Nor is it likely that Biden will be asked about last week’s revelations concerning influence-peddling in Ukraine and the related foreign money transfers to members of his family. Wallace will, however, almost certainly ask President Trump about the latest installment of the New York Times long-running serial concerning his fabled income tax returns.
Spectator "Chris Wallace, the moderator of the first presidential debate Tuesday night, insists he will try to remain “as invisible as possible.” That would certainly be a welcome change from his performance in the final 2016 debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. A lot of Democrats no doubt assume Wallace will go too easy on the president simply because he hosts a talking-heads show for the “conservative” Fox News network. But Wallace is not an admirer of Trump. Nor is he above gotcha questions and phony “fact checks.” It was Wallace, you will probably recall, who pompously lectured Trump as follows during that last 2016 debate:
Sir, there is a tradition in this country, in fact, one of the prides of this country is the peaceful transition of power and no matter how hard-fought a campaign is that at the end of the campaign, that the loser concedes to the winner. Not saying you’re necessarily going to be the loser or the winner, but that the loser concedes to the winner and the country comes together in part for the good of the country.
"At length, “the invisible man” asked an actual question: “Are you saying you’re not prepared now to commit to that principle?” Despite how ironic that question turned out to be in light of subsequent events, Wallace pressed Trump on the very same issue in an interview last July: “Can you give a direct answer that you will accept the election?” Considering that the loser of the 2016 contest and many other Democrats have advised Joe Biden not to concede if President Trump wins in November, it will be interesting to see if Wallace asks the former vice president if he will “commit to the principle” of the peaceful transition. His belligerence during the Trump interview suggests that he won’t.
"Ironically, Wallace’s purported commitment to avoid fact-checking either candidate will serve to protect the former vice president, who can no longer speak extemporaneously on any subject.
"During that exchange, the president pointed out that Biden supports defunding the police. Wallace went directly into fact-checker mode, interrupting Trump and contradicting him: “Sir, he does not.” Just 10 days earlier, Biden had endorsed “redirecting” police funds. This sly euphemism emerged during a NowThis interview with Ady Barkan, who suggested it would be good public policy to “redirect some of the funding for police into social services, mental health counseling and affordable housing.” Biden attempted to change the subject to generic police reform, but Barkan pressed him, “But do we agree that we can redirect some of the funding?” Biden unequivocally replied, “Yes, absolutely.”
"Wallace certainly knew this at the time of his interview with Trump, and he isn’t dumb enough to believe there is any real difference between “defunding the police” and “redirecting police funds.” Yet he was determined to cover for Biden. It was reminiscent of Candy Crowley’s notorious “fact-check” of Mitt Romney’s correct assertion, during his second 2012 debate with President Obama, that the latter failed to acknowledge the Benghazi attack as an “act of terror” for two weeks. Crowley contradicted Romney with a transparent lie to protect Obama from the consequences of his own lie. Wallace probably won’t attempt anything that dishonest, but President Trump expects him to protect Biden:" . . .
"As the night wore on, Wallace grew more and more hostile, refusing to let Trump answer questions at times, asking slanted questions that benefitted Biden, and not bringing up topics that would have been beneficial to the President. At one point, Wallace even joked with Biden about Trump supposedly ranting, which was really just Trump trying to answer a question, in what was one of the most unprofessional displays by a moderator I’ve seen." . . .
. . . "There are many more examples to give. When they talked about the California fires later in the debate, Trump gave the scientific answer that it was due to bad forest management, not some sudden, tiny shift in temperature that magically starts fires. Instead of letting him finish, Wallace interrupted and tried to chastise Trump.
"Before that, though, Wallace refused to have a discussion on why Biden’s son got a $3.5M wire transfer from a Russian oligarch’s wife. Trump tried to bring it up multiple times and the Fox News anchor simply refused, repeatedly changing the subject." . . .
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