Irish Examiner View: Grumpy old men Trump and Biden a disgrace

Televised US presidential debate like film 'Raging Bull'

US president, Donald Trump, and Democratic  candidate, Joe Biden, during the first presidential debate, on Tuesday. Picture: Olivier Douliery/AP

IF anyone still needs convincing that there is something rotten about US politics, try watching the television debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Be warned, though: It is 90 minutes long and anyone who watches it will never get those 90 minutes back. 

Trump’s tactics were simple: Keep shouting —  the louder the better. His performance was the verbal equivalent of a particularly brutal scene in the movie Raging Bull. 

Consumed by rage after his wife describes one of his opponents as "good-looking", Robert De Niro’s character pounds the man's face to a pulp.

Trump sought to pound Biden into submission with a barrage of personal attacks, ignoring the usual rules of presidential debates. It was the same bully-boy tactic he used against Hillary Clinton in 2016 and uses during White House press conferences. 

He talked and shouted, again and again, over Biden, not even allowing the moderator, Chris Wallace, get much of a word in. All that was missing was the Raging Bull soundtrack of crowd noise, animal cries, and bird shrieks.

Biden’s strategy was, for a time, to stare at the camera and smile, like an exasperated parent waiting for his child’s tantrum to blow out of steam. Eventually, his patience snapped, as he shouted back: "Will you shut up, man?" 

Far from being a debate about real issues, this unpresidential encounter was a shameful, pugilistic shouting match between two old men that did neither candidate credit.