I’m going to call this The Melania Debate:  it’s the third debate, but nobody remembers that the second debate, The Marla, was canceled.  The first debate, The Ivana, will be remembered as the debate equivalent of a monkey on acid with a pitching machine filled with cow patties.

My takeaways:

• Celebrate the fact that we will never have to watch or listen to Trump on a debate stage again, regardless of the election outcome.
• The most damning moment happened early on:  Trump claimed “we’re living with the virus.”  Biden responded (paraphrasing), “We’re learning to live with it?!  C’mon!  We’re dying with it.”

• Trump’s claims about his taxes were laughable.  Regardless of if you “pre-pay” your taxes or if you send a check on April 15th, you still pay the same amount.  And there is no filing fee for personal income tax; that’s just a lie, and an obvious one.
• Trump’s plan was to center his attack on two things:  characterizing Biden’s record as VP as useless and launching attacks about criminality at Biden’s family.  Trump was effective on certain things–the “Who built the cages, Joe?” was something that will resonate in media as a soundbite, particularly because Biden didn’t respond to it.  The other issues, with Biden’s family, went over most people’s head.
• So now we know windmills not only cause brain cancer in humans, but it apparently kills all the birds, too.
• Trump seemed to hit an environmental point by citing the Trillion Tree Pledge as a green initiative, but when you realize he signed it just six days ago, the transparency of the political act is clear.
• Biden missed some softballs that he could have hit Trump with, specifically that when Trump didn’t address Black parents on the question of what he would say about The Talk.  Trump used that opportunity to attack Biden, not address Black families.
• I think Trump may have scored some points with Black males who were impacted by the 1994 crime bill, either directly or through family matters.  Biden acknowledged that much of the bill was wrong and outdated, but Trump repeated it so many times it could have sunk in.
• One thing I wish Biden would have slapped back with, when Trump was rambling on about “You were in office eight years, why didn’t you do it then?”–I wish Biden would have responded, “You were in office for four years.  Where’s your health care plan?  Where’s your promised elimination of the debt?  Where’s your revised tax code?  Where’s your coronavirus relief package?”
• Trump has made it through two debate seasons (2016 and 2020) without relying on facts during any debate.  He lied about coronavirus fatalities rates, immigration court appearance rates, and the impact of repealing the ACA.
• Trump was given two opportunities to directly address the audience through the camera:  once about The Talk for Black families, and the other about the words to people who didn’t vote for him, in his inaugural address.  In both cases, Trump didn’t address the audience and instead continued to attack Biden.
• Trump also demonstrated that he doesn’t know how the minimum wage works, how phasing in programs works, or even how government works.
• Trump apparently thinks that having children in confinement, after the government took them from their parents, is acceptable so long as “they’re being very good taken care of.”
• Biden made points with people by repeated looking into the country and talking to the American people.  He spoke from the heart, and he addressed his words to American people directly.
• I don’t think the debate changed a lot of minds.  The audience got what they wanted from each candidate:  Trump is a factless firebrand and Biden is a thoughtful statesman.
• Kristen Welker did a good job moderating, but Trump is uncontrollable.
• Overall, I think Biden came out ahead, marginally.  Trump scored points because he wasn’t a monkey flinging poo, but that perception will change as soon as he gets on Twitter and rants about something.