I’m really happy about my decision to avoid the presidential debate last night! I think it was wise and we all have to look after our own mental and physical health. I watched a supercut of political commentators calling the debate one of the worst political spectacles they’ve ever seen, and a completely dark day for America, and I agree! I cheerfully agree and let’s try to bring some positive energy to Joe Biden. Let’s take all of this angst and anger and VOTE and let’s start repairing our country. It seems like this was Biden’s vibe too – disgust with Trump, but with a largely presidential happy-warrior energy. Here’s Biden calling Trump “the worst president America has ever had.”
"You're the worst president America has ever had," Joe Biden says to Pres. Trump, amid a heated argument over Pres. Trump's federal income taxes. https://t.co/5Bl4Ob3O2t #Debates2020 pic.twitter.com/lC4qX0RvNG
— ABC News (@ABC) September 30, 2020
It’s true! Trump is the worst! I’m not sure if “lies about taxes” is a winning issue for either side, but you know what is? The fact that Americans are trying to survive a plague and Donald Trump whines about masks:
The issue of wearing masks briefly took center stage during the first presidential debate Tuesday night between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
“He’s been totally irresponsible the way he’s handled social distancing and discouraging people to wear masks,” Biden, 77, said about Trump, 74, because the latter has been hosting in-person campaign rallies — most of them outdoors — and giving contradictory guidance about the importance of wearing masks throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He’s been a fool,” the Democratic presidential candidate added, in a remark characteristic of the night’s argumentative energy, which saw Trump often taking the lead in talking over the moderator, Chris Wallace, and Biden. The president derided Biden’s intelligence and his Democratic colleagues and regularly interjected during Biden’s answers, trying to challenge his positions; while the former vice president responded with dismissal or sarcasm.
Biden laughed off Trump’s response when the president told Wallace that he believes “masks are okay” — a reversal from some of Trump’s previous comments — and said he’d wear one when needed. “Just like your rallies …,” Biden quipped, referencing the president’s campaign events, including an in-person gathering in June in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
I do wonder about moderate voters and what the biggest turning point will be for them overall, and I really do think it’s the pandemic and Trump’s disastrous response, his lies, his inability to even do a simple mask mandate on a national level. It’s disgusting. I hope Biden keeps talking about it.
Also: Biden is getting a lot of credit for how he spoke about his son Hunter’s drug addiction.
The best part of the debate for me is when Joe Biden defended his son Hunter biden and said he’s proud of him overcoming his drug addiction & how much he loves his son. Thats a father & A President #BidenHarris2020 #PresidentialDebate pic.twitter.com/0mA5GuL8vV
— 2RawTooReal 💛🐝 (@2RawTooReal) September 30, 2020
the devil works fast but biden’s graphic designers work faster pic.twitter.com/GyV5CYh839
— Kerin Cunningham ☾ (@KerinCunningham) September 30, 2020
Photos courtesy of Getty.
It was a mess. a MESS. But Biden, for the most part, was on the mark with his responses. When Trump brought up Hunter Biden, it seemed desperate, and Biden immediately hit back with something like “I didn’t want to talk about our families, but if you want to….”
Trump kept insisting that Biden wasn’t smart because he didn’t go to an Ivy League college. I don’t think that’s a winning strategy considering most Americans (including me, lol) didn’t go to an Ivy League.
Trump mostly insulted his supporters because most of them did not go to Ivy League schools either if they attended college at all. Of course most of them are to stupid to notice.
They’ll explain it away that they want their leader to be ivy league educated and he wasn’t insulting anyone else when he disparaged Biden’s education. They basically worship their leader who is so smart, so savvy and is above all rules and laws.
Don’t they HATE HATE HATE elites? I thought that the Ivy League was an elite thing. Oh it’s just so frustrating because it doesn’t MATTER. He and his folk say whatever they want and it doesn’t matter that they contradict themselves and lie through their teeth. That is what makes me so sad, I just feel very hopeless about our future. 🙁
And I’m so sick of hearing about Hunter Biden. He is not running for president! So Trump is shady but when that is brought up, all the repubs do is bring up the Biden’s son, and the discussion ends. I just don’t understand how so many people are just so okay with such childish behavior. That is not how to debate! Omg, I don’t know how to say what I want to say, I’m just so tired
In theory the hunter thing could be relevant. There are things about trumps three oldest kids and son in law that are very relevant. Actually I’m not sure about Eric. But I feel like if hunter had done something important enough it wouldn’t be only the GOP who is obsessed with it. I know he went to Ukraine, I’m not sure how this is relevant because there’s not been a specific tight theory about it in any website I read. I don’t care how many baby mama’s he has or how many times he goes to rehab. Sounds like he went to a college, joe did his job to a reasonable extent. I can’t believe trump thought that was a clever point to make about the Ivy League. Like usually he does say some random unprovable BS but there’s some reason saying it Benefits trump. I don’t get what that is with the Ivy League comment. Did Melania or any of trumps wives attend any of these institutions ? Or they’re just essential for men?
Hunter Biden graduated from Georgetown and Yale Law school. So yes he “went to a college,” lol.
I’m not saying hunter biden is irrelevant, but he has nothing to do with the amount of taxes trump paid, or with anything shady pertaining to donald trump, you know what I mean? Like, when asked about something he has done, bringing up what another dem has done IS NOT THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION!!! The “what aboutism” drives me bonkers. And of course they will drill hunter biden hunter biden hunter biden into our ears without any thought to how shady the thrumpettes are. I’m just so tired of them doing and saying whatever they want! There is no integrity at all, they don’t even pretend any more. What am I saying “anymore”? They never even pretended to have any integrity
The Trump adult kids are relevant because they are criminals currently scamming American taxpayers. They all need to be in jail. Hunter Biden never worked for the WH when his dad was VP so he isn’t relevant at all. But dump was a monster to lie about the discharge and bring up the drugs. Only outright horrible people would be fine with that. The swing voters are going to be disgusted by what he did.
Trump was truly deranged. It was like he had to unleash all the insults his pea brain had ever conjured. He even got a Pochahontas mention in at the beginning.
The two moments that stood out to me as egregious were his crazy rant about Biden not being smart and when he dismissed Beau to continue to insult Hunter. I gotta believe some moderate/undecided voters were also appalled.
It really was like Trump had a list in his head of buzzwords and he just threw them out – Hunter Biden, Pocahontas, Burisma*, Obama, smart, swine flu, 47 years in the senate – rinse, repeat, for 90 minutes.
*I know it appeals to the base, but I don’t think continually bringing up Hunter Biden and Burisma is a winning strategy for Trump considering he was impeached over trying to get dirt on Hunter, which I wish Biden had brought up, but I don’t think he did.
One of my favorite responses was following one of the Hunter jibes. Joe basically responded, “If you want to talk about family, we can talk about your children. That could take all night.”
Joe’s short comeback spoke volumes, and then he pivoted back to talking about *the people*.
Trump seriously spent time in a debate shaming a parent for having a child with a drug addiction. If he really wants to cast that net, he is going to catch a lot of fish in this country.
Everyone in the media is trying to “both sides” the debate to some extent, but as these sound bytes start to get meted out over the next week, the things people will remember are Trump: (a) telling the Proud Boys to “stand down and stand by” in lieu of actually condemning white supremacy; (b) shaming Biden for not getting A grades at an ivy league school; and (c) shaming Biden for his son’s drug addiction, rather than taking the moment to actually deny he called members of the military suckers and losers and honor Beau.
All three of those sound bytes are going to damage him with the suburban white women and non-college educated white men he needs to win (which are voting blocs Biden is chipping away). I also think women likely will, by and large, see the performance as nothing more than a bully trying to corner a kid with a stutter. All Biden really needs to do, is inspire those folks to vote for him, which he can do off the debate stage.
As far as I’m concerned, Trump beat Trump in that debate. Whoever prepped him has to be having a tough morning.
The drug addiction angle is also puzzling to me because Don Jr has admitted to being a recovering alcoholic (I think he’s been sober for years) and didn’t Trump’s brother die young from alcohol related problems? That’s why Trump doesn’t drink. Why bring up another person’s addiction problems when your family has their own experience with it?
Donnie Jr is still using if you see the weird videos he’s putting out. Lincoln Project on Twitter said they had tapes of the practice debate from Rump. They will be releasing it today. I hope it is damaging.
Whoever is doing the slow leak, I’m thankful for them. May it continue to drip up to election day.
Wasn’t one of Trumps campaign issues from 2016 helping people impacted by the opioid crisis? Now he’s trying to shame a parent of an addict? Wow, just wow. No words.
Yeah, they are focusing so much on Hunter Biden, and to me it just speaks to how far removed from the lived experiences of most Americans those guys truly are, particularly as concerns small towns and the opioid epidemic. Who doesn’t have at least one family member or friend at this point that did not have a serious drug issue that is from a small town? Many people in my hometown overdosed, many have died, my nephew is an EMT and 90% of his calls are overdoses. My facebook feed from friends from my hometown is now filling up with Jo Jorgensen comments, and we are talking smallest of small town Tennessee here, which tells me how much Trump turned people off last night in that debate.
I spoke with a friend with connections to the higher-ups in the Biden campaign and they view the debate as a victory for them, simply because they raised a bunch of money after the debate was over, whereas Trump seemingly lost support (financially and otherwise). Even without a significant bump in polling, they view future debates as a net positive for the Biden campaign and want to keep them coming. So there you have it. Maybe Biden didn’t give us the catharsis we wanted in terms of telling Trump off on a national stage (or at least referencing Herman Cain in the discussion on his rallies), but they definitely have their eye on the ball.
I really wanted Biden to say something about trump’s dad buying his degree…
Yeah, or saying “at least I didn’t pay someone to take my SATs”
Or faking bone spurs to get out of military service.
Oh please like that is worth anything now. Harvard grads predominantly work in the WH now. With the crap coming out there Harvard is more akin to community college now. They take all the lying uneducated idiots. My apologies to the minority that actually graduated from Harvard and have more brain cells than the WH staff combined.
That’s simply not true. What are you, a Yalie?
@Merricat – Good one! Lol.
On a positive note: as I was going to bed, last night, I saw a quick blurb on my phone. The Biden/Harris campaign said that they received $3+ million in donations after the debate was over.
Trump is an imbecile. He proves it every time he opens his mouth. He also had to go to Fordham in order to get a way into Penn ($$ passed through hands) he has sued to make sure his grades never come out. Just like he hides his taxes.
Biden was right. He is the worse president of all time. Last night in a world stage, the President of the United States have a high 5 to a racist, misogynistic white supremacy group & incited violence. “Stand back & stand by” WTF?
That was simply indefensible. We are quite clearly the laughing stock of the world. Please please vote. Vote him out to save this Republic
I had to turn it off after about 10 minutes, Trump was giving me really bad anxiety. So I poured myself some tea, put on my Nasty Woman sweatshirt, and watched some RuPaul Drag Race instead. I have no idea how 1/10 US voters are still undecided…..
I turned it on the minute Trump started in about sweeping California’s forest floors and I had to turn it off within 30 seconds. Nevermind that 80% of these forest floors are federally managed land (so it’s technically the federal government’s job to “sweep” them), it completely ignores the climate impact that creates the fire conditions. Where is the discussion about the climate change that produces drought that hits California for years? Fires impacted my family very personally this year and to boil it down to “sweeping the forest floors” (As if we have a housekeeper who can just come 2 days a week and sweep for us) is so triggering to me. Thankfully Life Island came on just after after I escaped the existential hellscape.
Great points Noodle. I moved away from So. Cal. but have relatives and friends there, and the fires have been horrendous. Trump truly sounds like an imbecile on this subject all the way around.
Yes. You handled it perfectly. I couldn’t watch at all but read various updates online and stopped because it’s just too difficult for me to comprehend that we are run by a dictator. Sooo I bought embroidery thread and planned my crafts for the winter. RuPaul would have been a much better choice and my husband really should have known to put that on to comfort me.
I turned it off after hearing Biden’s stutter. He just seemed so…tired. And drained. I felt so bad I couldn’t watch. I was really hoping he would be better on the attack. I feel like I watched a different debate from everyone else? I think Trump’s negativity will hurt him with some undecided voters, but now I’m worried Biden’s low energy could hurt him as well. I hope everyone realizes this election is going to be about more than Biden’s age, he’s going to have a great team behind him. He did a lot better against Sanders, I feel like something has changed.
Trump is an incompetent white supremacist but yeah let’s talk about Biden’s stutter and low energy. I’m sure that is critical to the country. /s
@bevhead – Biden may have started the debate with a couple “not-quite-but-almost-stutters,” due to nerves. However, as the “debate” progressed it completely disappeared. He is not “tired” as many people depict. And, no, he may not be the best candidate Dems could have put out there. But holy hell, the alternative is INCONCEIVABLE for the next four years. Please drop the stuttering narrative. Unless you’ve been in the shoes of a stutterer you do not understand how stress (and this debate qualifies as extreme stress) affects them.
Drag Race has been my 2020 emotional support show. Currently rewatching 7 (Katya!)
“Will you shut up man!”
Best line of the night. I’m not even American and I watched some. Had to turn off after about 30 minutes because truly, Trump would not just shut the eff up when it wasn’t his turn. How that moderator didn’t lose his s@*t is beyond me.
I thought “It is what it is because you are who you are” was the quote of the night. It really resonated with me… with the shut up, man being a close second because I really wish Twitler would just shut up.
Yet sadly, a middle aged white female friend of mine who loves Trump and Fox News complains Chris Mathews didn’t let Trump talk enough! And her friends chimed in that he didn’t get enough time to talk about his wins.
I really believe people are seeing this thru their own filters. He got his dog whistles in. The stock market. Jobs. Judges. Antifa… ( speaking of which can anyone name one leader of the top secret Antifa group? ) And they will lap it up. And vote. We have to get a lot tougher and nastier…
I’m sure you meant to say *Chris Wallace*
1) Point out to your friend’s friends that Trump chose to use his time shouting insults instead of answering the questions.
2) X her off your “friends” list. Who needs someone that ignorant as a friend?
Biden was most effective when he looked directly at the camera and talked to the American people, on Covid losses, on pride for those who serve in our armed forces, on family struggles with addiction. The Trump campaign spent the last two months trying to portray him as a feeble, demented old man who couldn’t leave his basement and who would never show up because his handlers wouldn’t reveal how out of it he was. They bought into their own lies and had a panicked meltdown yesterday when it dawned on them that he planned to actually show up and the unprepared Trump would have to face him. They spent all day yesterday spreading ridiculous lies about drug tests, mysterious earpieces, and timeouts. Biden proved them wrong over and over. They’re now trying to spin it as Wallace “rescuing” Biden. The whole lot of them need to go
They do need to go, they are a stain on this country that may never wash out.
The only thing that kept me going was I’d just come from my weekly phone bank session to FL where I’d just spoken to dozens of people who had already voted for Biden. Many of them seniors, so happy and relieved to do their part to get Trump out.
One woman I spoke to said her 75-year-old husband had never voted in his life but he requested a ballot, voted for Biden and they marched both of theirs to their local drop box almost as soon as they received them. It might have been my best night of phone banking ever.
Awesome!
@Esmom, I am turning in my Florida ballot this week. I am researching my local judiciary today before signing and dropping it off. But I’m Blue all down the line. Keep up the phone banking.
Exactly. The moments Biden faced the camera dead on and addressed everyone with his plans were when he really got in some good licks. The exchange about white supremacy deserves highlighting, Trump refused to denounce it and then quoted the freaking Proud Boys?!?
Totally agree.
I was always surprised they went with the dementia as a line of attack, since it only serves to further alienate elderly voters not already alienated by their Logan’s Run-esque views on the pandemic, and creates an easy win for Joe Biden since all it requires is for him to merely show up and not be ostensibly confused.
I can’t believe they continued to stick with it even after the convention and his speech. Soooooo dumb.
I don’t know how anyone watched this, I turned it off after just a minute or two. And I could barely sit through those clips!
I was following some of the coverage though, and it sounded like most thought Trump needed to really win over new voters and did not do that here. Not by a long shot. I think the polls are going to basically remain unchanged, or may even tip a little bit more towards Biden. Vote, vote, vote!
No lies detected! That charlatan and his family and countless hangers on defiling the White House is one of the worst people in the world.
I detect no lies here.
That being said, I do think Biden missed a lot of opportunities to drop bombs on orange circus clown reject, which was disappointing.
Also, I’d buy that tee shirt but I have zero desire to own anything with the aforementioned orange circus clown reject’s face on it. Can’t bear the sight of him.
That’s exactly my thought. I couldn’t even stand to have that shirt in my house because it has Trump’s face on it. He literally makes me feel sick. I’m so angry and scared and frustrated. And I’m Canadian!
“Also, I’d buy that tee shirt but I have zero desire to own anything with the aforementioned orange circus clown reject’s face on it. Can’t bear the sight of him.”
The Lincoln Project has a much better tv shirt with the same text “Will you shut up, man.” But instead of Trump, the image is Joe’s aviator glasses. It’s actually pretty great.
I can’t bring myself to buy it, because I may agree with them on the issue of getting rid of Trump, but I still hold these guys responsible for where our politics currently are and don’t want to give them my money.
I figured I’d mention it because you may not be as petty as me 🙂
@SA: I am indeed as petty as you, and love to “vote” with my money as with my ballots. Alas, I will keep looking.
Take whatever their shirt costs and donate it to a candidate looking to flip the Senate!
I agree and I’ve donated so much more than I should this year to the DSCC and to specific candidates – I mean more than I should be spending, not more than the candidates need or deserve. But it’s like a Pavlovian response, I hear Mitch McConnell talk and I have to run to make a donation.
I got a call yesterday from an RNC fundraiser and literally burst out laughing. I have my mother’s old phone number (for sentimental reasons) and they asked for her specifically. As a kid my mom used to warn that candidates aren’t just what they say their stands on the issues are, but you have to think about why they choose their party affiliation, and so she could never vote for someone that chooses to identify as a Republican, because they clearly don’t value what she does. So the idea of the RNC calling my mom for support hit me in a way that I needed. I haven’t laughed that much about anything even tangentially political since before the 2016 election. The guy on the other end of the phone may have thought I needed to be committed, but I really needed it.
My husband and I chose to not watch as well. We know who we are voting for so these debates will not change our mind. I did read somewhere this morning an article with the headline: “Who Won the Debate? Experts Weigh In” And when I read to see who was chosen, the article stated that experts say no one won the debate and it showed exactly in how much deep trouble the US is in. Lord help us all because we have been saying this all along. I wish we could hit CONTROL, ALT, DELETE and reboot. Or go back to 2007 knowing what we know now.
Not a Biden fan but I agree he was most effective when looking into the camera, speaking to the American people.
Trump behaved exactly as expected….loud mouthed bully, blithering idiot. He is utterly disgraceful.
I was watching the debates as a drinking game with some friends, and we all agreed that’s when Biden seemed to get back on track. The problem was ever attempting to engage Trump like a real person. You literally just…can’t.
I felt like joe was flat in the first half but did well the second. It was a mess though. Trump really is an unhinged bully who couldn’t even say “white supremacists are bad people.”
And the crazy thing about Trump is that he said “sure I’ll condemn them” and when Wallace and Biden were like okay then, do it, strange at him expectantly, he literally could not do it. In fact he did the opposite and basically mobilized them.
I think Joe was caught off guard by how off the rails Trump was. I think he “knew” what to expect but its different to actually be in the moment. Biden has participated in countless debates so I think he’s used to some talking over etc, but Trump was really unhinged last night, and I think it took Biden a little bit to catch up and realize that there would be no enforcement of the rules.
I don’t know how anyone could maintain a train of thought with such relentless, nonsensical bellowing constantly interrupting them. I thought Joe did well overall, especially since the first hour was essentially sans a moderator.
In a business setting, it can be challenging to juggle questions asked in the middle of a presentation without risking missing important points you wanted to make. Imagine facing nonstop heckling and insults while you are trying to present your case.
I am voting Dem straight down the entire ballot.
The Dems could put an old dog on running for the Senate and it would still be a better vote vs. any Trump supporter!
Now going to buy the “Will you shut up, man” tshirt. Maybe 2.
Btw, Worst.Idiot.Ever.To.Hold.Elected.Office. = Trump.
There ya go, Joe. Fixed that for ya.
I did watch the whole debate. I screamed at times. Often I had to get up and walk around and throw the toy for two kitties while watching to keep me sane. This first debate was crucial, and I didn’t want to watch just certain portions later.
I admire you. I purposely stayed offline and went to bed early. Now I’m easing myself into the analysis, and though it’s unnerving, it still is easier to take than watching it in real time.
It is crazy how low the bar has dropped. That Biden had to express his frustrations like that is sad. But even worse is that every media outlet, and I am including right-leaning as well, isn’t leading with the headline “No president in our time has lacked the decorum and integrity of Trump. Ever.” is egregious.
Everyone wants facts? A headline like that is the most factual statement ever. And needs to be stated daily until November 3, 2020.
Same. I could not watch it. I really admire anyone who did. Watched Maddow up to the kickoff and then shut my PC off for an hour and a half while the debate was on. Kept nervously looking at the clock to see when it would be over and thus safe for me to pull up the NYT and the Guardian and see what happened. Really gut twisting. How many women do you think feel just like us? I hope enough to win.
Me too. I used twitter breaks when I was getting too agitated. Billy Eichner’s and some other comedians’ tweets made me laugh which helped break the tension.
Unpopular opinion, but I’m sad that the best line to come out of the “debate” was one candidate telling the incumbent to shut up. Yes, we all want him to shut up. Yes, he’s a clown. But this was a presidential debate that was not presidential and not a debate. This is how far down the Trump administration has dragged us. I did not watch last night; my blood pressure can’t take it.
That was the best part and I missed it. I don’t think Trump is used to people putting him in his place and particularly not by another man. He’s used to being the only big mouth in the room, unchallenged where everyone else falls into line.
I get that, I really do.
Nah, it was definitely a sh*t show all around. An insult to what those debates are supposed to be and stand for. I turned to my friend last night while we were watching the after hours highlights and stated flat out that it didn’t matter who “won” because ultimately it was America who lost there.
That was the craziest debate I’ve ever seen, but Joe did so so good. I just got my ballot in the mail, completed it, and will be DRIVING IT to my board of elections for drop off.
I did that yesterday! I saw so many people walking into the building with ballots in their hands while I was there, and it was only a few minutes. It was actually pretty inspiring that in a non-swing state so many people were going out of their way to make sure their ballots got in early.
My county shocked me 4 years ago by how many people voted for Trump (Clinton won, but only by about 10 points). I’m trying to be positive because most importantly I want Trump out of the White House, but also, I don’t want to discover that I live in a community that could support this man. Thankfully, my specific area is more blue than my county as a whole, but I only ever saw the election breakdown for the county as a whole, so that’s all I have to go on.
I couldn’t make myself watch it, so I just read comments and that was stressful enough. I do wish I could go back and find some of the shitbags who were confident that the debate would never happen because Biden was too scared and feeble to go up against 45 and ram their wrongness down their throat, but they probably liked what they saw.
I think the fact that no one in the GOP has not come out to soundly condemn him not only not disavowing white supremacist groups but for literally telling an active hate group to “stand by”, a message they got loud and clear, speaks volumes. November 3 is going to be bad.
The one time Trump got truly angry last night (on top of his nonstop anger-bullying) was when Biden told him he needed to get “a lot smarter a lot quicker.” Ooooooh he hit a NERVE! The anger spewed out of Trump on that one.
Biden started slow but came back strong. Increasingly Trump looked like a nasty, bullying idiot. To his base, I’m sure they think that is strength. But to any rationing human being it was shockingly horrible.
Moderates….we still doing this.
If you are still looking for someone to kiss your ass because you need attention, you are racist and okay with that clown getting 4 more years and destroying everything.
Period.
He’s not wrong. I’m just sad I wasn’t watching when he told him to shut up.
I tuned into the debate just as Biden mentioned Trump’s shortcomings with the virus, particularly the clorox. Trump blew up like an angry orange balloon and he couldn’t say anything because it was true. He doesn’t understand what it means to debate, all he does is throw stuff at the wall to see if it sticks. They need to turn the microphones off after each candidate has said his bit, give them a few minutes to answer a question and that’s that.
That moment when he told him to shut up was priceless. It happened fast though in the first few minutes. But I loved Biden’s reaction when Trump told the Proud Boys to stand back and stand by. There was a brief moment and then it registered what Trump had said.
Just vote. Please. However you need to do it to make sure it counts, do it. It has to be large enough where Trump can’t contest.
The honor of that title still goes to either Andrew Jackson and George W. Bush to me, but Trump is certainly catching up to them body count wise. I’d prefer to avoid four more years of giving him time take the lead, though.
No, Trump is definitely worst, and a danger to our democracy.
All I see Trump doing is finishing the work Bush and his ilk started with the post-9/11 response that led to the further destabilization of the Middle East, the erosion of civil liberties through the development of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act, and the furthering of voter suppression. Not even getting into the damage No Child Left Behind and the tax cuts did. We still weren’t fully recovered from the recession when COVID hit.
These dominos have been slowly put into place over decades. Trump and his demagoguery just gave them the perfect moment to push it over as he fed off the fear, anxiety, and ignorance of a population exploited to the brink of collapse by corporate elite. At the end of the day, he’s not even the one you have to fear most. It’s his enablers like McConnell, Graham, Barr, or Miller who paved the way for him to do this much damage. Trump himself is just a monkey with cymbals, terrifying mainly for his incompetence and blatant narcissistic sociopathy.
Trump’s inability to lead the country through a pandemic; Trump’s treatment of women; Trump’s treatment of the disabled; Trump’s racism, Trump’s treatment of veterans; Trump’s packing of the courts; Trump’s appointment of scam artists and idiots to critical posts; Trump’s determination to make bank off the country; Trump’s blatant disregard of the environment; Trump’s blatant disregard for the elderly–I could go on, but why? I don’t care if you want to share the blame around, but another term with this president will destroy this country. Period.
Joe is absolutely right.
Ginger, yes totally agree. Go Joe. Biden Harris all the way! Dump Trump/Kushners. And let’s encourage everyone to VOTE! We can do this!
I didn’t watch it but my husband did. I couldn’t stand that turd’s ugly voice. I did read a play by play from the Hoarse Whisperer on Twitter. Follow and read it. It’s a good summary.
I checked my blood pressure last night and it was good so I didn’t watch the debate. It sounds to me like Biden took the high road for the most part and Trump didn’t even bother to try to debate him. He just whined and complained like he always does. I don’t see how that’s going to win over any voters, if there are any left that are undecided.
I think Joe has a few bombs he’ll drop in the next two debates so I think he held back last night for that very reason. Give Trump enough rope and he’ll hang himself. I really hope the next 2 moderators have the guts to shut off Trump’s mic when he gets too deranged, even stop the debate from continuing because that’s not debating, not even close – it’s a thermonuclear melt-down of a toddler tantrum.
To those who watched the entire thing, how did you do it? I watched ten minutes of it and felt like my head was going to explode.
My husband turned it on and I was too lazy to go watch a different tv. I spent half the time saying ‘why can’t they turn off his microphone’ or ‘why doesn’t Chris Wallace do something’. I was so glad when it ended. I won’t watch again.
I didn’t really think agreeing to a peaceful transition was a great topic from Wallace. Of course that should happen and it just opened to door to trumps rant about mail in ballots.
It is pretty apparent that Donald Trump has mental issues as well as physical ones. He is an abhorrent human, and I use the word “human” loosely in this regard. He has degraded the White House, degraded the political system, and degraded our sense of decency as a nation. We cannot take another four years. We cannot take another four months. He has to go.
There is the theory that if he loses in a landslide he will resign if Pence will pardon him.
All the easier for the Russian mob to catch up to him.
I thought Biden did well, and played it just right. He showed strength and discipline in the face of madness, with just a bit of fire, to show he wasn’t intimidated and give a little push back, and had the chance to speak directly to the American people while Trump gibbered away beside him to illustrate just how deranged he has become. Job well done, I’d say.