News & Politics

The “Most Patient Man on Television” Will Moderate a Trump-Biden Debate

C-SPAN's Steve Scully will bring his unnatural calm to an extremely nutso presidential race.

Steve Scully. Photograph courtesy C-SPAN.

The Commission on Presidential Debates on Wednesday announced the moderators of this fall’s presidential debates between Donald Trump and Joe Biden: Chris Wallace will moderate the first one, on September 29; Kristen Welker will moderate the third, scheduled for October 22. And the second, on October 15, will be helmed by C-SPAN anchor Steve Scully, who viewers of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver may recognize as “the most patient man on television.”

Scully was a backup moderator in 2016: “If they call me at 8:59 p.m. I’m ready to go,” he told Politico at the time. He told the Washington Post in 2017 that were limits to his stoicism: “sometimes you bite your tongue a little bit. If you only knew what we’re thinking but not saying.”

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Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.