Donald Trump didn't come to Cleveland,Ohio,to debate. He came as a chaos agent on a mission to taunt,interrupt,bluster and bully.
Trump was so unrelentingly aggressive that he risked turning off the voters he needs to win the election - especially moderate women in the suburbs.
For 1½ hours of barely watchable television,the President was the nation's heckler-in-chief. Trump refused to observe the debate rules,declined to condemn white supremacists and demurred when asked to urge his voters to maintain calm if an election result is not known on November 3.
Trump's strategy was clear:dominate the stage,throw Biden off his game and block his opponent from making his case to the American people.
From that vantage point,he was largely successful. His supporters will relish his displays of defiance and norm-breaking. Undecided voters looking to learn about Biden's policies will come out of the debate more confused than they went in.
But there was little to appeal to a key bloc of voters, moderate women in the suburbs.They are not raging left-wingers but largely recoil at Trump's abrasive and at times crude behaviour.