New Delhi: US news channel CNN’s chief political correspondent Dana Bash Wednesday used a profanity while describing the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden, calling it a “shit show”.
Her comments came as she responded to CNN anchor Jake Tapper in the post-debate wrap up. Tapper said the debate did not go well and ultimately it was the US public who lost.
“You just took the words out of my mouth. You used some high-minded language. I’m just going to say it like it is. That was a shit show. We’re on cable, we can say that, apologies for being maybe a little bit crude, but that is really the phrase that I am getting from people on both sides of the aisle on texts, and it’s the only phrase I can think of to really describe it,” Bash said.
Shortly after, her comments went viral and were widely circulated on Twitter.
And then there’s Dana Bash tonight pic.twitter.com/zxfQMtmtpO
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) September 30, 2020
Dana Bash: “That was a shitshow.” pic.twitter.com/VrrowZItq3
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) September 30, 2020
Jake Tapper: "That was horrific"
Dana Bash: "That was a shit show" pic.twitter.com/DYUcBDfkqu
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 30, 2020
The US Federal Communications Commission bars the use of “grossly offensive” language from broadcast television. However, the same rules do not apply to cable networks such as CNN as they are subscription-based.
The debate
On Wednesday (Indian Standard Time), President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden hurled insults at each other in their first debate ahead of the US presidential elections as the two sparred over topics ranging from health care to the economy.
Anchor Jake Tapper described the debate as “a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck”. He added that it was the worst debate he had seen, and “it wasn’t even a debate, it was a ‘disgrace’”. Tapper added that it was “primarily because of President Trump”.
He said Trump was constantly interrupting Biden, “lying maliciously” and attacking Biden’s son. He also spoke about how Trump told a “neo-fascist, far right group” to “stand back and stand-by” while condemning White supremacists.
Tapper added that it was the American people who lost because the debate was horrific. To this, Bash made her now-viral comment.
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