Debate moderators Dave Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC were biased in favor of Kamala Harris in Tuesday’s presidential debate, some conservative media critics say.
“There were two big losers, Donald Trump and ABC News,” Emily Jashinsky of the National Journalism Center told The Epoch Times.
Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris debate for the first time during the presidential election campaign at The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pa., on Sept. 10, 2024. Win McNamee/Getty Images
“They only fact-checked one of the two candidates,” Andrew Selepak, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Florida, told The Epoch Times.
Muir and Davis challenged four of Trump’s answers during the debate and none of Harris’s.
Other observers praised Muir and Davis for their exemplary work. “They were excellent. Kept the debate moving on track,” Robert Shapiro, a political science professor from Columbia University, told The Epoch Times.
Harris gave several responses that Trump pushed back on and that others have since fact-checked.
One was that there are no U.S. military personnel serving in war zones, yet the U.S. Central Command released information on Aug. 30 that 5 American service members had been injured in an operation against ISIS in Iraq the day before.
Another was that Trump intended to institute the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policies, which he has publicly disavowed.
Both candidates reverted to standard campaign talking points on several occasions when asked pointed questions.
When that happened, moderators asked follow-up questions to Trump five times, asking him to answer directly. Four times, they asked for a “yes” or “no.”
No follow-ups were directed to Harris, though she had been asked some questions in a yes-or-no format but did not directly reply.
Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said after the event that it was a “three-on-one” debate. Trump said Muir and Davis should be fired, speaking to a rally audience in Tucson, Ariz., on Sept. 12.
Others thought Trump did not do well regardless of the moderation.
In a televised interview with Piers Morgan, former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Harris seemed better prepared and more polished. “I think that, you know, there were some lost opportunities,” Kennedy said.
Most critics say the debate, good or bad, will not dramatically change the polls. What could change is the conduct of future debates.
“A good moderator asks serious questions on serious topics and doesn’t ‘fact check in real time,’” Tim Graham of the conservative Media Research Center, told The Epoch Times.
“I think [CNN debate moderators] Dana Bash and Jake Tapper put on a clinic in debate moderation back in June,” Jashinsky said, “when they blended into the background and let the candidates speak for themselves.”
—Lawrence Wilson
BOOKMARKS
Former CIA officer Alexander Yuk Ching Ma was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Sept. 11 for being a Chinese spy. Ma, 71, pleaded guilty on May 10 for supplying the CCP with a “large volume of classified U.S. national defense information” according to a statement by the DOJ.
The head of Washington-based think tank Institute for the Analysis of Global Security has been arrested, and awaits extradition back to the United States after fleeing while out on bail in February 2023. Gal Luft faces charges that include arms trafficking and willfully failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but says the charges are a cover by the DOJ to protect Hunter Biden.
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled on Sept. 11 that the removal of three Libertarian Party congressional candidates from the November ballot was legitimate. Iowa’s State Objection Panel voted to remove the candidates after it was shown that the Libertarian Party had not followed proper nominating procedure; the Libertarians acknowledged that point as true, but said they had substantially followed the law.
A Colorado Assistant principal who alleges he was fired over his religious views regarding a school play will have his day in court after having his lawsuit reinstated on Sept. 11. Corey McNellis says he was fired over his objections to some aspects of “The Laramie Project,” which centers on the 1998 murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard.
The Treasury Department and IRS have released the text of a new corporate tax structure that they say will “increase tax fairness” and “make the biggest corporations and wealthiest pay their fair share.” The Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT) requires a tax rate of at least 15 percent, and is meant to counter the use of deductions and loopholes by corporations seeking to pay a lower rate.
—Stacy Robinson
