{"id":2339395,"date":"2024-09-10T19:53:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-10T23:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/here-are-the-worst-questions-from-trump-era-debate-moderators\/"},"modified":"2024-09-10T19:58:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-10T23:58:44","slug":"here-are-the-worst-questions-from-trump-era-debate-moderators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/here-are-the-worst-questions-from-trump-era-debate-moderators\/","title":{"rendered":"Here Are The Worst &#8216;Questions&#8217; From Trump-Era Debate Moderators"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhere-are-the-worst-questions-from-trump-era-debate-moderators%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2339395&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In the upcoming presidential\u2064 debate on Tuesday night, Vice President Kamala \u200cHarris will face former President Donald Trump, with expectations that the moderators will provide biased \u200bquestioning. The article references past debates,\u200c particularly \u200ccriticizing moderators for\u200c their handling of\u200c Trump. In the 2020 debate, \u2064Chris\u200c Wallace&#8217;s \u200cmoderation \u2064came under fire \u2064for \u2062focusing on issues like Hunter \u2064Biden and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tennessee-professor-forced-to-undergo-training-for-referencing-tupac-album-with-racial-slur\/\" title=\"Tennessee Professor Forced To Undergo Training For Referencing Tupac Album With Racial Slur\">racial sensitivity training<\/a>, while not holding Joe Biden accountable for \u200dhis family&#8217;s foreign \u2064business dealings. In a similar vein, the 2016 debate\u200b saw Lester Holt pressing Trump\u200d on unfounded claims regarding his legitimacy and\u2063 failing to \u200bchallenge Hillary Clinton \u200con significant issues. The\u2064 piece argues\u2063 that moderators tend\u2064 to favor Democratic candidates, positing their questioning styles as politically \u200bcharged and unbalanced. Looking ahead \u2064to the upcoming debate, there \u2062is concern that\u200c the current moderators,\u200b David \u200cMuir and Linsey Davis, will carry on this trend of biased questioning.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will face off in what is likely to be their only presidential debate Tuesday night. But if past debates tell us anything, Harris can count on friendly debate moderators to toss her softballs while brow-beating Trump with loaded questions that fail to understand major voting issues.<\/p>\n<p>And based on the conduct of past moderators during the Trump era, viewers tonight can also expect biased and useless questions designed to malign the propaganda press&rsquo; number one enemy.<\/p>\n<h2>2020<\/h2>\n<p>Chris Wallace hosted the first presidential debate of the 2020 election cycle. His abysmal moderation and time management skills were only overshadowed by his politically charged questions. Wallace unironically chastised Trump for bringing up Hunter Biden&rsquo;s lucrative business relations (and Joe Biden&rsquo;s alleged involvement), saying, &ldquo;The American people would rather hear more about substantial subjects.&rdquo; Those &ldquo;substantial subjects&rdquo; included asking Trump why he was &ldquo;holding big rallies&rdquo; during election season. <\/p>\n<p>Wallace also asked Trump about his administration&rsquo;s decision to ban training that teaches racist and anti-American ideas like &ldquo;white privilege&rdquo; and &ldquo;critical race theory.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;What is radical about racial sensitivity training?&rdquo; Wallace asked after a summer of nationwide race riots fomented by ideology and exemplified by Trump-banned <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/09\/30\/here-are-the-11-dumbest-most-slanted-questions-asked-by-chris-wallace\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">federal workplace training<\/a> claiming white people are worse than black people due to the color of their skin.<\/p>\n<p>Wallace also <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/09\/30\/fact-check-transcript-shows-trump-did-not-refuse-to-denounce-or-condemn-white-supremacy-at-debate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">demanded Trump rebuke<\/a> white supremacists for the umpteenth time. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You have repeatedly criticized [Biden] for not specifically calling out Antifa and other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/psychologist-leaves-california-as-license-threatened-after-questioning-transgenderism-for-children\/\" title=\"Psychologist Leaves California as License Threatened After Questioning Transgenderism for Children\">left-wing extremist groups<\/a>,&rdquo; Wallace <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/09\/30\/918483794\/from-debate-stage-trump-declines-to-denounce-white-supremacy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">began<\/a>. &ldquo;But are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha and as we&rsquo;ve seen in Portland?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>There is <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/10\/01\/dear-chris-wallace-we-were-in-kenosha-and-no-white-supremacists-and-militias-didnt-cause-violence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">no evidence<\/a> to support Wallace&rsquo;s claim that violence in Kenosha stemmed from white supremacists, as previously noted in The Federalist. Further, Trump had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/2020\/02\/trump-has-condemned-white-supremacists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">admonished<\/a> white supremacists in the past. But that wasn&rsquo;t good enough for Wallace, who was desperate to create fodder for the propaganda press and Democrats. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Sure,&rdquo; Trump immediately responded. But that wasn&rsquo;t good enough for Wallace, who then further demanded Trump &ldquo;specifically&rdquo; condemn white supremacy and &ldquo;right-wing militias.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trump obliged once again, telling the &ldquo;Proud Boys&rdquo; to &ldquo;stand back and stand by.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s all the left needed, with <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/518871-trump-refuses-to-denounce-white-supremacy-says-stand-back-and-stand-by-on\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">headlines<\/a> springing up immediately after the debate falsely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2020\/sep\/29\/trump-proud-boys-debate-president-refuses-condemn-white-supremacists\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">alleging<\/a> Trump &ldquo;refuses to condemn white supremacists.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>Wallace dredged up Trump&rsquo;s tax returns to ask the then-president how much he &ldquo;paid in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/zoom-profits-in-2020-660-million-zoom-tax-payment-in-2021-0\/\" title=\"Zoom Profits in 2020: 0 Million. Zoom Tax Payment In 2021: federal income taxes.\">federal income taxes<\/a> in 2016 and 2017?&rdquo; As my colleague Jordan Boyd <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/09\/30\/here-are-the-11-dumbest-most-slanted-questions-asked-by-chris-wallace\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noted<\/a>, in the same debate Wallace &ldquo;never asked Joe Biden about his son and brother profiting from foreign governments while he was vice president, even though the information about said profiteering came from official Treasury Department reports that were obtained by Senate investigators.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Wallace also suggested that Trump may not accept the results of the election, asking Trump what he would be &ldquo;prepared to do to reassure the American people that the next president will be the legitimate winner of this election?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But as Boyd noted, &ldquo;What Wallace failed to mention was that many Hillary Clinton voters in 2016 claimed they did not accept the legitimate results of the election&rdquo; and that Clinton &ldquo;has claimed that the election was &lsquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/onpolitics\/2019\/05\/06\/hillary-clinton-warns-2020-democratic-candidates-stolen-election\/1116477001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stolen<\/a>&lsquo; from her.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>2016<\/h2>\n<p>Four years earlier in 2016, NBC News&rsquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2016\/09\/full-transcript-first-2016-presidential-debate-228761\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lester Holt<\/a> did a slightly better job moderating, though his performance was not without unabashedly propaganda-type questions. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Mr. Trump, for five years you perpetuated a false claim of the nation&rsquo;s first black president was not a natural born citizen. You questioned his legitimacy&hellip;can you tell us what took you so long?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trump responded by bringing up Sidney Blumenthal, who The Federalist&rsquo;s Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2016\/09\/27\/6-quick-takeaways-from-last-nights-presidential-debate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">described<\/a> as &ldquo;the Clinton aide who pushed Obama conspiracy theories on reporters.&rdquo; Trump then tried to refocus the conversation to topics that were actually &ldquo;very important to the country.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But, much like Wallace would in 2020, Holt would not let up until he could elicit <em>some<\/em> answer that could be used by the left to malign Trump. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;But I want to get the answer here,&rdquo; Holt pressed before eventually trying to link the issue to &ldquo;racial healing.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But Holt&rsquo;s biggest blunder wasn&rsquo;t the questions he asked, but the ones he missed. As Hemingway <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2016\/09\/27\/6-quick-takeaways-from-last-nights-presidential-debate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pointed<\/a> out following the 2016 debate, &ldquo;[t]here was not a single tough question&rdquo; for Clinton; &ldquo;Nothing about her questionable judgment in foreign policy, from Libya to Russia. Nothing about her mean comments about &lsquo;deplorables,&#8217;&rdquo; Hemingway noted.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, Holt made sure to question Trump&rsquo;s comments about Clinton.  <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Earlier this month, you said she doesn&rsquo;t have a presidential look. She&rsquo;s standing here right now. What did you mean by that?&rdquo; Holt asked.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;She doesn&rsquo;t have the look. She doesn&rsquo;t have the stamina. I said she doesn&rsquo;t have the stamina, and I don&rsquo;t believe she does have the stamina. To be president of this country, you need tremendous stamina,&rdquo; Trump said. <\/p>\n<p>As expected, Trump&rsquo;s honest answer wasn&rsquo;t good enough for Holt, who further wasted time prompting Trump to explain in even greater detail what he meant. <\/p>\n<h2><strong>2015<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It isn&rsquo;t just the general presidential debates that see abysmal moderator performance. <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2015\/10\/30\/john-harwoods-7-worst-debate-moments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">John Harwood<\/a> &ldquo;couldn&rsquo;t handle doing his job during the [2015] Republican Presidential debate,&rdquo; as noted in <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2015\/10\/30\/john-harwoods-7-worst-debate-moments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">these pages<\/a>. Harwood &mdash; who, as <a href=\"https:\/\/thefdrlst.wpengine.com\/2015\/10\/27\/cnbcs-john-harwood-has-no-business-moderating-a-gop-presidential-debate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hemingway<\/a> aptly noted, is openly liberal &mdash; decided to flat-out lie about presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio&rsquo;s tax plan, going so far as to cite false statistics.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps accustomed to the bureaucratic inefficiency that defines Washington D.C., Harwood insultingly asked Trump if he was running a &ldquo;comic book version of a presidential campaign&rdquo; after Trump pledged to cut taxes without raising the deficit, building a border wall paid for by Mexico, and deporting illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>Then there was Megyn Kelly&rsquo;s infamous 2015 debate moderation moment. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve called women you don&rsquo;t like, &lsquo;fat pigs,&rsquo; &lsquo;dogs,&rsquo; &lsquo;slobs,&rsquo; and &lsquo;disgusting animals,&#8217;&rdquo; Kelly began. &ldquo;Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women&rsquo;s looks. You once told a contestant on &lsquo;Celebrity Apprentice&rsquo; it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The attempt to paint Trump as politically incorrect was a waste of time. Ironically, Trump&rsquo;s political <em>incorrectness<\/em> was what resonated with voters fed up with establishment elites.  <\/p>\n<p>Tuesday&rsquo;s debate will be moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, who have both made their political affinities abundantly clear, according to an analysis by the <a href=\"https:\/\/newsbusters.org\/blogs\/nb\/geoffrey-dickens\/2024\/09\/06\/worst-abcs-debate-moderators-muir-and-davis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Media Research Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Davis has tried to link Trump to the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists, asking Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her reaction to Trump holding a campaign event in <a href=\"https:\/\/michiganadvance.com\/2024\/07\/22\/we-love-hitler-we-love-trump-white-supremacists-march-through-howell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Howell<\/a>, Michigan, despite President Joe Biden having also previously visited the town. The Harris campaign <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2024\/08\/17\/howell-trump-michigan-kkk-white-supremacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">absurdly<\/a> tried to link the Trump campaign to a group of white supremacists that chanted &ldquo;We love Hitler. We Love Trump&rdquo; in July. Davis also asked Stacey Abrams in 2019 whether she would classify Trump as &ldquo;a white supremacist or a racist?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>When not painting Trump as a &ldquo;racist&rdquo; or &ldquo;white supremacist,&rdquo; Davis can be found salivating over Harris. &ldquo;To have potentially a woman who&rsquo;s been able to crack this second-highest glass ceiling in this country is profound,&rdquo; Davis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ABCNews\/videos\/3404606779637999\/?_rdr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> on <em>Good Morning America<\/em> on Nov. 6, 2020. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s powerful.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>Muir also recently <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BrentHBaker\/status\/1816274650910933092\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">praised<\/a> President Joe Biden for stepping down and accepting the coup launched against him, in the name of &ldquo;democracy.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;[G]ratitude is the word for so many people in this country, pointing to Joe Biden now and calling him a patriot who stepped in when democracy needed it,&rdquo; Muir said.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are set to engage in what is expected to be their sole presidential debate on Tuesday night. Historical patterns suggest that Harris will benefit from accommodating moderators who will pose easy questions, while Trump may face challenging inquiries that overlook significant electoral concerns. Based on the behavior of past moderators during Trump&#8217;s presidency, viewers can anticipate biased and ineffective questions aimed at undermining him as a target of the media.<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, Chris Wallace moderated the first presidential debate of that election cycle. His poor moderation and time management were overshadowed by his politically charged inquiries. He criticized Trump for mentioning Hunter Biden&#8217;s lucrative business dealings, claiming voters preferred more substantial topics\u2014topics which included questioning Trump about his large campaign rallies during election season.<\/p>\n<p>Wallace also pressed Trump about his administration&#8217;s ban on training programs addressing concepts like &#8220;white privilege&#8221; and &#8220;critical race theory,&#8221; asking why racial sensitivity training was considered radical after a summer marked by nationwide protests against racial injustice. Additionally, he repeatedly urged Trump to denounce white supremacists despite Trump&#8217;s previous condemnations.<\/p>\n<p>Trump responded affirmatively but was further pressed by Wallace for a specific condemnation of white supremacy and militia groups. After telling the &#8220;Proud Boys&#8221; to &#8220;stand back and stand by,&#8221; headlines emerged falsely claiming he refused to denounce white supremacists.<\/p>\n<p>Wallace also questioned Trump about his tax returns without posing similar inquiries regarding Joe Biden\u2019s family profiting from foreign governments while he served as vice president\u2014a topic not addressed at all during the debate.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, Lester Holt from NBC News moderated with slightly better performance but still asked leading questions designed to provoke responses that could be used against Trump while failing to challenge Clinton adequately on her record or controversial statements.<\/p>\n<p>John Harwood\u2019s moderation in a Republican primary debate in 2015 was similarly criticized for bias when he misrepresented Marco Rubio&#8217;s tax plan and insulted Trump&#8217;s campaign style as unrealistic.<\/p>\n<p>Megyn Kelly infamously confronted Trump over derogatory comments made about women during another 2015 debate, attempting to portray him negatively rather than focusing on substantive policy discussions\u2014an approach that ultimately resonated with voters tired of political correctness.<\/p>\n<p>The upcoming debate will be moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, both known for their clear political biases according to analyses from various sources. Davis has previously linked Trump with extremist groups while expressing admiration for Harris\u2019s achievements in breaking barriers as a woman in politics. Muir has praised Biden&#8217;s acceptance of challenges faced during his presidency under the guise of protecting democracy. <\/p>\n<p>Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist with experience contributing across multiple media platforms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2339396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/49291180107_f628980320_k-e1725996223567.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[32962,32171,3634],"class_list":["post-2339395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-debate-moderators","tag-political-commentary","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/49291180107_f628980320_k-e1725996223567.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2339395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2339396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2339395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2339395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2339395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}