Brian Stelter here with Oliver Darcy, Kerry Flynn and Brian Lowry. The first half of this email is our debate wrap-up and the second half has the rest of the day's media world news. As Dana Bash said on CNN, in a quote for the uncensored history books, the debate was a shit show...
It wasn't a debate, it was a disgrace
"If you want to switch seats," moderator Chris Wallace said to President Trump at the 65 minute mark of the debate, "we can do that." But the metaphorical switch happened in the first five minutes. Trump took control by interrupting and interjecting while Joe Biden spoke. Wallace belatedly tried to exert control, but rarely if ever succeeded. So Trump basically moderated the debate – and Biden took full advantage of his behavior and used it as an argument to end Trump's presidency.
Biden occasionally reminded me of Jim Halpert on "The Office," peering into the camera as if to say, "can you believe this guy is the boss?"
The former VP certainly interrupted Trump and ran roughshod over Wallace as well – but Trump did it more often and more dramatically. Wallace chastised him several times. "Two minutes is two minutes," Wallace reminded him around the 85 minute mark, but Trump ran right over him during the final question about the integrity of the election. The big question: Would anyone, any journalist, been able to corral Trump? Or is it an impossible mission? Will Biden even show up for the next debate on October 15? Immediately afterward, anchors on CNN and MSNBC wondered aloud if the first debate would be the last debate of the year...
Neither invisible, nor effective
Oliver Darcy emails: "Chris Wallace failed to meet the moment. To be sure, he had a difficult task placed before him. And it would have perhaps been helpful had he had the ability to cut mics. (More on that below.) But Wallace does ultimately bear responsibility for the circus that aired on national TV. He lost control of the debate early, and failed to ever regain order. Wallace should have reprimanded Trump harshly and early. He should have made it clear that the interjections would not be tolerated. But instead, at times, it appeared as if Wallace were pleading with Trump to respect the forum like a parent would plead an out-of-control child to behave. Twice he tried to get the President to stop speaking by promising he would like the question he was planning on asking next. Wallace was neither 'invisible' like he had hoped to be, nor was he effective."
>> Politico's Tim Alberta tweeted out a counter-argument: "You can nit-pick questions/phrasing from Chris Wallace, but he did a helluva job under the circumstances. Nobody has ever — ever — drawn an assignment like that. He couldn't play interviewer because he had to play referee. (And yes, the questions/phrasing suffered as a result.)"
Remember how Wallace wanted to be graded...
This is what Wallace said just a couple of days ago: "If I've done my job right, at the end of the night, people will say, 'That was a great debate, who was the moderator?'"
Biden aide: "We're winning these exchanges"
"Every time he turns to camera and talks to the American people, we’re winning these exchanges," a Biden aide commented to me toward the end of the battle. "When he said, 'Do you believe he’s telling you the truth?' regarding vaccines. When he said, 'How many of you got up this morning and had a chair missing?' And just now – telling people to show up and vote. Powerful for the folks at home. That's who we're talking to." That was the strategy... The polls will show whether it worked...
--> By my count, Biden had almost all of the memorable one-liners. They included "will you shut up man;" "you blew it;" "it is what it is because you are who you are;" and "I'm not here to call out his lies, everybody knows he's a liar..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE
-- Text message from a pal in the debate hall: "I don't think there’s a good way to say shit show." That's exactly what Dana Bash called it...
-- Jake Tapper: "That was a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck." It wasn't a debate, he said, "it was a disgrace."
-- At 9:31, Amy Walter tweeted: "I'd love to know how many people turned off this debate after the first 15 minutes." James Carville made a similar point on MSNBC later: Trump "literally chased the TV audience away..."
-- We'll have Nielsen ratings by the early afternoon on Wednesday...
-- Box CEO Aaron Levie tweeted, "This is like a really bad zoom meeting." Jason Kander: "This is like debating an air horn." Siraj Hashmi: "Can't believe the debate hasn't been flagged by Twitter for promoting voter suppression."
-- The Atlantic writer Derek Thompson tweeted, "This isn't a debate. It's a DDOS attack happening in front of a human moderator."
-- Many people asked me, why didn't the TV producers just cut Trump's mic when he interrupted? Multiple reporters are working on more detailed answers to that question, but I don't think the candidates would have agreed to cut-the-mic terms...
"I don't know Beau"
Kerry Flynn writes: "What really sunk my heart during the debate was Trump saying 'I don't know Beau' after Biden talked about his late son’s service in the military. That line further cements The Atlantic's reporting about Trump's disrespect of veterans."
A surprise climate change Q
Kerry adds: "On a positive note, I was thankful to see Wallace specifically ask a question about climate change and push back against Trump's response, essentially fact checking about his commitment to climate action since he pulled back Obama’s clean energy plan. This was especially notable because climate change was not on the list of six topics that Wallace shared ahead of time. Now here's my question: Who would have thought we would all miss commercials? 90 minutes felt quite long..."
How will Trump feel about this news coverage?
Brian Lowry writes: "Before the debate, I thought MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace made an astute point by saying that Biden had debated Sarah Palin, who was 'the closest avatar to what Trump is.' But nothing could have really prepared him for the onslaught of interruptions that the president appeared to employ, either as a conscious tactic, or just as plausibly, because a steady diet of being interviewed by Sean Hannity and 'Fox & Friends' doesn't prepare you for hearing points of view that challenge you."
>> After the debate, Wallace (no relation to Chris) said "Donald Trump was the abuser and Chris Wallace was among the abused." She said it was purposeful on the Trump team's part, but added, "I think he will be enraged by the coverage of the performance..."
>> Lowry adds: "I'm pretty sure that I was younger than my kids are now when I watched my first presidential debate. I'm extremely glad I went with my gut and didn’t let them watch this one."
Maddow: "This sort of debate shouldn't happen in a democracy"
Trump delivered a "monstrous cavalcade of increasingly wild and obscene lies," Rachel Maddow said on MSNBC. "There's something beyond fact-checking that needs to happen." She concluded that Trump is not running against Biden, "he's running against the election..."
>> Speaking of fact-checking, here's what Daniel Dale concluded: "That was a relatively easy debate to fact check because the president has made the vast majority of these false claims before."
Early reactions on Fox
Oliver Darcy writes: "While other networks were quick to condemn what occurred onstage, Fox News was far more restrained. The panelists agreed it wasn't an enlightening debate. But they failed to really place blame on the president for repeatedly interrupting his opponent and brazenly ignoring the rules he agreed to. In fact, at one point, Karl Rove zinged Trump, saying he was guilty of 'name calling' and nearly losing his temper."
>> Darcy adds: "Sean Hannity took over at 11pm ET and immediately started propagandizing for Trump: 'The extremely weak, the frail, the confused, kind of angry Joe Biden just got steamrolled by President Trump.' Of course, Hannity would have said this no matter what transpired during the debate..."
Late night coverage
"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" is live after the debate with Cory Booker and Public Enemy...
Laura Ingraham will host her show at midnight ET on Fox...
CNN will be live until 3am ET... And then the debate will re-air...
WEDNESDAY PLANNER
Biden will embark on a train tour through parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania...
Trump will hold a 9pm rally in Duluth, Minnesota...
The Real Facebook Oversight Board (not the real board) will host a press conference at 12:30pm ET...
Shep Smith's show premieres on CNBC at 7pm ET...
The NBA Finals tip off at 9pm ET on ABC...
Amazon starts streaming "The Glorias" on Prime Video... Scroll down for Brian Lowry's review...
I will be one of Seth Meyers' guests on NBC's "Late Night..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO
-- Reminder: The "SNL" season premiere is THIS Saturday...
-- Did Wallace have enough help ahead of time? The Fox News' "brain room" was badly hit by the network's recent layoffs, Diana Falzone and Lloyd Grove reported earlier this week. Sources told the duo that it signaled a "purposeful devaluing of fact-based journalism in favor of right-wing opinion..." (Beast)
-- Michael Grynbaum noted that Chris Christie "helped run Trump's debate prep" and then resumed his other role, as an ABC News analyst... (NYT)
-- After the debate, NBC announced that Biden will participate in a prime time town hall next Monday, to be moderated by Lester Holt in Miami... (Twitter)
Conspiracies continue to go viral online
Oliver Darcy writes: "Various anti-Biden conspiracy theories, often fanned by the Trump campaign and Fox News, continue to circulate on social media in the lead up to the election. Tuesday was no different, with nonsense peddled by the Trump campaign about electronic earpieces and drug tests being widely shared on the platform. Compounding the problem is that it can be difficult to fact-check some of the suggestive content, such as the idea Biden is on drugs or going to wear an earpiece, rendering Facebook's main tool to stop bad info from going viral rather useless..."
'The nation's foremost propagator of disinformation'
Darcy adds: "It's safe to say, the Biden campaign is not happy with Facebook's lack of action on the disinfo that goes viral on its platform. In a letter written by campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillion to Mark Zuckerberg, first reported by Axios, the campaign called the website 'the nation’s foremost propagator of disinformation about the voting process.' Dillon said that 'rather than seeing progress, we have seen regression.' Facebook spox Andy Stone responded by saying that the platform gets criticized by both Republicans and Democrats..."
NYT knocks Fox's MacCallum for 'completely false' speculation
Oliver Darcy writes: "A NYT spokesperson on Tuesday zinged Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum for floating a conspiracy theory that Biden had advance knowledge of the newspaper's blockbuster story on Trump's taxes. MacCallum, one of the face's of Fox's so-called 'straight news' division, claimed the fact that the Biden campaign rolled out an ad within hours of the story raised questions 'as to whether or not they had knowledge about this story coming out.' In a statement to WaPo's Jeremy Barr, a NYT spokesperson responded, 'Her speculation is completely false. The article was independently reported and there was no contact with the Biden campaign at any point, either before or after it published.'"
FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE
-- The NYT's Trump tax investigation "has become one of the most viral investigative news stories on social media during the Trump era, according to data from NewsWhip..." (Axios)
-- The NYT's latest piece: "Here's the math" showing why Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2017... (NYT)
TURNING TO NON-POLITICS NEWS NOW...
Disney's staggering layoffs
"Disney is laying off 28,000 people in the United States as the coronavirus pandemic hammers its parks and resorts business," Frank Pallotta reports. The cuts will affect the Disney's Parks, Experiences and Products unit, which has more than 100,000 US employees, mostly part-timers. But that barely lessens the blow.
>> Per Pallotta's story, Disney Parks chairman Josh D'Amaro "placed partial blame on the state of California for its 'unwillingness to lift restrictions that would allow Disneyland to reopen...'"
>> WaPo's Steven Zeitchik said the layoff announcement may also be "a political pressure tactic on Gavin Newsom to allow Disneyland to reopen..."
"Booker Prize Is Rescheduled to Make Way for Obama's Memoir"
The NYT's Alexandra Alter explained the shuffling here. "During one busy week in November, the former president's new book is expected to come out, and top prizes from the Booker and the National Book Awards will be announced..."
Headlines from my Dr. Fauci interview
Thank you to all the readers who sent in questions – we will publish the full interview later this week. But the first few minutes aired during the World News Day event on Monday night, and some clips ran on CNN, so here's my Twitter thread with some of the top takeaways.
Fauci goes everywhere, including on Fox News, to get the word out. But he sees Fox's prime time coverage of the pandemic and says some of it is "outlandish." BTW, he said this to me unprompted... Here's my full story...
FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR
-- Coronavirus cases are headed up in at least 10 states, including New York...
-- Anna Fifield's "final dispatch from China" is a must-read. She says "reporting in China increasingly feels like reporting in North Korea. No one wants to talk to journalists and often times, like on this trip to Kashgar, I don’t try talk to people — for their own safety..." (WaPo)
-- Tuesday's biggest sports world news: "Two NFL teams are suspending in-person activities in first Covid-19 disruption of the season..." (CNN)
-- Michael Mulvihill with stats from the first week of the new TV season: "Five most-watched shows of the week were all NFL games" and the "average audience of those games more than doubled the most-watched entertainment show..." (Twitter)
-- Brian Lowry writes: "The NFL has acted like it can power through Covid-19, and it might. But the latest identified cases will test that, and if games are postponed or cancelled, will ripple through a TV ecosystem that significantly relies on football through the fourth quarter..."
Want to buy HuffPost?
Kerry Flynn writes: "HuffPost is on the market, according to the NYPost's Alexandra Steigard. Obvious potential buyers would be other digital media portfolio companies such as Group Nine Media and Vox Media, but those two have reportedly turned it down. One potential reason: HuffPost is bleeding money, reportedly bringing in $45M-$50M a year in revenue but operating with annual expenses of $60M-$70M..."
FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE
By Kerry Flynn:
-- "Major political and news headlines are sucking up all the oxygen on Facebook," Max Willens reports... (Digiday)
-- NYT science and health reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. is this year's recipient of the 2020 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism... (Columbia)
-- Mike Wilson is stepping down as editor of The Dallas Morning News, and managing editor Keith Campbell is taking over... (DMN)
-- Rick Edmonds writes about the launch of two new digital outlets, The Daily Memphian in Tennessee and Lookout Local in Santa Cruz... (Poynter)
-- Sara Fischer reports that Bloomberg Media is launching a new personal finance vertical called Bloomberg Wealth... (Axios)
Correction to Sunday's show
During Sunday's "Reliable Sources," there was a mistake, and it's been bugging me ever since. The subject was the relative accuracy of Tucker Carlson's show, and my guest inaccurately said that Seth Rich's family members "were targeted by Tucker. They had their lives really destroyed." But it was Sean Hannity, not Tucker, who dragged Seth Rich through the mud. (I know this history well: On page 154 of "HOAX," I say Tucker remarked to a friend that "I'm not covering that" conspiracy theory "because I’m not crazy.") The mistake is on me because I should have heard the comment and interrupted.
FOR THE RECORD, PART SIX
-- "For some Hollywood investors, the pandemic opened new doors." Let Anousha Sakoui explain how... (LAT)
-- Frank Pallotta reports that Disney+ has debuted "GroupWatch," a new social feature and "synced playback experience..." (CNN Business)
-- "HBO has ordered a new weekly late-night series from 'SNL' writer and comedian Sam Jay. It will be executive produced by 'Insecure' showrunner Prentice Penny" and will premiere in 2021... (TheWrap)
-- Kelsey Sutton writes: "How Black-ish's stars and producers pushed ABC to bring the show back for fall..." (AdWeek)
-- LeBron James' production company struck a four-year film deal with Universal on Tuesday. It's "surprising," Steven Zeitchik wrote, "given that his TV deal is at rival Disney -- and indicative of how these athlete enterprises will seek to gain influence by spreading it around instead of aligning themselves with one conglomerate..." (Twitter)
HBO's stacked lineup
Brian Lowry writes: "HBO continues to schedule noteworthy documentaries in the run-up to the election, the latest announcement being 'The Perfect Weapon,' a look at cyber conflict based on New York Times national security correspondent David E. Sanger's book. Premiering Oct. 16, it follows 'Agents of Chaos' and precedes '537 Votes,' which looks at the 2000 vote count in Florida..."
"Borat" sequel coming before election day
Remember when Sacha Baron Cohen went viral after he pranked a far-right group in June? There's a lot more coming soon: "Amazon Studios has acquired worldwide rights" to his "Borat" sequel, and the new film "will premiere late October on Amazon Prime and its subscribers in 240 countries and territories," purposefully in time for the election, Deadline's Mike Fleming Jr scooped on Tuesday.
The backstory: "The 'Borat' sequel was the first movie made during the COVID-19 shutdown, shot surreptitiously as quickly as coronavirus shooting restrictions were eased, and unions were in agreement on a return to shooting. When that happened, Baron Cohen and his team were filming the movie the next day with a minimal crew..."
Lowry reviews 'The Glorias'
Brian Lowry writes: "Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander and a pair of young actresses play Gloria Steinem at different stages in her life in 'The Glorias,' a solid but ultimately unspectacular biopic that doesn't quite feel equal to its subject, coming, as it does, after the similar ground covered in Hulu's 'Mrs. America.' The movie premieres Wednesday on demand and on Amazon." Read on...
FOR THE RECORD, PART SEVEN
-- "NBC has reached a settlement with former 'America’s Got Talent' judge Gabrielle Union, following her explosive accusations of rampant workplace toxicity on the talent competition series," Matt Donnelly reports... (Variety)
-- "Barry Jenkins is joining the Disney family" to help Disney's follow-up to "The Lion King," Sandra Gonzalez reports... (CNN)
-- "'Avatar 2' is finished filming and 'Avatar 3' is nearly done, director James Cameron has revealed..." (CNN)
-- Carole Baskin was eliminated from "Dancing With the Stars..." (CNN)
-- "Netflix has released the first looks at two of the most anticipated historical figures portrayed in season four of The Crown: Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher..." (THR)
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST...
Meet Shep's canine
Ahead of the premiere of his CNBC newscast Wednesday, Shep Smith emails a pic of his canine from earlier this year: "Now four-year-old lagotto Romagnolo Lucia visiting Colorado with her dads!"
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