For reasons that are unclear to me, the Republicans put up with the Debate Commission and biased debate moderators.  Thursday night was no exception.

The debate moderator was NBC's White House correspondent, Kristen Welker.  She comes from a family of big donors to the Democrat Party and is employed by the anti-Trump NBC network.  Prior to the debate, the president criticized the choice of Welker, saying she was too partisan to be fair.  And partisan she was.  However, given the left-wing tilt of the media in general, many conservatives are saying Welker behaved acceptably.  

From Powerline: 

The  moderator was pro-Biden; she didn't ask him any hard questions and avoided subjects where he is most vulnerable. But that was a given. She was considerably better than Chris Wallace, and better than most.

RedState said:

To be frank, Welker made smug Fox News host Chris Wallace, the 'moderator' of the first debate look like a partisan punk[.] Where Wallace at times came across like he should have just pulled up a podium next to Biden and tagged-team Trump from that vantage point, Welker was for the most part a consummate professional.

Before anyone gives Welker too much credit for professionalism, first consider how Trump first prepared the ground for this debate.  He did it by blowing up Tuesday's interview with 60 Minutes host Lesley Stahl of CBS.  He abruptly ended that interview before it was finished with harsh criticism of Stahl.  Then Trump released the unedited interview, which the White House had taped.  He tweeted that this was "so everybody can get a glimpse of what a FAKE and BIASED interview is all about."  Having lost editorial control and in the spotlight, Stahl, her producers, and CBS were embarrassed — embarrassed not that they were trying to trip Trump up and thus influence the election, but that Trump had essentially punked them.

This was a warning to Welker — don't step too far over the line.  Who knows what went through Welker's mind, but if I had to guess, I'd say the 60 Minutes interview was bouncing around somewhere in there.  She and her handlers were asking themselves: "What if Trump did this?  What if he did that?"  This encouraged Welker to leash her natural bias, which is what happened on Thursday night.

The political world has never seen the likes of Donald Trump.  Given the vast array of hostile forces aligned against him, the president still manages to stay two steps ahead of the lynch mob.  He makes them look like fools.

Image: Michael Vardon.