"This is so unpresidential," said former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in the first presidential debate of the 2020 election, while being unceremoniously interrupted by President Donald Trump, who even bullied Fox News moderator Chris Wallace.

The Tuesday night debate ended on a negative note, with reports and assessments relaying what many citizens watching the event thought: It was a disrespectful frightening mess where President Trump found the opportunity to undermine future results of the election and mobilize a far-right violent group.

Biden called his opponent a clueless "clown" and a "racist," which the president didn't deny.

And after allegations that Trump called American soldiers killed in combat as "losers" and "suckers," the debate hit a vicious point as the president took aim at Biden's sons in a personal attack that rattled the Democrat candidate.

Read more: Trump-Biden: Messy debate features anger, controversy and few winners 

After the debate, Jack Tapper from CNN said, "That was a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck."

"That was the worst debate I have ever seen, in fact it wasn't even a debate. It was a disgrace," he added in the immediate reactions. Instead of focusing on the winner, the anchor and chief Washington correspondent noted that "one thing is for sure, the American people lost."

Dana Bash called the debate a "sh** show," and Abby Phillip "a complete disaster on all fronts."

On Fox News' side, Howard Kurtz, host of MediaBuzz, wrote: "It was the presidential debate as barroom brawl, as television shoutfest, as exhausting insult derby." 

"To the frustration of moderator Chris Wallace, and perhaps much of the television audience, much of the Cleveland faceoff – and there's no other way to put it – went off the rails. Substance occasionally broke through, but by and large it was a night of sound and fury and, from start to finish, great frustration."

For commentator Doug Schoen, the debate "lacked any real substance that could change attitudes in any meaningful way."

As for Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume, Trump would have been the winner if that person was the one "who displayed the greatest force of personality." However, he added, "I'm not sure ... that people at home would find that all that appealing."

Hume considered Biden "held up very well." "He was largely clear. At times, he was thrown off stride by the president's interruptions, but who wouldn't have been? So, I don't know how many minds were changed. I don't know if any minds were changed."

On the MSNBC, Rachel Maddow said, "This sort of debate should not happen in a democracy," and for Joy Reid, it was an "embarrassing" debate.

Nicole Wallace from the same channel called Trump an "abusive participant" in "desperate need for oxygen of air time."

NBC News political director, Chuck Todd said live, "It was a train wreck, but was a train wreck by one person, we know who did it. President Trump did it."

Todd noted that the president "bulldozed" the moderator and Biden. "I don't know how that helped anybody," he added. For an undecided voter, it might not help, because there was no information and many people stopped watching the debate. 

Graphics: Trump narrows gap, Biden retains advantage 

The New York Times said the debate was "chaotic," and the Financial Times went for "ill-mannered."

Jay Rosen, writer and professor of journalism at the New York University, tweeted "That was a national embarrassment."

Abroad, media assessment was not much different, with many viewers staying up late to follow the debate. The Spanish El Pais led with "Chaos and personal attacks mark the first debate between Trump and Biden." Very similarly, in the UK, The Guardian wrote the candidates were involved "in a bitterly personal clash."

In Germany, Die Welt picked upon Finn Petersen, coordinator of the Green Youth in Schleswig-Holstein, who wrote on Twitter that children fighting over a toy debate better "in style" than the presidential candidates.