Dana Bash called it a shit show live on CNN. A former California Republican strategist called it a national embarrassment. A Democratic operative said he can see future debates being cancelled.

Regardless of their views of Donald Trump and Joe Biden, voters hoping for any clarity on the myriad issues facing America in 2020 did not get it during a contentious, chaotic presidential debate that at times resembled an out-of-control classroom.

“It appears clear it was not useful,” said Darry Sragow, the Democratic consultant who can see the nonprofit, nonpartisan commission in charge of putting on the debates — or Biden’s camp — pulling the plug on the two debates scheduled for next month.

“Any person who saw this came away thinking it was a terrible mess, so what is the commission going to do about it?” said Sragow, who managed California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s first statewide campaign for governor decades ago.

“This was really an embarrassment to our country,” said Jack Pitney, a Claremont McKenna College politics professor and former Republican strategist who left the party after Trump was elected.

While scrapping upcoming debates would be a highly unusual move, it has happened before. There were three debates scheduled between President Jimmy Carter and then-California Gov. Ronald Reagan but the pair only faced off once because of disagreements over whether third-party candidate Illinois Congressman John Anderson should be included.

Moderated by Fox News’s Chris Wallace, Tuesday’s debate featured Trump — and occasionally Biden but nowhere near as often — interrupting and shouting over both his opponent and the moderator, leaving viewers lunging for the remote or the Advil.

Over the last several years, Pitney said he has repeatedly told his teenage son “don’t you ever do that” when Trump has done or said something outrageous “and tonight was an example.”

California found its way into the debate on the topic of climate change and wildfires, with Trump bragging about his good relationship with Gov. Gavin Newsom but repeating his recent tack of blaming the wildfires on the state’s forest management. “You drop a cigarette, the whole forest burns down,” the president said.

Trump not only refused to acknowledge climate change’s role, but cast aside Wallace’s reminder that most of California’s forests are managed by the federal government.

But by far the most notable moment for many on social media was yet to come. When asked to condemn white supremacy, Trump instead called on the far-right extremist group Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” immediately energizing its members online.

The moment prompted outrage across Twitter, like this from Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry.

But Harmeet Dhillon, a San Francisco-based Republican National Committeewoman, called the idea that the Proud Boys are “assumed to be racist” inappropriate, adding that she thinks Trump has “done more for African Americans and lifting up all Americans than any other president.”

On one point, Dhillon agreed with Pitney and Sragow: the debate was not smooth. But she blamed the moderator.

“My overall thinking is that Chris Wallace did a terrible job in moderating this debate,” Dhillon said.

The second presidential debate — scheduled for Oct. 15 — is intended to be a town hall format. Dhillon said she thinks that style “may be more illuminating.” And she thinks that Trump did well Tuesday night.

A CNN quick poll of debate watchers found they overwhelmingly thought Biden outperformed Trump, with 60% saying Biden won and 28% saying it was the president’s night. CNN, however, did say more Democrats watched the debate.

Not surprisingly, Sragow agreed. While he expected Trump to come out swinging, he said, “Donald Trump did not have control of Donald Trump tonight.”

Pitney took it further.

“He was unhinged,” Pitney said of the commander-in-chief.

Whether the debate will make any difference remains to be seen. Trump is polling behind Biden nationally and in key swing states, and Pitney said, needed to use the debate to change the polls. But he doesn’t see that happening.

“Trump’s performance,” he said, “was pitched to the people who think professional wrestling is real.”