The Democratic Committee of Sumter County held a watch party for the 2024 presidential debate between sitting President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Attendees had bingo cards, with squares containing a variety of categories including “Drain the Swamp,” “Biden zones out,” and “Trump interrupts the moderator.” Attendees also had colored chips to apply to different squares whenever they happened during the debate. 

Afterward, viewer Nancy Spice gave her opinion of the debate: “It was an overall stream of flippant comments by president Trump.” She noted what was for her the most interesting point: “Biden had the facts, and Trump had fabricated stories,” though she later qualified her statement that his comments were better described as thoughts and opinions. “There was so much misinformation that Trump was spewing to pick out one or two.” Spice concluded with encouraging readers to use factchecker.com to ascertain the truth.

Head of the Democratic Committee, Blue Argo, noted her reactions to the debate: “I was surprised by both candidates’ demeanor at the start of the debate. I expected former President Trump to appear confident (because “reality” TV is his milieu), but I did not expect him to sound coherent, and I expected President Biden to sound presidential and feisty, albeit with the occasional gaffe, but I did not expect him to appear frozen.”

Argo did note a change: “An interesting reversal unfolded within the first thirty minutes. President Biden began to thaw as he warmed to his subject and he got off a zinger or two (“the morals of an alley cat”), and the former president reacted with increasing agitation, incoherence, projection, and fantasy.”

She compared the two candidate’s overall performance: “Neither candidate came off particularly well, but Former President Trump’s inability to respond to the questions asked him and his complete obsession with a couple of his unsubstantiated talking points showed precisely where and how President Biden had landed blows and rattled him, yet President Biden was never able to press his advantage with a knock-out punch. The Scrapper from Scranton didn’t sound very scrappy until the debate was over.”

Argo was unwilling to declare a clear winner: “As for who won, well, that depends on who you ask. President Biden won on Truth, decency, and substance, but neither former President Trump nor his base has ever paid much heed to facts or complete sentences.”

Others in attendance were questioned but declined comment due to fear of reprisals.