How Twitter Really Felt About Kristen Welker's Debate Performance

The Twitter feedback about Kristen Welker serving as the moderator for the third 2020 presidential and VP debate was mainly positive. Unlike previous moderators, Welker was able to keep the debate train mostly on track. Trying to get President Donald Trump to stay on topic seemed nearly impossible. Still, the consensus was that Welker did an excellent job of containing the commander-in-chief to a somewhat "normal" debate performance.

Welker's experience as one of the co-anchor for Weekend TODAY, especially her work as a White House correspondent, was on display during the Oct. 22, 2020 debate. Beforehand, Trump made his displeasure known about Welker as the final moderator during a Fox and Friends interview on Oct. 20 During his chat with Fox and Friends, the president claimed Welker was biased toward Joe Biden. President Trump said, "Kristen Welker is terrible. I mean she is totally partisan; her father and mother are big supporters of Joe Biden for a long time... There are people out there that can be neutral. Kristen Welker cannot be neutral at all."

To find out more about the Twitter consensus about Welker, read on!

As expected, Twitter weighed in on Kristen Welker's performance as a debate moderator. Politico's Dan Diamond tweeted, "Near-universal praise for moderator Welker underscores she's the lone reporter to escape the curse of being a 2020 presidential moderator. Two moderators got steamrolled and third would-be moderator got suspended from C-SPAN. Once-glamorous job carries new risks in Trump era."

CNN's Karen Finney tweeted, "Kristen Welker is just the latest strong black woman Donald Trump can't handle." Activist and author Amy Suskind gave Welker an A+ on Twitter, "Trump didn't land a single punch, and for that reason alone, Biden won. But Biden also did better in making points. Kristin Welker was A+ on covering issues and keeping them in line." Senior producer Kyle Griffin tweeted Rachel Maddow's feedback about Welker, "I think she's owed congratulations by the country. I think if there was a clear winner from this debate tonight, I don't know who would argue with that fact that it was, in fact, Kristen Welker."

As for the loser of the debate? Twitter gave that title to the mute button operator — or lack thereof.

It's not too often that liberals and conservatives see eye to eye on things. However, the one thing that both sides seem to agree on is Kristen Welker's performance as a moderator during the final presidential debate ahead of the 2020 election. Both left and right-wing supporters gave Welker credit where it was due.

Conservative commentator Wayne Dupree tweeted, "#KristenWelker did one of the best moderator jobs we've seen in years. She didn't give Biden snowball questions and that was huge!" CNN's S.E. Cupp also raved about Welker's performance, tweeting, "The empath in me is imagining over and over in my head about what it must be like for @kwelkernbc to go home after this knowing she crushed it, in spite of all the Trump & Co attacks on her and her family."

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) also weighed in on Twitter with positive reviews on Welker's performance, "@kwelkernbc did an excellent job moderating tonight." Welker's NBC colleagues also chimed in on her performance via Twitter. NBC host Willie Geist wrote, "@KWelkerNBC, we all knew. Now the world knows. Well done."

Clearly, people across the spectrum couldn't deny that Welker handled the debate better than the earlier debate moderators. On both sides, Welker quickly became the fan favorite.

Even while managing to control the debate the best way she could, Kristen Welker's performance couldn't escape being compared to other moderators from previous debates — specifically Chris Wallace. Towards the end of the debate, conservative writer Carmine Sabina tweeted, "There is time left but Kristen Welker has given a master class on how to moderate a debate fairly. Is Chris Wallace watching?" One of his followers responded, "I hope Chris is watching. He made that first debate a disaster."

As it turns out, the Fox News commentator tuned into the debate and ultimately claimed to be envious of Welker's ability to moderate a better debate than he could. In September 2020, Wallace sat in Welker's position and couldn't seem to control the rather quarrelsome first presidential debate between President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Wallace commented on Welker's performance during Fox's live coverage of the event. "Well, first of all, I'm jealous," The seasoned news journalist said. "I would have liked to have been able to moderate that debate and get a real exchange of views instead of hundreds of interruptions."

Wallace's comments were later countered by one of his former network colleagues. Former Fox commentator Adam Housley responded, tweeting, "[Wallace] had his chance and his ego got in the way. He has only himself to blame because ultimately he was in control. @kwelkernbc handled it fantastically. Maybe a couple more topics could have been explored, but she was fair and kept control."

Better luck next time, Chris Wallace!