Who won the first 2020 presidential debate?
That’s debatable!
If you want an unbiased opinion on that, you can look to CNN or Fox 🙂
But if you want to go deeper into 9 powerful examples of influence from the debate, look right here.
You might be interested to go deeper into how each of them influenced to win on this grand stage.
Or perhaps more importantly, to arm yourself with influence you can use to win more on your stage.
Winning with influence
All the world is a stage as I wrote about here.
And those who can influence are more likely to drive the results you want in every stage of your business and life.
You might know I see politics as a game of influence, as I wrote about plenty when I wrote this book on Trump crushing the GOP in 2016.
Winning in politics has little to do with policies, but how well you rally voters.
As I wrote here, it‘s clear to me this election would come down to how Biden and Trump stacked up on the stage.
Overall I’d say it was favorable for Joe.
The risk was he’d get blown up by Trump, but he well stood his ground.
And landed plenty of shots too.
That said, the only people who decide the winner of these debates, and indeed the election, are voters.
Breaking down their influence
You’ll see in this video analysis of the debate that I score each of them landing good shots.
Generally I’d suggest Biden excelled in using some powerful devices of influence.
Examples include my favorite device of the debate you see below.
And the way he took the fight to Trump I cover in device 6.
Yet in terms of “the structure of influence,” meaning the ability to control the narrative, this is where Trump dominates.
His use of emotive language.
Teflon Don wriggling off the hook as he did in the most bizarre line of the debate we hit in device 7.
Turning the table slamming Joe as I hit in device 8.
You see in example 2. Biden coming out swinging, that Joe opened strong in this way.
But for the most part, while Biden was scoring points in more “overt” ways, Trump mostly controlled the underlying structure of the conversation.
Only 9 minutes…
That’s where I started on this video…
Just a quick one minute review of my 9 favorite devices of powerful influence.
It came out a little longer!
Sure, we could have cut out a lot of this, but rather than just give you quick soundbites, I wanted to lay out the way the influence played out.
This way you can see more clearly what they did.
And better take on board how you might use this type of influence too.
In all there’s 11 examples of powerful influence we review, but only 9 we go into some detail.
Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll see in this video.Â
Examples 1 and 2
These two examples we hit briefly in the introduction to cover a broader theme.
The point being…
It doesn’t matter whether you agree or disagree with the points they make.
Or think it was good or bad or right or wrong to say or do.
Here we are focused on only one thing—
Was it effective influence?
Upfront I use one example from each side to convey this point.
Example 1Â at 1:56 is Trump constantly interrupting.
Certainly it’s not presidential, but as I discuss it’s extremely effective influence.
Example 2 at 3:09 is the way Biden stood strong against Trump.
I suggest he well proved he could face off against Trump and also blew out the “objection” to his declining mental faculties.
From here we go deeper into these 9 powerful examples of influence.
9 powerful examples of influence
A reason this video runs longer is because I wanted to set the stage for how each device of influence was used.
In some cases, such as 1. My favorite device, you’ll immediately see why I’ve chosen this.
But in other cases, such as 4. Economy open or closed, I’m sharing the setup so you’ll see exactly how it unfolds.
This way you’ll get a better sense for what I mean by influence.
Not making a good point here or there, but being able to direct and control a conversation as you choose.
Here’s the 9 powerful devices and links where you can jump to them in the video—
- My favorite device: Biden looking into the camera at 4:48
- Biden coming out swinging: His healthcare reframe at 7:14
- Economy open or closed: Trump pins the frame at 10:08
- Trump dodges taxes: Trump avoids again at 14:22
- Superpredator: Trump one word destroy at 17:28
- Biden dominating: Taking the fight to Trump at 21:41
- The most bizarre line of the debate… Biden had him: Trump wriggled off the hook at 25:19
- Biden gets slammed: Trump asserts dominant frame at 27:46
- Another Teflon Don: Trump best reframe at 30:58
I hope you enjoy watching and find some stuff you can use to drive more winning too.
As usual, hit me up if you have any questions or want to discuss.