the real winner in the US presidential debate!

Hi, welcome to China Uncensored,

I’m your host Chris Chappell.

On Monday,

we witnessed the first of three US presidential debates

between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Now that I’ve mentioned Clinton and Trump,

I’m sure a portion of you have stopped watching

and are busy attacking me in the comment section below.

I'm kidding.

You've already started doing that before even watching this video.

To those of you who’ve stayed:

After watching the debates,

there was one clear winner…

Democracy!

That’s right.

This has been a crazy election cycle

that has seen the United States

more deeply divided than ever before.

And it’s still better than what many people in the world have.

In America,

we have a system where anyone can be president.

Of course,

that means anyone can be president.

Still,

people with radically different ideas

can debate them freely on national television,

without censorship…

…or even moderation.

You know where you can’t do that?

China!

You know how the “president” of China gets “elected?”

First, they have an internal power struggle

at the top levels of the Communist Party.

Whoever survives the purges rises to the top.

And then that group selects among themselves

who the leader of the Communist Party should be.

Then the Communist Party tells China’s rubber-stamp congress

who to vote for,

and surprise surprise,

that person gets “elected” president.

Then it gets announced to the public.

So what an embarrassing contrast for the Chinese Communist Party

to have US presidential candidates debating so freely!

But fear not!

They have a solution:

Don’t let Chinese people watch it.

Yes,

the America’s presidential debate was censored in China.

China Digital Times uncovered this leaked censorship directive

that pulled the plug on the debate,

saying no news service is allowed to livestream it.

Even state-run CCTV’s livestream

“went black shortly after the debate began.”

Same goes the two biggest Chinese news websites.

And with Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter already banned in China,

you weren’t going to see it there, either.

So as more than 80 million Americans tuned in to watch the Battle Royale,

in China,

people had state-run media to tell them their opinions for them!

And if you missed the debate,

because your totalitarian government censored it,

don’t worry.

My favorite state-run media Global Times assures us it was trite.

And this is just the latest in a long line of presidential censorship.

For more on that, here’s Shelley Zhang...

from 8 years ago!

US President Barack Obama’s inauguration address on Tuesday

was broadcast live around the world.

But for Chinese state media,

some of his comments apparently hit too close to home.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism,

not just with missiles and tanks,

but with the sturdy alliances

and enduring convictions.

As soon as the translator said the word “communism,”

the live broadcast from China's main propaganda station,

CCTV, faded out the audio.

And embarrassingly,

the anchor was caught totally off guard.

Which didn’t happen with Monday’s debate—

because, again,

the Chinese Communist Party just censored the entire thing.

And they’re still a bit worried about these debates.

Because despite their efforts,

people in China still figured out how to watch.

China’s version of Twitter,

Weibo,

somehow was able to livestream the debate to nearly a quarter million people.

And that’s because more and more,

people in China are showing an interest in US elections.

For decades,

Chinese state-run media has been telling people that the

Western-style democracy is dangerous and chaotic.

But China’s middle class is increasingly making their own observations—

as Chinese tourists travel to every corner of the globe,

and more and more people figure out how

to get around China’s Internet firewall.

So if you’re still watching,

and not busy angrily accusing me of bashing your favorite—

or least un-favorite candidate—

I’d like to end with this:

At least we can all watch the debate on TV,

and type our uncensored comments below.

Once again I’m Chris Chappell,

see you next time.