Recap of Tuesday Night's Presidential Debate From Cleveland

It was 90 minutes of chaos in a year of upheaval. But did it matter?

President Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. appeared onstage together for the first time on Tuesday. It was not exactly a debate.

Shouting, interruptions and often incoherent cross talk filled the air as Mr. Trump purposefully and repeatedly heckled and blurted over his rival and the moderator alike in a 90-minute melee that showcased the president’s sense of urgency to upend a race in which polls show him trailing.

The first debate of the 2020 presidential election on Tuesday night was fiery from beginning to end.

President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden attacked each other in starkly personal terms for more than 90 minutes as moderator Chris Wallace worked to get both candidates, but especially Trump, to follow the debate rules the candidates had agreed to.

A raucous and chaotic clash between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden gave Americans their first chance to weigh their choices side by side in a White House contest that has until now remained remarkably stable.

The coronavirus pandemic allowed both candidates to avoid an awkward, and probably unwelcome, handshake that would have happened moments before the shouting started.