Avoiding debates with Trump is a bad idea and not a winning political tactic. Up till now Trump’s entire campaign has been based on asserting that Biden has diminished metal capacity allowing him to be a captive of sinister, radical forces. Biden wins when he shows up and gives a solid, lucid and intelligent performance destroying Trump’s attempt to advance that narrative no matter what the liar-in-chief says. Debating a liar is also the perfect opportunity to point out and undercut those lies. Trump doesn’t do well when confronted. The Wallace and Swan interviews prove you have to go right at this phony con man, not let him say what he wants without any pushback. That’s when he looks like a babbling idiot, you’ve got to challenge him and knock him off his game. If Biden didn’t debate he’d look really weak to many voters and hand Trump a gift of an issue when he is a floundering candidate put in a corner by a pandemic he can’t and won’t do anything to mitigate. Biden will stand up there acting like a real POTUS, look in the camera and tell the American people what he is going to do with a national strategy for beating Covid. When he says Trump can lie all he wants but over 200,000 of our citizens, friends, co-workers and relatives are dead I think its game over.
If Biden opts out, then Trump and company will say he's afraid to debate him. I like your idea of holding his taxes over the debate but Trump will never present the evidence of why he is beholden to Putin. And of course if Biden makes one faux-pas per Trumps constant lies, all we'll hear about is how Biden screwed up. It's a no win scenario. If it helps the media make it a race, even in their own narrative, then they will have accomplished what they set out to do. The media wants a horserace. The polls are showing a landslide. Debates that, again in the media's mind, show a weakened Biden is what they desire to make the race for the White House appear to be close. And that plays well for Trump who is already stoking the flames of a dishonest election. Geez, how'd we get here?
For all the hand-wringing about these debates, you completely capture the problem here:
"The presidential debate format isn't designed to host a candidate who categorically refuses to be honest. When one of the two candidates ops out of the real world and occupies an alternative universe where the Covid-19 virus will soon "disappear" from America, then the debate no longer serves any real purpose. In fact, the debate becomes a hindrance to the electoral process and to democratic pursuits. The debates just become orgies of GOP misinformation."
HRC told us exactly what would happen in 2016 under Trump. Exactly. During the debates. Yet we heard the press talk/write about her emails.
Insanity is repeating the same mistakes expecting different results.
Tom Friedman wrote his annual almost useful column recently, arguing that if Biden is going to debate Mussolini's love child, he should insist on two things: that he release his taxes, and that there be a real-time fact-checker during the debate.
The one thing to bear in mind, though, is that this debate would not be between a woman and a serial sexual assaulter, but rather between a man and a serial sexual assaulter, which sets up an entirely different situation.
Seems to me that making the debate contingent on Trump providing his tax information would be a mistake. We are going to get that information in other ways, and the requirement, which would never be agreed to by Trump, could seem petty to many people. On the second point: You (may I call you Eric?) did a very good job of explaining the futility of debating a pathological liar, a sociopath with no conscience, who has no concept of the meaning of debate. Just don't do it.
What the Biden team should do instead is a program which does a fair comparison of the 4 years of Former Guy with the 4 years of President Biden. The bonus piece could be Biden taking some questions from the press at the conclusion of the program.
I'm thinking 45 is playing "chicken" with the train. He's betting (hoping) on Biden bowing out. It's almost like he's debating Obama and it scares the orangeness right out of him. Biden will absolutely go head to head with the King Dong. I just hope that there's a factchecker involved and a damned fast one at that. More lies will hit the fan than a bag full of elephant's doo. That's my thoughts.
I think an absolute requirement to the debates should be live time fact checking. If Trump gets interrupted 100 times during a debate due to lying, it would be not only great entertaininment, but would get the facts out as quickly as he spews out his lies. I also think a well prepared Biden could make mincemeat out of the lying Orange Anus.
Avoiding debates with Trump is a bad idea and not a winning political tactic. Up till now Trump’s entire campaign has been based on asserting that Biden has diminished metal capacity allowing him to be a captive of sinister, radical forces. Biden wins when he shows up and gives a solid, lucid and intelligent performance destroying Trump’s attempt to advance that narrative no matter what the liar-in-chief says. Debating a liar is also the perfect opportunity to point out and undercut those lies. Trump doesn’t do well when confronted. The Wallace and Swan interviews prove you have to go right at this phony con man, not let him say what he wants without any pushback. That’s when he looks like a babbling idiot, you’ve got to challenge him and knock him off his game. If Biden didn’t debate he’d look really weak to many voters and hand Trump a gift of an issue when he is a floundering candidate put in a corner by a pandemic he can’t and won’t do anything to mitigate. Biden will stand up there acting like a real POTUS, look in the camera and tell the American people what he is going to do with a national strategy for beating Covid. When he says Trump can lie all he wants but over 200,000 of our citizens, friends, co-workers and relatives are dead I think its game over.
If Biden opts out, then Trump and company will say he's afraid to debate him. I like your idea of holding his taxes over the debate but Trump will never present the evidence of why he is beholden to Putin. And of course if Biden makes one faux-pas per Trumps constant lies, all we'll hear about is how Biden screwed up. It's a no win scenario. If it helps the media make it a race, even in their own narrative, then they will have accomplished what they set out to do. The media wants a horserace. The polls are showing a landslide. Debates that, again in the media's mind, show a weakened Biden is what they desire to make the race for the White House appear to be close. And that plays well for Trump who is already stoking the flames of a dishonest election. Geez, how'd we get here?
Thanks Eric.
For all the hand-wringing about these debates, you completely capture the problem here:
"The presidential debate format isn't designed to host a candidate who categorically refuses to be honest. When one of the two candidates ops out of the real world and occupies an alternative universe where the Covid-19 virus will soon "disappear" from America, then the debate no longer serves any real purpose. In fact, the debate becomes a hindrance to the electoral process and to democratic pursuits. The debates just become orgies of GOP misinformation."
HRC told us exactly what would happen in 2016 under Trump. Exactly. During the debates. Yet we heard the press talk/write about her emails.
Insanity is repeating the same mistakes expecting different results.
Tom Friedman wrote his annual almost useful column recently, arguing that if Biden is going to debate Mussolini's love child, he should insist on two things: that he release his taxes, and that there be a real-time fact-checker during the debate.
The one thing to bear in mind, though, is that this debate would not be between a woman and a serial sexual assaulter, but rather between a man and a serial sexual assaulter, which sets up an entirely different situation.
Seems to me that making the debate contingent on Trump providing his tax information would be a mistake. We are going to get that information in other ways, and the requirement, which would never be agreed to by Trump, could seem petty to many people. On the second point: You (may I call you Eric?) did a very good job of explaining the futility of debating a pathological liar, a sociopath with no conscience, who has no concept of the meaning of debate. Just don't do it.
What the Biden team should do instead is a program which does a fair comparison of the 4 years of Former Guy with the 4 years of President Biden. The bonus piece could be Biden taking some questions from the press at the conclusion of the program.
I'm thinking 45 is playing "chicken" with the train. He's betting (hoping) on Biden bowing out. It's almost like he's debating Obama and it scares the orangeness right out of him. Biden will absolutely go head to head with the King Dong. I just hope that there's a factchecker involved and a damned fast one at that. More lies will hit the fan than a bag full of elephant's doo. That's my thoughts.
I think an absolute requirement to the debates should be live time fact checking. If Trump gets interrupted 100 times during a debate due to lying, it would be not only great entertaininment, but would get the facts out as quickly as he spews out his lies. I also think a well prepared Biden could make mincemeat out of the lying Orange Anus.
So. For our resident liberal morons
Woodrow Wilson
Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Nixon - Leaked involuntarily
In other words, since the income tax began, more did NOT release than have!
You idiots
I used to think we needed Warren to debate Trump, but now I see all we need is a few charts and two questions: "Why?" and "How?"