My Post-Debate Analysis of Biden-Trump Faceoff #1
My analysis of the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
DEBATE #1: MY POST-GAME ANALYSIS
1. The first thing I wrote in my “Debate Advice for Joe Biden” article posted a few days ago was to absolutely nsist the mics be turned off when it’s not the candidate’s turn to speak. Trump was appalling tonight with his rudeness and repeated interruptions. Biden committed his share of interruptions also. But Trump trampled over the debate rules and destroyed the civility of the exchange. His backers loved it, but the bluster lost support with independents and undecideds. Biden appeared shaken a few times but also reacted to the constant interruptions much better than expected.
2. Biden started off slow. In fact, he looked alarmingly lost in the first 10-12 minutes. However, as the exchanges heated up, Biden got stronger. Most viewers, even supporters, were shocked by this. Biden performed better than we expected. He also buried the concerns about his mental capacity. We did see Biden stutter repeatedly, an affliction since childhood, but there was no indication this was a sign of any mental lapse. This issue will linger a bit longer, but it’s no longer the predominant concern on the Biden candidacy.
3. How the fuck is the President of the United States and White Supremacist groups still a thing? Really? In 2020? Four years into Trump’s presidency? We all saw it. We all heard it. Trump was given the softball opportunity to reject hate groups and far-Right nutjobs. Instead, his blundering and frankly jaw-dropping response was to — “stand by.” The toy cunts who called themselves the “Proud Boys” took the declaration as an open endorsement and social media supporters went wild. I cannot fucking believe there are people out there who won’t acknowledge this is yet another disgraceful episode that SHOULD call Trump’s capacity to hold public office into question.
4. The Trump campaign bragged before the debate that the president didn’t prepare himself — and it certainly showed. They spent all of Tuesday waving flags about hearing aids and hidden microphones, and questions “leaked” to Biden in advance, even though the moderator was from FOX News. It was clear Trump didn’t study, research, rehearse, or strategize. He’s so self-absorbed in his narcissistic behavior patterns, there’s no deviating from his alternative universe of reality.
5. Since 1976, presidential debates typically produce perfectly-timed, advance-scripted moments that are the fatal wounds of candidates…..from “there you go again,” to “you’re no (John F.) Kennedy.” Trump apparently doesn’t use or listen to experts in this field. While his unwashed simpletons might love the “spontaneity,” trouble is — that flim-flam carnival barking doesn’t work at this level. Trump clearly had no zingers, mistakenly under the spell that his bullying would be enough to shake Biden and create the knockout. Trump miscalculated and lost, largely in part because of his own arrogance.
6. This will not be a popular opinion, but I thought moderator Chris Wallace did about as good a job as was possible under the circumstances. He had no OFF switch. He repeatedly browbeat Trump for the interruptions and tried to give both candidates equal time. Wallace was also slightly more skewed to Biden, when he shouldn’t have been. However, given that Trump was the violator of the rules in the vast majority of transgressions, and the president’s record is what’s at issue, for the most part, Wallace handled himself well. I don’t know any moderator who could have controlled a spoiled 5-year-old on the plane constantly kicked the back of the seat. This is what Trump is.
7. It’s very clear, all the guardrails in the White House have been flattened. Nobody is left to corral the out of control elephant. All the experts who might have given Trump guidance, are gone now. Resigned. Run off. Indicted. Fired. They’re all gone. Even Scarramucci and Bannon, who might have given Trump some savvy political expertise, are long gone (it shows how deranged this Administration is, when Scarramucci and Bannon are the voices of reason). What remains are toadies and sycophants. Yes-men. Social climbers. Bimbos. Mostly young inexperienced nobodies with zippo on their resume telling Trump every hour he’s the greatest. That’s the White House staff. That’s the campaign staff, oh, except for the former campaign manager who had a gun to his head a few days ago and was dragged from his home off to the psych ward. Gee, maybe this is a problem for the Trump White House, all the military people and academics, and experts being gone, and kids and ass kissers left to stroke the king.
8. Biden ran to the center, but this is because Biden has always been a centrist. Trump desperately wants to paint him with the Bernie Sanders and AOC brush. but the color won’t stick. Each time Trump tried to insist Biden is a “radical leftist,” he looked like someone facing his world possible opponent — someone who is likable, experienced, sane, and compassionate. Now, we see why Trump didn’t want to run against Biden. Progressives (like myself) don’t like Biden’s centrist views. He rejected the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and BLM grievances tonight, which really is firing up the far-Left (that’s me). But pragmatically, we see this is who Biden is, and we will support him, because the alternative is 4 more years of a horror movie.
9. Biden’s best moments were when he cut off Trump and told the American voter, “this isn’t about my family or Trump’s family….it’s about YOUR family.” Given my political background, I suspect that line was scripted for Biden to use when the inevitable attacks came on Biden’s children. This was terrific. It kneecapped Trump completely. Oh, and Trump going after Biden’s son Hunter while Biden was in the midst of sharing his story about Beau’s service in the military (interrupting Biden) was a FUCKING DISGRACE. If I would have been on that stage when the Draft Dodger leveled those remarks, the orange cunt would have needed a new set of teeth. Biden was far stronger than I could have ever been. One more thing: Biden’s best line: When Trump was talking about “Biden will destroy the suburbs,” Biden shot back, “you wouldn’t know where the suburbs are unless you made a wrong turn.” Bam!
10. It’s hard to think of a good moment for Trump, but a winning strategy for him is bringing up the law enforcement endorsements, then asking which ones endorse Biden. That caught Biden off-guard. He better be ready for things like that next time. Trump can embrace law enforcement and win some votes, but it’s also hard to land a punch on Biden when he’s also speaking out against violence.
11. Biden blew a golden opportunity to destroy Trump in two words tonight. While Trump was boasting about his “incredible record” on his handling of COVID and bragging about his campaign rallies, when he stated “no one has had a problem from attending the rallies,” Biden’s response should have been: HERMAN CAIN. I was screaming at the TV and twitted this out, which got picked up on social media. That was such an easy softball, but Biden missed it.
12. Finally, DO NOT debate again until the mics are turned off for the candidate not supposed to speak. Period. End of discussion. Stand firm. Make this about Trump’s inability to control himself. Would you want this idiot negotiating with North Korea?
Oh, and one more thing: Undecided voters are fucking morons.
My tweets tonight in real-time:
