01 October 2020 - First US presidential debate
Presidential debate raises the specter of election violence
Thomas Mockaitis (The Hill, 30/09/2020)
The Proud Boys have a new slogan: “Stand back, and stand by.” The president gave them this directive in the Sept. 29 presidential debate. Trump uttered the statement in response to moderator Chris Wallace’s request that he condemns White supremacist and militia groups.
To most listeners, and certainly to the far-right extremist group, it sounded more like a call to arms than a condemnation. “That’s my president. Standing by, sir,” Proud Boy Chairman Enrique Tarrio posted. Members have added “stand back, stand by” to the groups logo.” Another Proud Boy leader made an even more inflammatory comment on the social media site Parler: “Trump basically said to go f--- them up.” “Them” presumably refers to those on the left the president demonizes.
The Proud Boys have become emblematic of the new-style hate groups. Founded in 2016, the group embraces the full range of prejudices from xenophobia to racism and misogyny. However, it cloaks its bigotry in a language that celebrates western heritage and traditional values. Rather than condemn feminism, it calls for “venerating the housewife.” The group claims to be antiracist, but rejects “anti-racial guilt” and commits to “reinstating a spirit of Western Chauvinism,” proclaiming proudly that the “West is the best.”
The First Presidential Debate Was an Alarm Call for American Democracy
John Cassidy (The New Yorker, 30/09/2020)
As the reverberations from Tuesday night’s shambolic Presidential debate echoed around Washington on Wednesday, Senator Tim Scott, of South Carolina, the sole Black Republican in the upper house of Congress, called on President Donald Trump to correct his call for the Proud Boys—a far-right group that glorifies violence—to “stand back and stand by.” Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Scott suggested that Trump had spoken in error. “White supremacy should be denounced at every turn,” Scott said. “I think the President misspoke, and he needs to correct it.”
Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader, defended Trump, claiming that the President did, in fact, denounce white-supremacist groups after the debate’s moderator, Chris Wallace, of Fox News, gave him the opportunity to do so. “How many times does he have to say it?” McCarthy said. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, Trump himself pleaded ignorance, even as he adopted different language. “I don’t know who the Proud Boys are,” he said. “I mean, you’ll have to give me a definition, because I really don’t know who they are. I can only say they have to stand down. Let law enforcement do their work.”
About 73.1 million people tuned in to first debate — and most stayed the entire time
Jason Abbruzzese and Dylan Byers (NBC News, 01/10/2020)
About 73.1 million people watched President Donald Trump debate former Vice President Joe Biden on television Tuesday night, down from the record 84 million who watched Trump's first debate with Hillary Clinton four years ago, according to the media measurement company Nielsen.
The viewership was measured across 16 networks that carried the debate live. Neither the 2016 nor the 2020 figures account for viewership on digital platforms like Facebook and YouTube.
People stuck around for most of the debate, with little fluctuation in viewership from start to finish.
Debate Organizers Say They Will Make Format Changes For Next Time
Sam Gringlas (NPR, 30/09/2020)
After a debate plagued by interruptions and cross-talk — mostly from President Trump — many politicos, voters and journalists asked whether more could have been done to stop the chaos. Some asked whether the debates should continue at all.
The Commission on Presidential Debates, the independent, nonpartisan group that has sponsored the debates since 1988, responded Wednesday, saying it is considering changes to the format before the next matchup.