Chris Wallace's Fox News colleagues blast his handling of first presidential debate and accuse moderator of siding with Biden over Trump - as president describes it as 'two against one... fun!'

Moderator Chris Wallace has been branded the loser of the first 2020 presidential debate after he failed to rein in 90 minutes of chaos between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. 

Viewers and political analysts likened the Fox News anchor's performance to that of a kindergarten teacher as he repeatedly asked the candidates to stop interrupting each other and his pleas fell on deaf ears.

By the end of the night Wallace had spent more time scolding - mainly in Trump's direction - than he did asking the questions he had to fight to get out.  

Among the chorus of critics taking aim at Wallace were three of his Fox News colleagues - Laura Ingraham, Greg Gutfeld and Brian Kilmeade. 

'Trump is debating the moderator and Biden,' Ingraham, host of the Ingraham Angle, tweeted midway through the melee on Tuesday night. 

'Why is @JoeBiden allowed to interrupt? @realDonaldTrump is not,' Kilmeade of Fox & Friends asked. 

Trump himself chimed in on Wednesday morning, asserting that Wallace ganged up with Biden to attack him.  

'Chris had a tough night. Two on one was not surprising, but fun,' the president tweeted. 

Moderator Chris Wallace has been branded the loser of the first 2020 presidential debate after he failed to reign in 90 minutes of chaos between Donald Trump and Joe Biden

Viewers and political analysts likened Wallace's performance to that of a kindergarten teacher as he repeatedly asked the candidates to stop interrupting each other

Among the chorus of critics taking aim at Wallace were three of his Fox News colleagues - Laura Ingraham, Greg Gutfeld and Brian Kilmeade

Trump himself chimed in on Wednesday morning, asserting that Wallace ganged up with Biden to attack him 

Trump had already indicated that he thought Wallace did a poor job just minutes after the debate ended as he retweeted several posts to that effect - including one from The Blaze's CEO Tyler Cardon.

'Regardless who you're pulling for, I think we can all agree that Joe Rogan would do a much better job moderating this thing than Chris Wallace,' Cardon wrote. 

The Commission on Presidential Debates apparently wasn't happy with how everything went down, as it announced on Wednesday that it would be changing the format of the next candidate clash. 

However, the Commission said it was grateful to Wallace for 'the professionalism and skill' he brought to the debate'. 

Fox News Media's CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace - no relation - also praised the anchor in a company-wide memo on Wednesday afternoon. 

'We'd like to take a moment to thank and congratulate Chris Wallace for moderating last night's extraordinary debate,' the executives said. 'We are extremely proud of his professionalism, skill and fortitude in a unique situation while doing everything possible to hold both candidates accountable. No moderator could have managed a debate of that magnitude better than Chris.' 

A representative for Wallace did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment. 

Wallace was tasked with trying to keep Trump and Biden in line with what the Commission had laid out, which had been agreed to by both presidential campaigns. 

He opened the debate by saying: 'My job is to be as invisible as possible' - but that didn't happen.

Early on, Wallace was often struggling to get questions out, tripped up by candidate interruptions.    

'If I may ask my question sir,' he told Trump near the top of the 90-minute face-off. 'Over the last four years you have promised to repeal and replace Obamacare, but you have never, in these four years come up with a plan, a comprehensive plan, to replace Obamacare.' 

Trump shot back 'Of course I have, I got rid of the individual mandate.'  

Wallace pointed out he hadn't asked his question yet. 

'Excuse me, I got rid of the individual mandate,' Trump insisted.

Wallace interjected, 'That is not a comprehensive plan,' with Trump adding, 'It's absolutely a big thing.' 

'You're debating him, not me,' Wallace told Trump. 'Let me ask my question.'  

But interruptions continued throughout the night, with mostly Trump, but also Biden, often cutting into the other candidates' answers. 

'Your campaign agreed that both sides would get two minute answers uninterrupted,' Wallace said at one point, directing the comment at Trump. 'Why don't you observe what your campaign agreed to?'   

Wallace also noted, 'If you want to switch seats ... we can do that.'    

At another point the moderator told Trump: 'The country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions. I'm appealing to you, sir, to do it.'

'And him, too?' the president replied with a nod toward Biden.  

'Well, frankly, you've been doing more interrupting,' Wallace hit back.

By the end of the night Wallace had spent more time scolding - mainly in Trump's direction - than he did asking the questions he had to fight to get out 

Viewers sounded off on social media, begging Wallace to rein in the interjections so both candidates could lay out their points. 

Famed presidential historian Michael Beschloss tweeted: 'Moderate this debate - now.'   

A small group viewers sought to defend Wallace by saying that there wasn't much he could have done to control the chaos.

'Without the ability to mute a microphone, what could another moderator have done?' journalist Yashar Ali questioned.  

The tweet came from The Blaze CEO Tyler Cardon, who said that 'Joe Rogan would do a much better job' 

The criticism continued after the debate's conclusion as the talking heads at CNN, Fox News and other outlets began rehashing the night.  

On CNN, Dana Bash called the debate a 's***show', while her Jake Tapper branded it 'a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck'. 

In his web recap for the outlet, media reporter Oliver Darcy charged that Wallace was responsible for 'the circus that aired on national TV'.

'He lost control of the debate early, and failed to ever regain order,' Darcy wrote. 'It appeared as if Wallace were pleading with Trump to respect the forum like a parent would plead an out-of-control child to behave.' 

Many critics echoed Trump's assertion that Wallace was overwhelming biased against - asserting that he interrupted the president 76 times, versus 15 times for Biden. 

'Chris Wallace was a terrible moderator,' Pod Save America co-host Tommy Vietor wrote. 'It wasn't just that he got steamrolled & didn't enforce the rules. It's that most of his questions flowed from the Fox News / white grievance framework. He described Biden's economic plan "big government, big spending." A complete failure.'

'Chris Wallace was a 2nd opponent for @realDonaldTrump last night,' another outraged viewer tweeted. 'He interrupted the President 5 times more than Sleepy Joe. He bailed out Biden multiple times? A moderator is supposed to ask questions ONLY! Wallace was NOT impartial. He FAILED his assignment last night!' 

A different critic panned: 'Chris Wallace, a Democrat, failed to maintain control over the debate. It was hard to pay attention to anything but Wallace's Biden bias. 

'His persistent partisanship reached a new low. From interrupting Trump & not Biden at nearly every turn, Wallace's presentation was appalling.' 

Several of the detractors said they hoped that C-SPAN anchor Steve Scully, who is signed on to moderate the second debate on October 15, was paying attention so he'll avoid Wallace's mistakes.