During a stop in Alliance, Ohio, Joe Biden spoke and then answered a few questions from the press. When asked about President Trump’s remarks about white supremacists during the presidential debate Tuesday night, Biden tried to put his strongest message forward. “My message to Proud Boys and other white supremacists is to cease and desist. The American people will decide who the next president is, period.”

The reporters gathered at the train stop were quite gentle with Biden, as usual. The only questions asked were framed in a manner to get him to respond to something Trump said during the debate. There was no curiosity about Biden’s policies on anything, they just teed him up to trash Trump. The Biden campaign strategy is to make Biden look as warm and fuzzy as possible. He’s just Middle-Class Joe, riding Amtrak and talking to everyday Americans along the way. He feels the pain of Americans who have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus or lost a loved one. He looks right at the camera and emotes. After 47 years as an elected official, he’s good at it.

A hot topic today is how Trump answered a demand from debate moderator Chris Wallace to denounce white supremacists. This is the first presidential debate that I have ever heard a moderator make such a request from one of the candidates. It all stems from the Unite the Right rally and march in Charlottesville in 2017 organized for neo-Nazis and white supremacists. The event was to protest the removal of Confederate monuments. It devolved into violence with 19 people injured and one young woman was killed. When Trump was asked about it the next day he made mention that “very good people” came down on both sides of the monument removal debate. The left and their messengers in the media immediately misquoted Trump and interpreted his answer to say Trump thought neo-Nazis and white supremacists are good people. It was a deliberate smear and it has been allowed to continue up to the present day. Wallace was asking about that in last night’s debate.

President Trump has been called a racist, a white supremacist, and even a Nazi for four years. His supporters are called that, too. Never mind that Trump has a long history of working with people across racial and ethnic lines and has even been awarded honors from black community leaders in his past life as a businessman in New York City. Democrats and their minions in the press always revert to the racist narrative against Republican presidents and Trump has been on the receiving end of this to an extent that past Republican presidents have not. He’s 74 years old and isn’t fluent in the woke language. So critics vilify him.

The hypocrisy is strong here. Only Trump was asked about alleged racist past remarks. Joe Biden was given a free pass from Chris Wallace. Biden has some racist-sounding remarks in his own history. Remember when he said, “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent”? How about when he said poor children are just as bright as white children, implying only people of color are poor? Those are just a couple of examples of less than stellar remarks from gaffe-prone Joe. Not a mention of those remarks though.

Trump needs to practice a more articulate answer to that question because it will continue to come up. Last night he started out well by immediately saying that he does condemn white supremacy but then got off track when Biden chimed in and taunted him to denounce the Proud Boys or another specific group by name. Trump should not have taken the bait. He should have turned it back on Biden and used a past remark of his as a response. Trump is uncomfortable talking about racism and he just needs to have a short, on-point response ready. It was frustrating watching Biden get the last word on it.

Trump said, “almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing.” True enough during the Summer of Love and into the Autumn of Anarchy. He went on to say that Status Quo Joe refuses to condemn Antifa. Biden said, “Antifa is an idea, not an organization.” He sounded as daft as Jerry Nadler when he said Antifa isn’t real. Trump should have used that opportunity to talk about his “Platinum Plan”. That’s an economic plan that declares both Antifa and the KKK as terrorist organizations. The plan increases access to capital to black businesses by almost $500 billion, which will create 3 million new jobs for the black community. It will create 50,000 new black-owned businesses, too. On economic issues, especially pre-coronavirus, Trump is strongest. Biden never lead the charge to declare the KKK a terrorist organization, in fact, he nurtured friendships with segregationists in the Senate.

Trump ended up saying, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” This led to the left’s meltdown that Trump wants to incite violence and wants the Proud Boys to be ready to do battle for him.

Senator Tim Scott was asked about Trump’s response this morning. He said he thinks Trump misspoke and should correct it. Scott has called out Trump in the past over alleged racist remarks. Mitt Romney, naturally, didn’t provide any cover and Mike Rounds straddled the fence.

Reporter: “Do you find that concerning, the president's refusal last night during the debate to condemn white supremacist groups?"

Sen. Tim Scott: “I think he misspoke. I think he should correct it. If he doesn't correct it, I guess he didn't misspeak." pic.twitter.com/qxDTrg7ulT

— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 30, 2020

“I think he misspoke in response to Chris Wallace’s comment. … I think he misspoke, I think he should correct it. If he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t misspeak,” Scott said, when asked by ABC News if he found Trump’s remarks concerning.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, told reporters on Wednesday that “of course” Trump should have denounced white supremacists during the debate.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) added that Trump should have been “very clear.”

“He should have made it very clear that there’s no room for people on the far left or the far more far right. When it comes to either an antifa or these white supremacist groups, should have been very clear,” Rounds told reporters.

It’s all crazy, just like everything else is in 2020. The debate was not what it should have been. Biden wasn’t pressed on much of anything and Trump was put on the defense for everything. Chris Wallace was the third debater as he sided with Biden and even chuckled with some of Biden’s uncivil remarks. When Biden said he couldn’t get a word in “with this clown”, Wallace laughed and agreed.

The usual suspects in Hollywood were quick to condemn Trump’s performance.

Here’s the big takeaway from the debate:

Trump was asked to condemn white supremacists, and not only did he refuse to do so, he told them to “stand back and stand by.”

You know, as if he is their leader.

That’s the takeaway.

— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) September 30, 2020

I want to live in a country where my President is not afraid to call white supremacists and Nazis racists thugs and terrorists and then do everything he can to stop them. #WithBidenWeCan #Debates2020

— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) September 30, 2020

Trump didn't condemn white supremacists. He told 'em to wait for their cue. #Debates2020 https://t.co/JSpBCvcEs8

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) September 30, 2020

Media darlings on the left blamed Trump for the crazy debate. Jake Tapper said it was the worse debate he’s ever seen, mostly because of Trump, of course, while Dana Bash called it a sh** show on live television. CNN, kept it classy, right?