CNN’s Dana Bash described the first presidential debate between President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden as a “shit show” shortly after the tumultuous event concluded.
Bash made the comment while discussing the debate with CNN host Jake Tapper on the network, with Tapper saying that “the American people lost tonight, because that was horrific.”
“You just took the words out of my mouth,” Bash said. “You used some high-minded language. I’m just gonna say it like it is. That was a shit show.”
“And, you know, we’re on cable. We can say that. Apologies for being maybe a little bit crude, but that is really the phrase that I’m getting, you know, from people on both sides of the aisle on text,” she continued.
“And it’s the only phrase that I can think of to really describe it,” she added.
Trump and Biden traded jabs throughout the debate. At points, Biden called Trump “a liar” and told him to “shut up,” while Trump told Biden to never “use the word ‘smart’ with” him, saying: “There’s nothing smart about you, Joe.”
Trump also clashed with the moderator, Fox News’s Chris Wallace, multiple times during the event, partly because he would interrupt Biden and ignore Wallace’s pleas for him to allow the former vice president to finish his sentences.