Debate Disaster

“Spoke to boomer relative” A single datapoint…how convincing. Of course , people who already support Biden are going to be inclined to put a positive spin on what was an unmitigated disaster. It’s not every day you witness a trainwreck. Like the Challenger explosion, it was like watching a disaster unfolding on live on TV. He got better to some extent, but the damage was done. Although Trump was not at his best, Biden was served softballs on abortion and still failed, slurring his words, making awkward facial expressions, and unable to give good answers to questions that played into his policy strengths. He could have scored easy points by pointing out Trump’s inability to answer questions, as the moderators could not make Trump answer the questions, but didn’t.

Abortion has always been Trump’s major weak spot, which was the second question during the debate, wedging him between the pragmatic moderates he hopes to win-over, and the evangelical ‘base’, and it’s obvious he was prevaricating back to his two favorite talking points during the ‘debate’ (if we can even call it that)-Afghanistan and rapists coming in. Yet Biden still dropped the ball on this. Trump waffled on Putin too, and Biden missed easy points by pressing Trump on the matter. Again, the major problem was Biden came off as meek and unassertive, trailing his words and losing his train of thought.

I was right in predicting that the muted mics would allow Trump to go off-topic without the opportunity for his opponent to interject. Trump’s performance was not much better–not answering questions and defaulting to a few points that he attempted to shoehorn at every turn to speak– but, yes, he looked and sounded much better than his opponent. So in a format in which appearance is everything, he was the clear winner. Trump also dodged questions about the fentanyl crisis, Jan 6th, childcare credits, and Russia. This was understandable, as these were not only loaded or leading questions, but he was put on the defensive to have to refute falsehoods, such as the ‘fine people’ hoax in regard to Charlottesville, which seven years later was still dredged up. Same for the ‘suckers and losers’ hoax. In many ways, the debate was a replay of 2020.

I was also right about how notes being disallowed also favored Trump, whose strength is speaking extemporaneously, whereas Biden stumbled when forced to go unscripted.

There is no reason for Biden to drop out unless his health deteriorates more. His polls are already in the dumps and a replacement will not change this. It also shows that he’s not running the country, which is a common meme. Although, the same could have been said about past presidents, like Trump, who was outmaneuvered by his well-credentialed cabinet and staff, who subverted him and then resigned and betrayed him. (Trump probably sets the record of having former staff turn against him). Bush was led or at the behest of Cheney and Rumsfeld. Reagan was similarly a stooge. Clinton was the only recent president to have full control of his presidency, ignoring the threat of Bin Laden and declaring a phony war to distract media coverage from a scandal.