TV Talk: CNN’s debate rules keep candidates on track

The first debate of the 2024 general election presidential cycle broke from tradition, albeit in different ways than the 2020 debates that saw then-President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden talk over and sneer at one another.

Unlike for the past several decades since 1988, Wednesday’s debate was not sponsored by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Commission on Presidential Debates. Instead, this cycle’s first debate — one of two scheduled, though we’ll see if the second one, set for Sept. 10 on ABC, comes to pass — was a 90-minute CNN production (with two commercial breaks) that CNN allowed other networks to carry.

Moderators could use a mute button to cut off the candidates if they spoke when it was not their turn. The candidates also agreed to no live audience (to mitigate applause or boos), no prewritten notes, staying behind their podium, and no opening statements. Trump got the final word as determined by a coin flip.

CNN’s “State of the Union” hosts Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, who called a September 2020 debate between Trump and Biden “a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck,” served as moderators for the first time a current and former president engaged in a televised sparring match.

Early on Bash and Tapper kept the candidates on track and the mic-cut rule seemed to work, preventing Biden and Trump from talking over one another until a nonsensical end-of-debate argument about golf. What the moderators didn’t do was fact check either candidate. Fact-checking could have derailed the whole enterprise but failure to fact check was a gift to Trump.

The entire debate structure, which favored Trump’s answers in style over Biden’s occasional bursts of substance, benefited Trump. Undisciplined in the 2020 debates, CNN’s guardrails helped keep Trump in check this time. By generally following the rules, Trump came across as less unhinged, a low bar, but he cleared it, moreso early in the debate. (Later in the night, Trump’s failure to answer the questions asked grew more pronounced.)

From Biden’s weak voice to answers that wandered into dead ends, the optics and the vibes did not benefit the 46th president, overshadowing his persuasive policy arguments. Trump countered with loud falsehoods and right-wing talking points that surely left normies scratching their heads.

Bash and Tapper took a full 45 minutes before asking Trump about the Jan. 6, 2021, attempted insurrection and what he’d say to voters who believe Trump violated his constitutional oath and fear Trump would do it again. Trump didn’t answer the question, which Tapper restated, leading to a meandering response about Nancy Pelosi and her filmmaker daughter.

Biden sounded more in command once the questions turned to Trump’s character weaknesses, including Trump’s threat, if re-elected, “to go after my opponents.” But toward the end of the debate, the back-and-forth between the candidates descended into the gutter with talk of sex with a porn star and that weird golf argument.

After the first commercial break, Biden’s halting voice improved some and his responses were more coherent and reminiscent of his smart, thoughtful answers in the 2020 debates. But the rough first half is likely what viewers will remember.

CNN — which has seen its audience crater in recent years through cord-cutting and multiple management changes, anchor departures and belt-tightening — hyped Thursday night’s debate well in advance. The network needed to make some noise and try to remind viewers, “Hey, we’re still here!” just as much as the two historically unpopular, well-known candidates saw it as an opportunity to state their case.

Traditionally presidential debates don’t often move the needle on an election’s outcome. This one might be different. Polling in the weeks ahead will provide some clue if the tight competition between Trump and Biden begins to break more obviously in favor of one or the other.

CNN will get its own report card when Nielsen releases ratings for the telecast, likely sometime on Friday.

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.