Barring any last minute surprises, CNN on Thursday will host Democratic President Joe Biden and former Republican President Donald Trump in their first debate of the 2024 general election. Four years ago, when the same candidates met in the kickoff debate of the 2020 cycle, the liberal broadcast and cable networks crudely blasted Trump’s performance and crowned Biden the “winner” of “the worst debate in modern history.”
In fact, this year’s debate moderators, CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, were among the most strident voices castigating Trump for his aggressive posture in that September 29, 2020 debate. “That was a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck,” Tapper seethed. “That was the worst debate I have ever seen. In fact, it wasn’t even a debate. It was a disgrace. And it’s primarily because of President Trump,”…
