MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Trump slammed for boasting about presidential debate's high cable ratings: 'He thinks America needs clown show'

Media reports indicate that the ratings for the first debate dropped sharply compared to the numbers Trump and Hillary Clinton drew in 2016

After the 2020 US Presidential Debate ended on September 29 between President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden amid some heated arguments, POTUS celebrated the purported high television ratings of the event on September 30. 

He wrote on Twitter, "HIGHEST CABLE TELEVISION RATINGS OF ALL TIME. SECOND HIGHEST OVERALL TELEVISION RATINGS OF ALL TIME. Some day these Fake Media Companies are going to miss me, very badly."

However, various media reports show that ratings for the first debate for 2020 between Trump and Biden dropped sharply compared to the numbers POTUS and Hillary Clinton drew in 2016. While the 2020 debate was watched by 73.1M people, the 2016 debate had 84M viewers, as per Vanity Fair. The 90-minute debate run moderated by Chris Wallace of Fox News saw some tense clashes between the two leaders. The debate took place on critical subjects such as Covid-19 pandemic, racism, The New York Times report on Trump's tax returns, climate change and the economy.

The main highlight of the debate had Trump claiming that he has paid "millions" in federal income taxes as he responded to the NYT report. Further, when targeted by Biden on the handling of Covid-19, Trump defended himself and his administration. "You would have lost far more people," POTUS retorted. Trump added, "He wants to shut down this country and I want to keep it open." He insisted that Biden "could not have done the job we did". Trump also refused to condemn White supremacists for inciting violence at anti-police brutality protests across the country. During the debate, Biden even called Trump a "clown" as tensions rose in the pair's first televised debate. 
 
After the debate, when Trump's recent comments dropped boasting about the high ratings, the Internet started to slam him for being insensitive to other key issues such as employment and Covid-19. Some even continued calling him a joke and a clown while few came in support of Trump. A user wrote on Covid-19, "There are 205,000 dead Americans and all that Trump can think about are his ratings." Another concurred on the pandemic, "The pandemic is a national/world problem. Trump should have let the nation know in January how dangerous it was and taken action. Mr. muscle man wake up! Trump doesn’t care about you." One user wrote about joblessness and the economy. "I think people dying of covid and the millions unemployed care more about that than television ratings.” 

A user wrote bringing up the Trump family’s corruption allegations, "Pretty sure a Trump family trial would also get high ratings; doesn’t mean that it’s good news." Another mocked, "He should do a reality show from prison, starring the whole family." Some ridiculed him as a clown. "Because that's what Donald Trump thinks the country needs, a highly-rated clown show instead of a president.” Another joke about him being a clown. 

Some came in support of Trump. "Blame your local government weirdo; Trump doesn’t have direct control over your city-state. That’s not how the U.S. works ...pretty sad you think he was 100% to blame. Get mad at your governor and mayor."

These allegations were made by the internet and individual organizations, MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) cannot confirm them independently and nor does it support these claims being made on the Internet.