Did the first presidential debate live up to the hype?
Trump, Biden go head-to-head in Cleveland; reaction from president of Maslansky & Partners Lee Carter.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who helped prep President Trump for Tuesday's blistering debate, said his performance was "too hot" while slamming Democratic nominee Joe Biden as "very shaky."
"I don't think that's a reassuring performance by the vice president tonight," Christie said on ABC News, sitting in as an on-air analyst post-debate.
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"He looks very shaky at many, many times during this debate. His numbers were way off, he would wander off in mid-sentence and he used lots of name-calling and insulting language," Christie said. "That's not rising above it."
The debate, held in Cleveland, Ohio, and moderated by Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, was 90 minutes of explosive cross-talk, shouting, and maligning of the other candidate's aptitude for running the country.
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At numerous points, Wallace struggled to control the candidates and reminded them, again and again, to adhere to the format both campaigns agreed on. The debate was intended to include two minutes of uninterrupted answers per question from each candidate followed by open discussion, but Trump repeatedly talked over Biden's responses and even sparred with Wallace himself.
"On the Trump side, it was too hot," Christie said. "You come in and decide you want to be aggressive, and I think it's the right thing to be aggressive, but that was too hot. With all that heat, you lose the light. That potentially can be fixed. Maybe, maybe not."
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Christie caught flack after ABC announced he'd be parsing the most newsworthy moments of the debate, with critics citing a conflict of interest due to the former New Jersey governor's role in coaching the president.
As for Biden, Christie said, "I'd be very concerned that his problems can't be fixed because if you're not up to being able to stand up there for 90 minutes and be consistently coherent, people are gonna wonder whether you're gonna be able to do that when you're sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office. I think that's the issue that got raised tonight."
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