The debate was attended by the presidential candidates of the two major parties, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden The event was also unexpectedly punctuated by a third, seemingly biased voice of former Fox News anchor Chris Wallace.
Wallace was called out by many in his industry for the way he handled the debate, which most considered to be avidly anti-Trump, according to the Daily Wire.
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade called Wallace out on social media, writing: “Why is @JoeBiden allowed to interrupt? @realDonaldTrump is not.” Fellow Fox News regular Laura Ingraham made a similar observation when she said, “Biden seems to interrupt with impunity.”
Fox News contributor Andy McCarthy said, “I love Chris Wallace, but he should get out of the way. Biden doesn’t support the Green New Deal. Oh, Wallace got that out of him? No, Trump did. Oh, well, did Wallace clarify what’s parts of Green New Deal Biden is against? No, needed to move on …”
McCarthy added: “Chris Wallace jumps in a second time when Biden having trouble with Trump’s questioning.”
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld weighed in saying it was “not good” when Wallace reportedly laughed with Biden.
Fellow former Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly also wrote about the production on Twitter saying, “Good line from Trump—he tells Chris Wallace he’s debating him, not Joe. Chris Wallace doesn’t have the facts at his command about the Ukraine payments made to Biden’s son that Trump brought up. Big mistake by Mr. Wallace.”
Journalists from outside Wallace’s former network weighed in on his lack of even feigned neutrality.
Yashar Ali, who served as Hillary Clinton’s co-chair on her 2008 presidential campaign, twisted that threw was “no doubt” that “Wallace is not doing a good job as a debate moderator.”
Newsweek editor Josh Hammer put it succinctly: “Just an inexcusable effort tonight from Chris Wallace. And I say that as someone who is generally a fan of his.”
Federalist co-founder Sean Davis wrote on Twitter: “Chris Wallace is now reading Biden’s energy plan back to him to remind Biden what’s in his plan. I have never, never seen anything like this from a moderator.”
Davis added: “Chris Wallace is making very clear that his goal tonight is to run interference for Joe Biden. If he wants to be a deranged NeverTrumper, that’s his prerogative, but Wallace is doing everything in his power to tilt the election toward his preferred candidate. Everyone can see it.”
Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro tweeted that, “Chris Wallace, over the course of the night, has moved from moderator to debater,” and conservative political commentator Jesse Kelly wrote on Twitter: “Ok, I don’t generally nitpick moderators, but Chris Wallace asking Joe Biden about the ‘very fine people’ thing without bringing up that it’s a flat-out lie is an absolute embarrassment.”
Political commentator Candace Owens tweeted: “Unbelievable. Every person in America knows these riots are being orchestrated by black lives matter and Antifa. Chris Wallace asks the President to condemn white supremacists but did not think to ask Joe Biden to condemn Antifa or BLM.”
RealClearInvestigations Senior Writer Mark Hemingway wrote: “Chris Wallace calling critical race theory ‘racial sensitivity training’ is totally ignorant of what’s being taught. It is racist and anti-American. Appalling.”
Political commentator Harry Khachatrian tweeted: “Chris Wallace chuckling and joking with Biden during the debate, mid-question is grossly unprofessional conduct from a moderator.”
Even avidly anti-Trump MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was disgusted with Wallace’s performance. “Where is Chris Wallace? This is a disgrace,” and former CNN host Soledad O’Brien wrote: “Hellllo Chris Wallace??? Looking for a moderator here. Jesus Christ what a fricken mess.”
