While the Democratic primary debate Wednesday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, has been called the most tumultuous of the primary season, debate hosts NBC and MSNBC have taken the opportunity to pat themselves on the back for the record-shattering ratings.
“NBC News and MSNBC once again made television history with the most-watched Democratic debate ever, averaging nearly 20 million total viewers across the two networks, according to Nielsen Fast National Data,” announced the networks in a joint statement.
The news agencies were particularly proud of achieving record-high ratings among adults between the ages of 25 and 54: “Last night’s debate was also the top-rated Democratic debate ever in the key A25-54 demo and attracted 13.5 million live stream viewers, surpassing any previously hosted debate this election cycle.”
But while the Democratic debate may have been great for the networks, the night was full of moments between candidates that may prove disastrous for long-term party unity.
During the debate, Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of Southbend, Indiana, chastised former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and self-avowed democratic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for making Democratic voters choose between two candidates who aren’t actually Democrats.
“Let’s put forward somebody who’s actually a Democrat,” Buttigieg told the applauding crowd, reports RealClearPolitics. “We shouldn’t have to choose between one candidate who wants to burn this party down and another candidate who wants to buy this party out. We can do better.”
Also during the debate, Bloomberg nailed Sanders, the current front-runner in national polls, for simultaneously advocating for socialism and having three different homes.
“What a wonderful country we have,” Bloomberg said, as The Daily Wire previously reported. “The best known socialist happens to be a millionaire with three houses. What’d I miss here?”
Sanders deflected from the attack by pointing out that it is normal for Vermonters to have a summer home, and that since Sanders works in Washington, it was also appropriate for him to have a home in the nation’s capital.
As the Daily Wire previously reported, another notable feature of the debate was that Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was on offense almost the entire night, and delivered a particularly devastating attack on Bloomberg for his answer about his alleged treatment of women.
“I hope you heard what [Bloomberg’s] defense was, ‘I’ve been nice to some women,’” Warren told the crowd after Bloomberg was booed. “That just doesn’t cut it. The mayor has to stand on his record, and what we need to know is exactly what is lurking out there. He has gotten some number of women, dozens, who knows, to sign non-disclosure agreements both for sexual harassment and for gender discrimination in the workplace.”
“We have very few non-disclosure agreements. None of them accuse me of doing anything other than maybe they didn’t like a joke I told,” said Bloomberg, who was promptly booed. “There’s an agreement between two parties that wanted to keep it quiet and that’s up to them. They signed those agreements, and we’ll live with it.”
After some more back-and-forth, Warren responded: “We are not going to beat Donald Trump with a man who has who knows how many non-disclosure agreements and the drip-drip-drip of stories of women saying they have been harassed and discriminated against.”
Other notable remarks from the evening included Warren telling the audience that Bloomberg called women “horse-faced lesbians,” Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) asking Buttigieg if he thought she was “dumb” for not knowing the name of the president of Mexico, and Buttigeig telling Sanders that the budget hole in his proposals was the size of the U.S. economy.
After the debate concluded, President Trump took to twitter and declared Bloomberg’s performance “the worst in the history of debates.”
“Mini Mike Bloomberg’s debate performance tonight was perhaps the worst in the history of debates, and there have been some really bad ones. He was stumbling, bumbling, and grossly incompetent. If this doesn’t knock him out of the race, nothing will. Not so easy to do what I did,” Trump tweeted.
Mini Mike Bloomberg’s debate performance tonight was perhaps the worst in the history of debates, and there have been some really bad ones. He was stumbling, bumbling and grossly incompetent. If this doesn’t knock him out of the race, nothing will. Not so easy to do what I did!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2020