Five takeaways from Trump-Biden debate clash

A raucous and chaotic clash between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden gave Americans their first chance to weigh their choices side by side in a White House contest that has until now remained remarkably stable.

The coronavirus pandemic allowed both candidates to avoid an awkward, and probably unwelcome, handshake that would have happened moments before the shouting started.

“This was the most chaotic and attack-filled presidential debate in our history,” Mitchell McKinney, director of the Political Communication institute at the University of Missouri, said shortly after its conclusion.

Here are five things we took away from the collision in Cleveland:

Trump missed a chance

Trump wasted one of three chances he'll have during this year's presidential debates to shake up a race that he's clearly trailing, according to both national and battleground state polls.

Trump’s constant interruptions, of both Biden and moderator Chris Wallace, were at once disjointed and unfocused, a fusillade of assaults that failed to damage his rival.

“I guess I’m debating you, not him, but that’s OK, I’m not surprised,” Trump told Wallace at one point.

Later, he called his rival stupid: “There’s nothing smart about you, Joe,” Trump said.