Not Much of a Debate

 

Disclaimer: I hate debates. They are a stupid formality that are somehow supposed to educate voters about the candidates--and they don't do that. The first (and possibly only?) 2024 presidential debate reflected everything I hate about debates, regardless of format. One candidate lied relentlessly, one candidate tried to talk policy, and the moderators were basically useless. No one is learning anything from it. It was brutal to watch, and I had the sound off and relied on closed caption because the sound of Trump's voice lying makes me a little irrational. 

That said, two huuuugge Trump lies got debunked right off the bat: the first being that Biden would be on some kind of uppers or super-soldier drugs, and the second being that the CNN moderators were out to tank Trump.  Biden seemed hoarse and a bit subdued. Tapper and Bash started off with inflation, and the debate somehow went 44 minutes before the convicted felon insurrectionist's weak point (being a convicted felon insurrectionist) came up. 

That was...inauspicious. 

Now, it is a lot to expect real-time fact checking against Trump's farrago of nonsense, but major howlers, like whether ANYONE supports post-birth abortion, probably begged for some pushback--but since the media barely tries to do that in interviews, why expect it? Even if it's literally an accusation of murder. Of course, there will be ample fact-checking stories to come--but you know who is going to read/or watch those?

That's right--people who are already pretty informed. Your uninformed voter probably tuned out the debate about 30 minutes in and is gone forever. 

That said, I do have a bone to pick with the Negative Nellies who think a bad half is the whole football season. Does it really make sense to replace the successful incumbent president because of a debate performance?  Is that a thing that makes sense in the real world?  I don't think so.

But here's where Biden's debate prep could have gone differently--his staff got him hyped up on facts, and he doesn't need that. We need the debate to be personalized for Trump. When Trump lied, the split screen showed Biden's face in astonishment at the things he was hearing--but shit, these lies are predictable, they are straight out of his rallies. When Biden told the truth, the split screen showed Trump solipsistically smirking because he doesn't give a damn about the facts. He was just planning his next lie.

If there's a rematch, here's a better way to go: "Here's why my opponent is lying, he screwed up (whatever the thing is) and knows I did (XYZ) to fix it." "Here's why my opponent is bragging about a cognitive test--he only has so many accomplishments, that he can recall." "Once again, Trump is taking credit for things he didn't do." Talk about Trump to his face. He's the only thing he's interested in anyway. We got glimpses of that with lines like "He has the morals of an alley cat" and "He's a whiner," but that hardly hits the gut. "Trump's a predator." "Trump is a loser."

"Trump is marching towards fascism--check out Project 2025." 

 Facts are fine, but those are not the weapons Trump uses, and you need something a little stronger anyway.  Let the fact checkers do their thing, but rob Trump of the part that counts--his DRAMA.

Eh, it's a thought. 

And no, I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in seeing these guys do some grumpy old men  sequel to "Caddyshack". Ooof!

As it was, the debate wouldn't have changed the opinion of someone whose mind was already made up--for me, there is no debate. Biden and democracy, not Trump and disaster.