The first presidential debate was a disaster. The interactions between Trump and Biden seemed more like a childish cat fight than a presidential debate.

The debate was high on insults and low on serious policy discussion. You know it is bad when the candidate that is seen as more presidential and less chaotic is calling his opponent a clown and saying, “Will you shut up, man?”

One of the lowest moments of the debate was when the moderator, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, asked Trump if he was prepared to condemn white supremacy. Initially Trump said, “Sure” but sidestepped 10 seconds later.

Trump asked Wallace to give him a specific name. Biden suggested the Proud Boys, a far-right, anti-immigrant, all-male group that supports traditional gender roles and have a history of violence. Trump replied, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, but I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left.”

This statement gained wide criticism because the Proud Boys group saw the language that Trump used as a call to action. Enrique Tarrio, the group’s current chairman, reacted to the debate on the alternative discussion network Parler: “Standing by sir…. I will stand down sir!!!”

Trump claims that he was misunderstood during the debates, and that the fake news has made this worse. During an interview for Fox News Trump said, “I condemn all white supremacists, I condemn the Proud Boys. I don’t know much about the Proud Boys, but I condemn that.” He also made a point to tell the Proud Boys to let the police do their jobs.

The commission that oversees US presidential debates stated that they will be creating new rules for the next debates, so we do not repeat Tuesday’s presidential debate. Some of the rules that have been considered are only having one candidate’s microphone on at a time and penalizing the person that talks out of turn.

On the other hand, some people say that having another debate with or without new rules is pointless, and that the presidential debates no longer serve their original purpose. Due to this some people are saying that the presidential debates should end.

I think we can get the presidential debates back on the right path. I hope that we can make the presidential debates an event where candidates talk about policy and the public learns more about who and what they are voting for.

Lindsey Ulrey is a freshman political science major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or lrulrey@eiu.edu.