This is democracy in action? China and Russia are laughing at us after the so called debate tonight. It was more like a wrestling match, WWE style. Trump was hitting below the belt, throwing chairs at Biden and punching when referee Chris Wallace was trying to break it up. Biden was trying to stay calm and play by the rule. I wish that he would have pull on Trump's wig and put him on a choke hold!
It was expected that Trump would come out swinging and try to drag Biden into the mud and force him to make errors. But I think Trump overplayed his hand. He interrupted way too much and frankly did not even give Biden a chance to make a mistake. He went against the previously agreed rules for the debate so much that Wallace had to try to rein in many times. Wallace was not successful (who would have?) But Wallace, I thought, actually helped Biden by challenging Trump to answer his own questions and not interrupt Biden. There was almost a separate debate between Wallace and Trump. Given that this is a Fox News debate, it was better moderated for Biden than expected.
I think that Biden could have hit Trump harder. For example, when Trump claimed that if Biden was president there would have been many more dead from COVID. All Biden had to say was that if Trump did such a great job, why is the U.S. so much worse off than other countries? Trump is obviously worse than the leaders of almost every country in the world. When Trump attacked Biden's intelligence, saying he was last in his college class, Biden could have said: "I didn't need to pay someone to take my SAT. Also my doctor did not order a dementia test for me!" Sometimes you have to respond to a punch below the belt with a kick to the groin.
Trump once again refuses to refute white supremist groups and violence. Instead he gave a shout out to the Proud Boys, a neo Nazi group, and told them to stand back and stand by. The GOP can say that it is not a call to the group to get ready to battle. But the Proud Boys are rejoicing and so you know how they interpreted that remark by Trump. This is the exact type of chaos Russia, China and Iran like to see in our political process.
This debate probably won't change the minds of many people. But if Trump and his supporters think that this will close the gap between the two, I don't think so. Biden was not great but he held serve and given how badly this debate was, I am sure the ratings for the other two will be lower. So there will be less chance for Trump to make up ground. There are no winners tonight but Biden's supporters will be relieved. The loser, however, is American democracy.
There was something oddly compelling about the "debate". I didn't want to watch it but couldn't help myself. I think with the way Trump acted forced Biden to get in the mud with him. We all knew that would be the strategy going in and really the thing we wanted to see was if Biden would stumble.
ReplyDeleteI can't fault Trump for trying to get under Biden's skin and make him look bad, but the way he did it, made him look like a bully. I bet you that this made Trump's supporters happy. These type of people don't care about the integrity of the office and will back him no matter what. Plus, they like it when he is insulting. All he does is repeat the same stuff...it's all the same talking points. He doesn't answer the questions and just goes off tangent.
I thought Biden held his own. It is very difficult to speak when someone is trying to talk while you're answering. I'm surprised and impressed that Biden didn't lose his cool.
Personally (and it is probably not the wisest idea politically) I always think that if someone is bullying you, you need to answer back and give them a taste of their own medicine. The Democrats have tried to "go high" when it comes to Trump. They've never been a party that has gone low. But in these times, you can't let Trump bully you and lie.
You call him out and show the people his hypocrisy. Now, will it make any difference? I doubt it. But the audience needs to hear about his lying, his dealings with Russia, his SAT scores, his military dodging, etc. And when he attacks family, you go after his.
It'll be interesting to see if the other debates take place. There really is no need for them now, but if Biden backs out, he looks weak. If there is another debate, Biden needs to hit Trump hard. You can tell he was getting under Trump's skin and it made Trump lie even more. I read that one way to get under a narcissist's skin is to laugh while he is talking. If you notice, Biden did this a few times.
I personally don't want to see another debate. However, if there is one or two, I might still watch it/them. It's like watching a car accident. You can't look away!
-LBOAYM
Well, Biden has already said he will do the other two debates. Obviously, he can't say no, otherwise he looks weak. But also Trump already played his hand and so Biden will know what the attack lines will be. And given the messy circus last night, I bet the ratings will be low for the other debates and so it is less likely that Biden will lose grounds even if Trump behaves better. The next one is a townhall. I am wondering if an audience member who asks a question can tell Trump to stop interrupting? In fact, tell him to shut up and see what Trump's reaction will be!
DeleteI don't understand Chris Christy. Trump made him look bad by ignoring his begging for a cabinet position. After that snub, Christy went on talk shows where he said that Trump was not doing a good job. Yet he went to help Trump prep for the debate, knowing full well that he is not disciplined enough to adhere to the game plan. Then afterwards, Christy defends him by saying that Trump has refuted white supremist in the past and he just need to "clarify" what he said last night. Come on, Christy, he is not going to help you in the future, your loyalty is not going to be rewarded. You will just look bad in history as one of Trump's sycophant even though you really don't believe in him. So why are you trying to help him?
It is China's national holiday week and the second busiest traveling time of the year after Chinese new year. Millions of people will be traveling domestically, more than last year because people are not going abroad this year. It will be a test of whether China is really free of the virus. If there is no outbreak in 3 weeks or so, then China is really back to normal. This will show the world that it can be done if there is discipline to take the bad tasting medicine for the full course. If even China has a surge, then we won't get back to normal even a year from now!
Oh wow, I was about to include a link to a Yahoo article on the debate and it talks about Christy. I can't believe that he even supports Trump at this point. That's why I say that politics is a dirty game and people sell out their morals because of party loyalty. I will put the link below. The one thing that I liked about the article is that it talks about the strategy the Trump campaign worked on but didn't execute. I truly now believe that Biden's laughing and not backing down really threw Trump off his game. I don't think he expected it to happen.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that the next debate would be a townhall. In the article I am linking, they talk about how Trump was going to have a woman in the audience that he would point to and demand that Biden apologize to her for backing a law that put her in jail.
I don't think that anyone other than family members should have been allowed in the audience on Tuesday. But apparently bringing this woman would have been allowed. I wonder who the people in the audience will be at this townhall. Could it be rigged or do you think the commission will do background checks on the people in the townhall? Will Trump stalk Biden like he did Clinton, which I don't think was allowed either.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
https://news.yahoo.com/trumpworld-worried-amid-debate-performance-220600606.html
-LBOAYM