--- title: Insults, Interruptions: Uncivil Tone of Presidential Debate description: The first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden was defined by interruptions and insults. canonical: https://time.com/5894565/interruptions-insults-presidential-debate/ author: Madeleine Carlisle article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-09-30T05:45:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:07:13.093Z article:section: Politics og:title: Interruptions and Insults: All About the Very Uncivil Tone of the First Presidential Debate og:description: The first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden was defined by interruptions and insults. og:url: https://time.com/5894565/interruptions-insults-presidential-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf830c7cb24b8ab6/698a12b0e76ad2be73638252/trump-biden-insults-interruptions-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: trump biden insults interruptions debate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Interruptions and Insults: All About the Very Uncivil Tone of the First Presidential Debate twitter:description: The first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden was defined by interruptions and insults. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf830c7cb24b8ab6/698a12b0e76ad2be73638252/trump-biden-insults-interruptions-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Interruptions and Insults: All About the Very Uncivil Tone of the First Presidential Debate > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=ffad09d3-084c-4624-adb6-1f6a9b95a5ee&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How the First Presidential Debate Devolved Into Chaos [Watch (HLS stream): How the First Presidential Debate Devolved Into Chaos](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/miKexGA5.m3u8) (5:33)  _Published 2020-09-30. National Correspondent Charlotte Alter and Senior White House Correspondent Brian Bennett discuss key takeaways from the first presidential debate of the season._  by [Madeleine Carlisle](https://time.com/author/madeleine-carlisle/)  ## Madeleine Carlisle Sep 30, 2020 5:45 AM UTC National Correspondent Charlotte Alter and Senior White House Correspondent Brian Bennett discuss key takeaways from the first presidential debate of the season.  by [Madeleine Carlisle](https://time.com/author/madeleine-carlisle/)  ## Madeleine Carlisle Sep 30, 2020 5:45 AM UTC [The first Presidential debate](https://time.com/5894289/debate-live-updates-biden-trump/) between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden may be better remembered for its antagonistic tone, and the din of the candidates talking over each other, than any policy discussion. The candidates regularly attacked each other’s character, as Trump repeatedly interrupted and heckled Biden, who responded by calling the President a “clown” and telling him to “shut up.” Moderator Chris Wallace often failed to get the discussion back on track. The debate was also marked by Trump refusing to [disavow white supremacist](https://time.com/5894497/donald-trump-white-supremacists-debate/) groups and other right-wing organizations and attacking the[ integrity of mail-in voting](https://time.com/5894501/trump-repeatedly-attacked-mail-in-voting-during-the-debate-theres-no-evidence-behind-his-claim/), without evidence. The hostile remarks began early in the night, when Wallace asked Biden if he supported ending the Senate filibuster or putting more than nine justices to the U.S. Supreme Court—as some progressives have urged. Biden avoided the question, responding, “Whatever position I take on that, that’ll become the issue. The issue is the American people should speak. You should go out and vote.” Trump immediately interrupted Biden, repeatedly asking, “Are you going to pack the court?” and “Who’s on your list, Joe?” “Would you shut up, man?” Biden responded. “This is so unpresidential.” When Wallace announced the segment on the Supreme Court over, Biden retorted, “That was really a productive segment wasn’t it,” turning to Trump and saying, “Keep yapping, man.” As Trump continued to aggressively interrupt his Democratic opponent throughout the night, Biden often responded by turning to the camera and addressing viewers as the President continued to speak over him. At one point, Wallace asked the President: “I think the country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interrupters, I’m appealing to you sir to do that.” When Trump said Biden needed to follow the debate rules, too, Wallace responded: “Well frankly you’ve been doing more interrupting.” During one moment when Biden discussed COVID-19 reopening policies, Trump jabbed “tell that to Nancy Pelosi,” to which Biden responded, “Would he just shush for a minute?” Later in the evening, Wallace repeatedly asked Trump to “let him answer,” before telling Biden, “you get the final word.” “It’s hard to get any word in with this clown,” Biden said, “excuse me, this person.” When Biden referred to the military service of his son Beau, [who died of cancer in 2015](https://time.com/5878816/joe-biden-grief-kamala-harris/), Trump responded, “I don’t know Beau.” Trump then brought up [Biden’s son Hunter](https://time.com/5700615/hunter-biden-joe-poor-judgment/), who was discharged from the Navy reserve in 2014 after failing a drug test. “My son, like a lot of people, like a lot people we know at home, had a drug problem,” Biden said in response. “He’s worked on it and I’m proud of it.” Trump also attacked Biden’s intelligence several points in the evening. “You graduated either the lowest or almost the lowest in your class,” the President said to the former Vice President. “Don’t ever use the word smart with me… there’s nothing smart about you Joe.” “Oh give me a break,” Biden responded, scoffing at Trump’s attack—a common refrain from the former longtime Senator throughout the evening. During a discussion of the explosive New York _Times_ [report](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html) that the President paid almost no federal income taxes for the past two decades, Biden pledged to eliminate the Trump Administration’s tax cuts for the wealthy and “make sure that we invest in the people who in fact need the help.” “But why didn’t you do it in the last 25 year?” Trump responded. “Because you weren’t screwing things up,” Biden said. “No no—you were a Senator,” Trump retorted, to which Biden responded, “you were the worst president America’s ever had. Come on.” The next debate, between Vice President Mike Pence and Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris, will take place Oct. 7. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5894565/interruptions-insults-presidential-debate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5894565/interruptions-insults-presidential-debate/"},"headline":"Interruptions and Insults: All About the Very Uncivil Tone of the First Presidential Debate","datePublished":"2020-09-30T05:45:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-14T09:07:13.093Z","description":"Trump repeatedly interrupted and heckled Biden, who responded by calling the President a \"clown\" and telling him to \"shut up\"","url":"https://time.com/5894565/interruptions-insults-presidential-debate/","keywords":["2020 Election","News","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf830c7cb24b8ab6/698a12b0e76ad2be73638252/trump-biden-insults-interruptions-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Madeleine Carlisle","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/madeleine-carlisle/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaf830c7cb24b8ab6/698a12b0e76ad2be73638252/trump-biden-insults-interruptions-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"trump biden insults interruptions debate","caption":"trump biden insults interruptions debate","creditText":"JIM WATSON,SAUL LOEB/AFP—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/2020-election/","name":"2020 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5894565/interruptions-insults-presidential-debate/","name":"Interruptions and Insults: All About the Very Uncivil Tone of the First Presidential Debate"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How the First Presidential Debate Devolved Into Chaos","description":"National Correspondent Charlotte Alter and Senior White House Correspondent Brian Bennett discuss key takeaways from the first presidential debate of the season.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/miKexGA5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-09-30T21:12:54.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/miKexGA5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5894565/interruptions-insults-presidential-debate/","duration":"PT5M33S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5894565/interruptions-insults-presidential-debate/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```