Cry, the beloved country. Donald Trump ensured Tuesday’s first US presidential debate was the worst in American history, a national humiliation. The rest of the world – and future historians – will presumably look at it and weep. More likely than not, according to opinion polls, his opponent Joe Biden will win the November election and bring the republic back from the brink. If Trump is re-elected, however, this dark, horrifying, unwatchable fever dream will surely be the first line of America’s obituary. Only one man looked remotely presidential on the debate stage in Cleveland, Ohio, and it was not the incumbent. He interrupted, ranted, raged, spewed lies and interrupted some more. Oh, and he passed on an opportunity to condemn white supremacists, instead telling them to “stand back and stand by”. The debate moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News, did not cover himself in glory either. He was a like a school supply teacher, hopelessly out of his depth as unruly children run riot. He did not enforce the rules or cut the president’s mic. Facing this asymmetric bullying, Biden showed self-control and stood his ground. He spoke for tens of millions of Americans when he demanded: “Will you shut up, man?” – the Biden campaign rushed out this slogan on a T-shirt before the debate was even over. Five weeks before the election, the debate pitted an ageing white male against an ageing orange male sweating like Richard Nixon in 1960. Anyone hoping for elegant verbal jousting or rapier-like wit was in for a disappointment. Perhaps it was just as well that coronavirus guidelines ensured the men stood apart at separate lecterns on blue carpeted stage beneath an eagle symbol with the words “The union and the constitution forever”. No handshakes, no prowling by Trump as he did behind Hillary Clinton’s back in 2016, no physical violence. Katie Hill, a former Democratic congresswoman, tweeted: “I literally don’t know how Biden is not running over and punching him in the face.”Trump looked more like a challenger than an incumbent, butting in and hurling petty insults such as: “Don’t ever use the word ‘smart’ with me … There’s nothing smart about you, Joe.” The hapless Wallace struggled to gain control as viewers heard only a cacophony of voices. “I am the moderator of this debate, let me ask my question,” he almost pleaded. Sometimes Wallace was too easy on Trump, though he did tell him at one point: “Frankly, you’ve been doing more interrupting.”Biden mostly kept his cool, preferring to laugh in world weary bemusement. “That was really a productive segment, wasn’t it?” he said sarcastically early on. “Keep yappin’, man.”Other memorable lines included: “You are the worst president that America has ever had”; “The fact is that everything he’s saying so far is simply a lie. I’m not here to call out his lies. Everybody knows he a liar”; “It’s hard to get any word in with this clown – excuse me, this person”; “President Trump wouldn’t know a suburb unless he took a