If you’re not an old White man running for president, the debate wasn’t for you

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In the first presidential election year since an insurrection nearly derailed U.S. democracy and the Supreme Court overturned federal protections for abortion, with millions of women and LGBTQ+ voters feeling less free and equal in our politics and society, the two old White men running for president took the stage in the first debate of the campaign and said little to address the concerns of a nervous and diverse American electorate.

The debate was the earliest it has ever been in a presidential campaign cycle, coming just three days after the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and at the end of Pride Month . With four months to go until Election Day and ahead of both political parties’ nominating conventions set for later this summer, Thursday night’s debate was an opportunity for each candidate to lay out their governing agendas and make the case for why they deserve another four years in the White House.

What did a woman, person of color or queer American — basically anyone who was not a White man running for president — hear last night that will help them decide whom to vote for in November? Instead of talking to them, the candidates spent 90 minutes mostly talking to each other about the past and debating which of them was “the worst president ever.”

When asked about abortion , former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that Democrats want to “kill babies at nine months” or “outside of the womb.” On an issue Democrats have made a main focus of the campaign, one that they hope will galvanize women voters in particular, President Joe Biden did not give the forceful defense of abortion protections or a rebuke of his opponent that his supporters were hoping for.

Off stage, Vice President Kamala Harris hit the cable news airwaves to clean up after her boss’s lackluster performance as Democrats openly mused on-air about a different 2024 ticket. Biden’s debate performance will also undoubtedly put greater pressure on her to shore up the Biden-Harris campaign’s reelection prospects — and could increasingly raise questions about her governing ability and readiness.

What can either of the candidates do to help people worried about the cost of rent or groceries? What will the next president do to protect LGBTQ+ rights? How will the candidates work to reassure voters that the 2024 election is safe, secure, free and fair?

Answers to these questions and more were absent from the back and forth that was more sideshow than substance. Child care, which emerged as one of the most important issues in our politics during the pandemic, was abandoned for the childish, as the candidates’ preferred to argue over their respective golf games .

The rules for this debate were changed in an attempt to put a focus on the voters’ priorities and avoid the toxic masculinity that took center stage four years ago. Instead, the absence of a studio audience seemed to give both men even more license to ignore the American public. Their microphones were muted to keep them from talking over each other, but the issues also somehow were muffled. And the absence of real-time fact checking meant viewers got a parade of chaos and lies that left them no more informed or empowered — but perhaps less enthusiastic — to vote in a consequential election year that will likely again come down to just a few thousand votes in several key states.

Many voters have been checked out from politics, and Thursday they tuned in to a conversation they didn’t really want, from two candidates many Americans aren’t excited about — and last night did little to change that. As more than half the electorate and half the population, women voters deserved better — and whether they get it between now and November is unclear.

The Republican convention is in two and a half weeks, and the Democratic convention is five weeks later. A second Biden-Trump debate is scheduled for September 10. In the meantime, a suggestion to voters about how you can empower yourselves when you feel like our politics or journalism isn’t serving you: Don’t believe people with confident predictions. Listen to the candidates and experts talk about policy. Make sure clips you see are not taken out of context in a way that makes them misleading. Read reporters who talk to voters.

And remember, even when our imperfect democracy disappoints us, it’s the only one we have — and what we do at the ballot box as voters is even more important than what happens on the campaign trail or debate stage. It is the deciders, not the distractors, who matter. We may not always get the democracy we deserve, but we do still get the one we vote for.