Even TRUMP said she did a good job: President leads the praise for moderator Kristin Welker after much calmer and controlled debate where she DIDN'T have to use the mute button
Kristin Welker has received rave reviews for her 'poised and fresh' moderation of a contentious final presidential debate - including from President Donald Trump.
Welker, NBC's White House correspondent for the past nine years and the first black woman to moderate a presidential debate in three decades, faced high expectations when she took the stage on Thursday night - after the first face-off flew off the rails.
The moderator of that first debate, Fox News host Chris Wallace, was branded the loser of the night as he spent most of his time trying - and failing - to stop Trump and Joe Biden from interrupting each other.
The Commission on Presidential Debates sought to reduce interjections the second time around by equipping Welker with the ability to mute each candidate's microphone while his opponent made their initial two-minute response to each new topic.
But Welker didn't appear to use the mute button at all, as viewers credited her forceful and respectful cautions to the candidates with keeping things on track.
Even Trump - who had led the attacks against Wallace - complimented Welker during the debate, saying: 'So far, I respect very much the way you're handling this, I have to say.'
That comment came after Trump disparaged Welker earlier in the week, calling her a 'radical left Democrat' and tweeting that 'she's always been terrible & unfair, just like most of the Fake News'.
By the end of the night a few conservative pundits said they felt Welker was biased against Trump, as a Fox News tally showed she interrupted him 24 times and Biden only twice.
Kristin Welker received rave reviews for her 'poised and fresh' moderation of a contentious final presidential debate on Thursday night
Even Trump complimented Welker during the debate, saying: 'So far, I respect very much the way you're handling this, I have to say'
On social media, the majority of reviews on Welker were highly positive.
'I am so proud of the job @kwelkernbc is doing tonight,' her NBC colleague Al Roker tweeted. 'She's moving it along but being respectful. She is running a tight ship and we are seeing a real debate.'
Several other journalists shared similar sunny appraisals, with Jake Tapper saying Welker was 'doing a stellar job as expected' and Yashar Ali calling her 'crisp and fresh as a moderator'.
Dozens of viewers drew comparisons between Welker and Wallace, most of them saying that the former moderator did much better than the latter.
'I hope Chris Wallace is taking notes from Kristen Welker about how to moderate a debate,' one viewer tweeted.
'One thing everybody can agree with: Kristen Welker > Chris Wallace,' another wrote.
Wallace weighed in during post-debate coverage on Fox News, saying: 'I'm jealous. I would have liked to be able to moderate that debate and get a real exchange of views instead of hundreds of interruptions.'
While Welker's performance was well-received overall, there were a few critics who thought she could have done better.
'Sweet Jesus just use the [mute] button Kristen Welker,' one viewer tweeted. 'At least don't give up trying wrestle control from Trump, even Chris Wallace did better and he didn't even have a mute button.'
'Kristen Welker is just as bad as the other moderators, if not worse,' another wrote.
Some of the critics accused Welker of bias against Trump, saying that she interrupted him more than his opponent.
But others said that Welker should have done more to keep Trump in line, with one writing: 'Once again, @kwelkernbc folds when Trump decides that he wants the last word. So aggravating.'
The debate commission's addition of a 'mute button' appeared to deter Trump and Biden from interrupting each other, making Welker's job a bit easier.
When the candidates were allowed to directly engage, Welker was generally successful in striking the balance between giving them room and cutting off the discussion when it was becoming unproductive.
'Ten seconds, Mr President, then I have to move on,' she said during a health care discussion.
She was attuned to the news, asking Trump how he would reunite families separated at the southern border following the revelation that the government had lost track of the parents of hundreds of children. She twice followed up when the president didn't directly address the question.
Welker had a sharp retort to Trump when he dodged a question on why the government had failed to agree on a new stimulus package for families suffering financially from the coronavirus.
'Because Nancy Pelosi doesn't want to approve it,' he said.
'But you're the president,' Welker replied.
Welker asked Biden to directly address Americans who feared that his approach to health care would mean too much government involvement, and to square his desire to improve the environment without harming the economy.
She also didn't shy away from recent stories about Biden's son Hunter's involvement in foreign companies and allegations that he took advantage of his father's role as vice president.
Somewhat oddly, it was Biden who first brought it up by criticizing Trump's lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani.
'Was there anything about these relationships that was inappropriate or unethical?' Welker asked.
Similarly, in talking about recent reports of a Trump bank account in China, she asked the president: 'How can voters know that you don't have any conflicts of interest?'
Welker, a 44-year-old Harvard graduate who was the first Black woman to moderate a presidential debate since 1992, asked the candidates in personal terms what they would say to minorities who felt they had prepare their children for the possibility that law enforcement could target them for the color of their skin.
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