Chris Wallace Lauds His Own Debate Performance: 'I Did as Well as I Could'
While Fox News host Chris Wallace has been almost universally panned over his performance during Tuesday’s presidential debate in Ohio, the moderator has graded himself generously.
The “Fox News Sunday” host lost control of a rowdy debate in Cleveland and was one half of a duo which ganged up on President Donald Trump, if you ask supporters of the president.
The president commented on the perceived bias against him moments into the event.
Trump to Wallace: “First of all I guess I’m debating you not him”. pic.twitter.com/wrbOJrLXMP
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) September 30, 2020
Wallace also interrupted the president five times for every one time he interrupted Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, according to the Trump campaign.
Chris Wallace only interrupted Joe Biden 15 times.
Wallace interrupted President Trump 76 times! #Debates2020
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) September 30, 2020
Despite these and other instances of being anything but the “invisible” moderator Wallace said he aspired to be prior to the debate, he was noted by many who watched as perhaps the most prominent personality on stage.
The Fox News host was criticized online by some of his network colleagues.
Trump is debating the moderator and Biden.
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) September 30, 2020
Why is @JoeBiden allowed to interrupt? @realDonaldTrump is not
— Brian Kilmeade (@kilmeade) September 30, 2020
That was not good
— GregGutfeld (@greggutfeld) September 30, 2020
Still, Wallace, in essence, patted himself on the back in a Wednesday interview with The New York Times.
“Generally speaking, I did as well as I could, so I don’t have any second thoughts there,” Wallace told the paper.
“I’m just disappointed with the results. For me, but much more importantly, I’m disappointed for the country, because it could have been a much more useful evening than it turned out to be,” he added.
Also during the interview, Wallace warned C-SPAN host Steve Scully, who will moderate the next debate, that he should be prepared for a number of interruptions.
“If either man goes down this road, I hope you’ll be quicker to realize what’s going on than I was. I didn’t have that advance warning,” Wallace stated.
The Fox News host also said during the interview, “I’m just sad with the way last night turned out.”
“I’ve read some of the reviews. I know people think, well, gee, I didn’t jump in soon enough.”
He also pointed the finger at Trump for his frequent interruptions.
“I guess I didn’t realize — and there was no way you could, hindsight being 20/20 — that [interrupting] was going to be the president’s strategy, not just for the beginning of the debate but the entire debate.”
Wallace said that after the debate, he was offered a glass of champagne by FOX Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch and Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott.
He said he accepted the drink, but told The Times he was not in a celebratory mood.
The debate was such a debacle that the Commission on Presidential Debates announced Wednesday that it would change the format of the next two debates.
The commission has not yet announced what those changes will be.
The next debate between Biden and Trump is scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami.
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