopes has debunked the Charlottesville chestnut for goodness sake and thousands of Jewish kids on campuses across the country are in fear of anti-Semitic mobs within the last few months and were not even mentioned!—made ABC and Disney the real loser Wednesday night. It is possible the polls might even edge towards Trump as the "great silent majority" digest the tidal wave of omnipresent criticism of the debate moderators outside of the Manhattan-Beltway media elites. We will see.  

But whatever the polls show and however the elections turns out, it is a debate that will live in infamy. While the journalistic reputations of Muir and Davis are the most scarred by the fiasco, the damage will extend to both the ABC and Disney brands, especially because of the Israel and China related-omissions. 

I have co-moderated five presidential primary debates hosted by big legacy networks as Salem Media’s representative: four with CNN in 2015-2016 and one with NBC in November of last year. None of them were prefect. But in none of them were any of the moderators a story the day after the debate because that was the goal. It should be the goal of every moderator for every debate everywhere. Basic fairness was my constant refrain in the hundreds of hours and dozens of question preparation sessions and rehearsals. The moderators work from very tight scripts. They know their question sets. We rehearse responses to anticipated responses from candidates. Wednesday’s night descent into hackery was intentional. There is no excuse. 

I did not expect a Bud-Lite level disaster for ABC and Disney, but they have created one for themselves. The GOP does not have a long memory, for if it did, it would have recalled ABC’s George Stephanopoulos infamously asking Mitt Romney in a 2012 debate "Governor Romney, do you believe that states have the right to ban contraception?" Perhaps Republicans haven’t forgotten that but didn’t believe in collective media guilt. It should now. This ambush of Trump was carefully planned and well executed. If Trump wins there should never be an ABC interview. No Republican should associate with the network period. No Republican should even watch Muir or Lindsey. They are partisans but dishonest ones. They pretend otherwise. 

The worst presidential debate in American history is not something I’ve ever heard any media talent aspire to participate in. David Muir, Linsey Davis and the entire ABC/Disney team own the title now. It is highly doubtful they will ever surrender it.

Hugh Hewitt is host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show," heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990.  Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.

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