TV Talk: ABC moderators push back during presidential debate

June’s presidential debate was the most consequential in modern political history — it led President Joe Biden to drop out of the race. So the debate on Tuesday between newly minted Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump seemed unlikely to have such dramatic consequences.

But ABC hyped it anyway with an announcer promising “the most consequential moment of this campaign.”

As the candidates took the stage, Harris walked directly over to Trump and forced him to shake her hand, a power move Biden didn’t attempt in June.

Trump seemed restrained early on while Harris exuded a command that eluded Biden. But she dodged the first question from moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis about whether Americans are better off now than they were four years ago.

In form and function, this 105-minute debate, hosted by ABC, went forward with rules that were largely the same as June’s CNN-produced debate: mics cut on the candidate not answering a question; no studio audience; no notes; no props.

Trump violated the rules within the first 10 minutes, speaking when his mic was off. The moderators said nothing but ABC turned his mic back on; the moderators allowed him to continue speaking.

After a later abortion question, Trump again butted in against the rules, saying, “Excuse me, I have to respond.” He spoke several more times when it was not his turn, getting the last word in more often than Harris (unclear if that was to his benefit or not). Harris violated the rule three times in the debate’s last half hour.

Throughout the debate when Trump spoke, Harris looked at him. When Harris spoke, Trump did not look at her.

Trump scowled and occasionally smirked during the debate. Harris smiled, put her hand to her chin and smirked as Trump called her a Marxist.

ABC’s moderators largely took no guff and pushed back on provably false statements.

When Trump spoke about abortion “executions after birth,” Davis, appropriately and accurately, fact-checked Trump, saying, “There is no state in the country where it is legal to kill a baby after it is born.”

On the subject of immigration reform, Muir asked Trump, “Why did you try to kill that bill?” Trump did not answer the question. Later Harris did not directly answer Muir’s question if she ever met Vladimir Putin, although she said Trump’s statement that she had was a lie.

After Harris suggested crowds leave Trump’s rallies early, Trump brought up the fiction that immigrants are eating pets in Ohio. Credit to Muir, who pushed back that an Ohio city manager said there is no evidence of that happening.

The moderators asked both candidates if they had regrets, asking Trump about the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and asking Harris if she took any responsibility for how the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan played out. Neither directly answered their respective regret questions.

As the debate went on Trump became more riled up and angry. Harris remained calm and commanding, a far cry from Biden’s doddering, open mouth effect two months ago.

After the first hour as the debate distinguished itself from Biden’s June disaster, ABC’s debate settled into a more familiar form reminiscent of presidential debates from 2016 and 2020.

But it was not the most consequential moment of the campaign; that remains the June debate that sealed Biden’s fate.

You can reach TV writer Rob Owen at rowen@triblive.com or 412-380-8559. Follow @RobOwenTV on Threads, Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky and Facebook. Ask TV questions by email or phone. Please include your first name and location.