On the plus side, there are no more presidential or vice-presidential debates. Let’s celebrate that! Because last night was Donald Trump going down in a “blaze of glory,” if “glory” means “lies, white supremacy, more lies, and abject stupidity.” Where to even start? I’ll start with Joe Biden, actually! If this was any kind of normal election, I would suggest to him that sarcasm isn’t really playing that well and instead of deadpanning his sarcastic answers, he should just answer the dang question with no malarkey. But since this is 2020, his sarcasm was truly the least of anyone’s worries. Granted, I only watched 30 minutes (my ballot has already been cast, so I didn’t even have to watch that much), but Trump was lying and acting absolutely unhinged from the jump. Truly! I’m including the first few minutes of the debate, which started out with Trump just deadass lying.
Joe’s response:
Here’s a clip about election interference, etc.
I don’t know how many of these videos you want me to post. At this point, posting videos of Trump feels like I’m actively spreading dangerous misinformation. Here is the part where Biden sarcastically refers to Trump as “Abraham Lincoln” and… Trump didn’t understand the sarcasm. This is also the clip where Biden refers to the racist hate group “Proud Boys” as “Poor Boys.”
Biden sarcastically refers to Trump as "Abraham Lincoln," and Trump gets confused by it pic.twitter.com/Ogdt1QXf3g
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 23, 2020
There was also this huge part in the coronavirus section of the debate where Trump kept insisting that New York is “dying” and it’s a “ghost town” and that Democratic leadership has destroyed a once great city. Um… New Yorkers literally just started wearing masks everywhere and businesses began reopening because they got their numbers under control.
Some reactions:
Malarkey!
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 23, 2020
We literally have the stupidest leader of all of the developed nations.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 23, 2020
From a lying perspective, Trump is even worse tonight than in the first debate.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 23, 2020
— Tasneem N (@TasneemN) October 23, 2020
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Is NY really a dying ghost town, or is Trump just that pathetic asshole at the bar who calls you an “ugly bitch” after you shut him down?
Yes! Well said. Trump is exactly that person.
New York is dying. I hate Trump, but he’s right. I am part of a community of small business owners and we are all slowly dying because of the response to this pandemic. And to be clear, it’s because we lack a national plan (and have a governor who hates NYC). Because Trump has sat on his far behind and called wolf on this, we remain in a state of lockdown because MAGA covidiots think it is a hoax and keep threatening to undo our good work.
New York has also been dying for some time because of predatory corporate real estate ensuring that nobody can afford to rent here anymore. People like Trump are everything that is wrong with this country.
huh…that’s funny. I have several friends who live in the city and they’ve posted plenty of pics and videos of the city NOT “dying”.
plenty of folks out walking, dining, etc. and this is uptown, midtown, downtown, Brooklyn, etc.
A bunch of people walking on Atlantic Avenue does not an economy make. A restaurant cannot survive on 25% capacity when its rent alone is $18k a month (more if the place is on an avenue). Tourists bring in 15% of the city’s revenue and they are not coming. DiBlasio sold out many of the low-income neighborhoods to developers and since 2016, the slow in international investments mean that these overpriced apartments sit empty. Hudson Yards is failing because of this and crime has moved back into midtown west because the crackheads who live by Port Authority are spreading out because nobody is going into midtown. 85% of restaurants and bars, many of which are small businesses owned by locals, aren’t expected to return. Theatres are closed and there is no plan in place to support the artists and technicians who lost their livelihood. I’m glad your friends think everything is okay; it is not.
Try reading this article (if I’m allowed to post a link). It’s more informative than a SM friend’s video. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/magazine/closing-prune-restaurant-covid.html
I didn’t say that they think everything is OK, just that the videos and pics I’ve seen from ALL OVER the city are not too much different from pics from “normal” times. no, the city isn’t what it normally is right now, but I wouldn’t say it’s dying. and neither do they.
Great. As my family business goes under, and I watch my neighborhood close up, store by store, I’ll take comfort in the fact that you and your friends think it’s not so bad.
OK
I’m sorry about your family business, and all the other small businesses that are going under as a result of our country’s response to covid. If we’d had a coordinated national response, and if McConnell would allow a major stimulus bill benefitting small businesses to pass, I’d have a lot more hope that businesses like yours could be saved. It is a crying shame that Trump and the Republicans are blocking the kind of aid that would actually make a difference to small businesses and middle- and working-class families.
whatWHAT, the underlying economic system of NYC is definitely being damaged in a way that you won’t see from pictures. You won’t see all the people who have lost jobs or had hours or pay cut significantly. You won’t be able to see the businesses that are open but struggling behind the scenes to make enough revenue to handle expenses. You won’t be able to see all the landlords that have had to ask banks for mortgage relief because their tenants just don’t have the money to pay rent. And this is on top of a retail property market that was already struggling before the pandemic because the rents were basically unaffordable. The city’s budget is suffering because the tax revenue has decreased so much due to the virus. And if you know NYC, you know how crucial local taxes are to keeping things running.
London is dying – many other large UK cities are also in bad shape. There is such a haphazard response to COVID19 in the UK it is just killing businesses. Restaurants and pubs have been opened for a few months, implemented social distancing and spent a ton of money trying to make it safe for their customers, and now the government tells them to close down yet again. Wales is starting another “lockdown”. One Welsh hospitality business owner who was interviewed said he had £10K of bookings that will be lost. Business owners don’t know what to expect – it has been a disaster for them. Don’t quite understand why some of the Asian countries can manage this virus without shutting down the economy.
One of my friends lives in Brooklyn, and from what she says…yeah, it’s bad. I really wonder if people understand that literally the only way we’re digging ourselves out of this is by raising taxes significantly to fund a bigger stimulus. A crash in coming, probably worse than 2008. We’ve just barely fended it off with the pathetically limited response.
It didn’t have to be like this, but frankly, this is what McConnell wanted. A depressed economy for the Democrats to struggle through and get blamed for, so Tom Cotton can make his run for 2024. Younger voters better be prepared for what’s coming.
@Veronica S. Yes, I believe that entirely. McConnell has also spoken about the willingness to bankrupt states. Again, if I may post an article, this piece from the Atlantic was really eye-opening about the ways in which the GOP benefits from cities like NYC dying: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/why-mitch-mcconnell-wants-states-go-bankrupt/610714/
@Veronica, you’ve nailed it.
I know how people feel who are pushing back. I have friends in the city and I don’t want to hear it. They talk about how crime has gotten bad. And to me it’s like doing trump’s work for him. I recoil. But they’re not republicans and I know they’re telling me the truth. But the thing is ; this is everywhere. Veronica is right, a huge crash is coming, worse than 08, and it’s going to happen on Biden’s watch, even though Trump and McConnell are the cause. McConnell is only working behind the scenes to hang on to the Senate majority, he knows the House and the WH are gone. He will make sure NOTHING gets thru, and everyone starves in order to make Biden a one term President. He’s started already. In other parts o the country, if you are sitting around getting off on seeing NYC hurt, possibly really go under, laugh now, cry soon. Because you’re going down too, and so are all your friends, and so is your whole family. This is NOT a blue city problem, that’s the big lie that Trump tells.
But yeah, NY is hurting, and I know it.
What do you expect people to do? The virus is still spreading. Are we all supposed to crowd back into public spaces to spend money, even the spread is no where close to being under control? We do need a more coherent national policy on this from both a business and health care POV. They are inextricably linked now.
T.Fanty I am sorry to hear about your business. My good friend lives in NYC and says the same as you. Restaurants she loves are closing, all the artists are struggling hardcore. And as she pointed out to me, JUST the theatres closing is affecting so many people. As she pointed out to me, a it’s not just the theatre owner or actors, but EVERYONE involved in one show. Make up artists, costumers., musicians, set builders, concession workers, ticket people. Just SO many people are employed for any one big show. Not to mention how many people came for shows and supplied business to the restaurants and hotels . Months ago when this started, I was worried about small businesses and the people who own them, but now it’s been 7 months, how are they surviving?
@Veronica S, that is exactly it. McConnell and his cabal are very happy to see all this happen. That’s why people need to have long memories and keep in mind who put us into the mess, when these Republicans try and rebrand post-Trump and pretend that they never enabled that clown.
I think ALL of our cities are dying in some form. This has been really hard for businesses across the country, because the Trump administration and the Republican lead senate refuse to address the problem. They’d have to admit there is a problem, and their strategy has been to dismiss the pandemic and repeatedly say it is almost over.
I reject the idea that we have to frame this on Trump’s terms by singling out NYC. He’s just pointing to that area because it is known as “blue”. Don’t let him hide behind his straw men. The true issue is that small businesses ALL OVER are hurting, employees and employers are hurting, and our government needs to address it. As Biden pointed out, we would be so much better off if gov’t provided fiscal assistance to cities, businesses, schools, so that they can make it through to the other side of this slow rolling emergency.
That…sounds like a lot of places, though? I mean, our whole country is hurting because we didn’t have strong national leadership. Covid doesn’t respect city or state lines. I hate how much people are suffering, and I absolutely blame Donald Trump (and his Republicans) for not taking it seriously.
NYer here! It’s absolutely very different. I wouldn’t call it a ghost town, but there’s been a mass exodus–lots of people moving out. Moving companies at one point started turning people down. Small businesses are closing left and right–but I will say the federal government should take the majority of the blame for that. The stimulus was just NOT enough. Not to mention the Covid response on the federal level was absolute garbage. Too little, too late. And there’s a lot that de Blasio did that I don’t have time to get into that really made people very unhappy.
When Covid was hitting NY hard, it was non stop wailing of sirens, people waiting in lines to get into the hospital just to die in the hallways. It’s really no wonder that Cuomo came down hard. The panic was palpable. It’s really damned if you do, damned if you don’t. If NY didn’t pause, who knows how many more people would have died. And restaurants/small biz/everything likely would have closed anyway. No one is going to have a fabulous meal when people are dropping all around you. I wish I could accurately describe what it was like.
I feel like I’m blabbing a bit but I will say..yes it’s different. Yes, small businesses are shutting all over–however there’s still energy. There’s still community. You can still find happy people walking about, masked up. I could go on and on.
“When Covid was hitting NY hard, it was non stop wailing of sirens,’
My friend also described a non-stop shriek of sirens in the spring, and it haunted him. NY was hit early, when we didn’t know much about this virus. NYC is a city that has an incredible mass transit system, and this virtue became dangerous when the airborne virus came to town. They took incredible steps early, and I think it would have been so much worse if the pause didn’t happen.
According to Trump himself in Phoenix, AZ summer 2015 when he came to get then Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s endorsement: yes, when turned down, he lies and insults to cover it up.
Slightly paraphrased bc my notes from then are filed away somewhere but, after a long rant about how he’s gotten back anyone who’s canceled events at his locations: “But I’m the kind of guy who, when a girl turns him down, says I turned her down…”
It’s all been there the whole time, and as someone who was in media at the time, we failed.
I was told not to use quotes like that when I covered him bc they were “off topic,” etc., or to describe how unorganized his events were (if you can’t organize a small campaign event, should you be running a business OR a country? also all their event contracts mandate that the volume of the music they play be punishingly loud), how poorly attended (where I personally attended, the crowds never filled more than half the space) or the really disturbing and disgusting behavior by attendees, by his staff (in my personal experience esp Hope Hicks, Stephanie Grisham and the other AZ staff, including physically pulling press creds off reporters, etc.), and by him, when he bothered to show up.
Some of us pushed to include this info – we were told we were unprofessional for doing so and I’m sorry to say that I’m one of those who backed down. (I do have the quotes, video of some of the incidents and photos of the half full events – I submitted this kind of material over and over and posted it on my social media when it didn’t get picked up, other reporters did so much more, we always felt like we were hitting a wall and after the election, I lost track of how many times editors and colleagues said, “But he’s the president, we can’t do / show / tell that.”
Long story short: this is why I left journalism, why I’ve got my ballot in and why I’m phone banking tonight, which I couldn’t do as a reporter. (And yes, it comes up often in my therapy time too…)
This was all expected from him TBH and both mics were cut for the first 2 mins of each answer which was good. He knows he’s losing and with this and the leaked 60 Minutes raw footage he is humiliating himself as narcs are wont to do.
Also, there is a photo circulating on twitter of what looks like Melania with 2 black eyes. She unusually wore her mask on stage and at one point he seems to push her away.
@Digital
Maybe more plastic surgery? Botox leaves bruising, maybe another face lift? I thought that because she looked very puffy around the eyes. I used to work for a plastic surgeon so I pay attention to stuff like that when it’s already obvious that work has been done previously
Of course it could be bad lighting or the fake melania as well.
3 bad things for Trump.
1. He confirmed that he will get rid of ACA during a pandemic.
2. He showed nada sympathy for leaving children orphaned.
3. When Biden was talking about poor Americans struggling to decide how to use their last savings, Trump dismissed that like it was not important.
Id also like to add it was bad when Trump kepting asking why Obama administration didnt do anything for 8 years about Immigration and Biden finally said because we had an Republican Congress. That shut him up.
Yes! He should have said it sooner and maybe elaborated a bit for those who are unaware of the Republicans’ mission to block as much of their agenda as possible.
Busyann- I hated that Trump kept saying “why didn’t you do something?”
Joe Biden was not President! And even if he was, there’s only so much the President can do because the constitution doesn’t allow for a President or Vice President to do whatever they want, unchecked.
I wish Joe had responded to that question with “The VP isn’t a dictator that just does whatever he wants. He works with Congress, and the President, and the constitution is set up that way so there are checks and balances. During my time as Vice President, Congress would not cooperate with me and Barack Obama, but after a blue wave washes away the GOP control of the Senate, I will serve as President with a much more cooperative group, which will allow me to achieve my vision for America in a way I couldn’t as Vice President. Perhaps if you understood civics better, you’d understand that.”
That long moment of silence from everyone after Biden said “Because we had a Republican Congress” was glorious. And hopefully a reminder to everyone that you can’t just vote for POTUS, make sure you vote Dem for your Senators and Representatives too.
Yes, and his tone was so strange. Like he was forcibly subduing himself from shrieking about Hunter at almost every moment. His facial tics and incessant accordion hand movements seemed desperate. And he literally kept whining and lying, like a punk-ass teenager.
I watch the whole thing even though I vowed not to and Trump was terrible, lying his ass of more than ever and literally whining out many of his responses. But since he wasn’t able to shriek about Hunter, I fear he was lauded as finally being “presidential.” At several points I wanted Joe to say “Look man, you’re the president, not me!”
Kristen Welker should teach a master class on moderating.
And at the end, Trump’s face was worth the pain of the whole 90 minutes. He was SO MAD. Lol.
Kristen was not that great. Anyone who will ask a follow up to a private citizen (she straight up asked Biden ‘You are the leader of the Democratic Party, Why have you not pushed the Democrats for a deal?’), played right into Casino’s hands. She was the one to ask questions and moderate and let that clown control the narrative.
The only difference between she and Wallace is that she could cut the mic.
Tom Nichols was saying she was letting Trump have extra time all the time, that she got completely bulldozed.
I think she did better than Wallace, who let the whole thing dissolve into a shouting match.
I didn’t watch for my own mental health, and I voted early in person, but I am soaking up all the after action commentary. My favorite thing is the video snippet of Melania snatching her hand out of Trump’s and strutting off stage. No one is counting down the days more than Mel. 😆
I hope you, Americans, get rid of them.
I have seen photos of people queuing to vote where they can, and that gave me hope.
You deserve better.
I waited in line yesterday, in the rain. The line was going really slow until they came out to announce another location was opening up for early voting. I got off lucky, it only took a few hours.
But honestly don’t think this debate will make a difference in anyone’s vote. Over on my Republican family members social media, everyone is crowing how Trump “schooled” Biden, they don’t care that Trump didn’t actually answer most of the questions and has no plans or policies for the next four years. All they care about is that he “owned the libs.”
Yeah, I figured. They only see and hear what they want to see and hear. It’s depressing af. We can only hope we outnumber them at the polls. By a lot.
The Trumpers will hump Trump’s leg no matter what he does. So it isn’t surprising. Trump is 10 points down, though, and he needed to convert NEW voters to his flock. That didn’t happen with this debate.
“…will hump Trump’s leg” no matter what… LMFAO. Right on. It’s absolutely maddening and scary how rabid his base is. They all wear rose colored glasses. No matter what his performance or lack there of, they applaud. It’s so scary.
It really is an intense level of delusion to be a Trump supporter.
I watched last night and the stuff about plexiglass killing the city of New York was laughable. But when Trump doubled down on racist stereotypes about coyotes and gangs and basically blamed toddlers for losing their families forever, it took a turn for the depressing. How anyone can vote for that soulless monster is beyond me.
“How anyone can vote for this soulless monster is beyond me.” This is what baffles me as well. It’s painful.
The cruelty is the point. Trump supporters are monsters.
The coyotes answer was wild… like how does that thought process even happen?
You might already know this, but coyote is the derogatory term for the guides who help (for a lot of money) people cross the border. So it was bad, but he wasn’t actually saying coyotes (like Wiley) bring children in. Gross, now I have to go recover from vaguely defending him- though the rest of his soulless answer was damning on its own.
“Small businesses are closing because plexiglass is expensive!”
“Democrats want to make retrofit buildings to be greener by tearing them down and rebuilding them with tiny small windows!” (coming from someone who claims to be in real estate and development , that is full on cuckoo bananas.
“Those kids were brought by coyotes, not their parents, and are being taken care of so well!”
“Windmills have killed all the birds!”
He has brought up the “teeny tiny windows” before. Why is he so obsessed with windows? They aren’t putting
them in HIS buildings, so what is his problem?
When he started talking about how the 545 children that the US gov’t orphaned were in “really nice facilities” and started to talk about the facilities like they were a Trump Hotel, I shouted at my TV. Being imprisoned in a “really nice facility” does NOT make up for having your parents taken from you. He’s such a heartless, tone-deaf asshole.
I just watched it and there was one question about healthcare and he goes on a rant about fracking! lol He didn’t answer a single question on anything and would then go completely off-topic about something which is just bizarre.
It was really striking, at one point Trump was going off about China and Hunter, and the moderator broke in to remind the president the topic was race. 😬
I won. My witty comebacks at the TV were gold. I should’ve been on that stage. Yay me. 😎
I saw the end where Melania rips her hand out of his – but did he then push her?
I didn’t watch any of it. Who needs a debate between them to decide who to vote for? Not me! I’m done w politics until this election is over.
I didn’t watch it because my stomach hurt all day just thinking about it, like a woman waiting for her drunk, abusive husband to get home. But my twitter TL looked good so I clicked a few clips. I thought Biden brought his A game thank god. I did see a clip from directly after the debate, when the wives came out, and Biden waived to trump, but trump ignored him, I don’t even know if trump saw him…Trump’s face in that clip. He was ENRAGED. If he beats his wife he beat her last night. I think he is a wife beater personally, but I don’t think he can get to Melania anymore. I hate her, I think she’s an awful human being, but my stomach clenched for her anyway when I saw that. This is all ptsd from childhood. This hasn’t been a good four years for me. I will kiss Biden’s feet as long as he beats him. No more of this.
Edit to add; I know it’s been a lot harder for others. The worst is the babies he stole from their parents, I think about them ALL THE TIME. I donate to Raices all the time, I went to DC to protest family separation. I know many many many have it worse than me, that he has hurt them far worse than me. I know that.
You have no proof trump abuses his wife so this sounds insane. Also- kids were in cages under Obama.
This is a lie. This is what actually happened under the Obama administration:
Kids (typically teenagers) who crossed the borders alone–without their parents–were put in temporary detention centers for minors (not in cages) until they could be placed in foster care. Most of the time, these kids had family already in the U.S., so they were then placed long-term with their family.
Kids who crossed the borders *with* their parents were not put in cages and were not separated from their families. In 2014, a judge ruled that families could not be kept in detention centers for more than 20 days. After that time, kids and their families had to be released. Typically, they were released under the supervision of a social worker, who would monitor them and ensure they showed up in court before an immigration. This program had a *very* high success rate but was defunded by the Trump administration after 45 became president.
@Darla, I am with you 100%! Equating the Obama administration who were constantly hamstrung by these poor excuses for humans, (McConnell, Graham, et al), is trolling at its finest! I saw a shove from El Trumpo to his wife’s back too. To think he is not above taking his thwarted temper out on those who surround him, is to willfully ignore the abusive relationship this Orange POS has had to the entire USA for the last four years. The man is completely bereft of any redeeming qualities, and those who think they are defending him will be called to account when this long nightmare is over. (Looking in the general direction of Alex and his fetid ilk)!
Everything MF1 and antipodean said, and plus..his first wife stated UNDER OATH he beat and raped her, so…tell it walking A-lexxx
Alex, you need to learn what an “unaccompanied minor” is before you start spreading lies. Families started being separated under Trump. Jeff Sessions made a HUGE deal of this when he announced the policy change. If you can’t even get the basic facts right, maybe you should step away from your keyboard.
I early voted this week and planned to avoid watching the last debate. Then I relented and watched the whole thing so I could see the context firsthand.
Immediately after the debate, one of the CNN hosts (I think it was Tapper) described Orange as acting more normal. I could not change the channel fast enough. There was more of that type commentary this morning.
Why do the media comment on the ill-tempered, ill-prepared one acting one iota “normal”? He talked longer (in phrases that were hardly coherent) and was off-topic most of the time. Yet some say he was in slightly better control than the previous debate. It’s like having two children – one well-behaved and responsible, the other a bullying nuisance – and immediately praising the brat who threw food at others 5 times instead of 10 during a family outing.
Cannot wait for this reality show to end. The media can fawn over how he acts for his court appearances in the future.
He’s exactly like that bratty child who gets praised for not being as bad as normal. Remember when he gave that speech to congress a month or so into his presidency and everyone was all “tonight was the night Donald Trump became president” and the next day he was back to his twitter tantrums? The man is never going to change and just because he’s not interrupting doesn’t mean he’s not lying.
ETA also he was calmer because they MUTED HIS MIC for two minutes while Biden was talking! He couldn’t interrupt!
Yes well said.
Most children have more self-control, so I hesitated to use that analogy.
In four years, some in the media have not learned very much. I remember that “moment he became President” malarkey. The bar is still dragging the ground.
For those who did not watch it all – As usual, he had no plan. He was clearly ill-prepared and throwing accusations at Joe, his son and his brothers(???). I truly could not follow the nonsense he was flinging.
The media have re-set the bar so low. They don’t do the American public any favors by complimenting his barely acceptable, still inane behavior.
Tapper tries WAY too hard to be neutral, when this clearly is not a neutral issue. The bar is just so low for him and pretty high for Joe /Democrats in general. Like him misspeaking poor instead of proud for that idiotic group. It’s not on the same level and who cares if he gets the name of a hate group wrong.
Yes, Biden at least knew exactly what the Poor Boys, er, Proud Boys are in detail. Don’t care that he accidentally came up with a much more appropriate name for the lads that hopefully will stick.
I have to say that I really enjoy the fact that Biden’s catch phrase is now “Malarkey!”. Will definitely have to find ways to work this into conversations..
On CNN, they had 10 undecided voters watching in NC. Out of the 10, 8 thought Biden won and 2 thought it was a tie. No one thought Trump won. Hope that provides some comfort, not matter how little. 🙂
Trump was clearly given something to calm him down before the debate. You can tell he wanted so badly to yell and interrupt but knew he couldn’t. His “I’m listening and I disagree” face looks like a whiney toddler.
I didn’t watch the whole thing, but what I saw was enough .
You could tell when the wearing down happened around the one-hour mark.
This may have been the first time in his entire life he had to halfway control himself for more than 90 minutes. No surprise if pharma help was needed.
Completely agree. I was wondering how he kept himself from interrupting as much. He was definitely coached, but it wore down eventually or should I say whatever was helping him wore off.
He was absolutely bonkers. The tiny windows, no windows rant?? Him suddenly accusing biden of receiving money from china??? Biden’s face was pretty funny when he heard that accusation. Also I lol’d at the accusation that Kamala is far more radical than Bernie Sanders. They act like all democrats are Che Guerrero. It was sitting Republican senators who have literally argued against democracy. He also chided biden for working with AOC on climate change plans? It shows how much trump still doesn’t understand the benefit of working with others and taking in good ideas from other people. Trump being dismissive of Biden talking directly to families just shows how much trump cares about Americans. When trump gave his potential inauguration speech? That was truly unhinged. Trump was incoherent.
I agree, he was oddly subdued in the beginning, but losing it towards the end.
My favorite part was Biden sarcastically calling him “Abraham Lincoln over here” and at one point just laughing and saying “Oh God”, as much of the audience was doing.
I wasn’t going to watch, but was doing my last batch of 2020 election postcards to voters, and put it on the background. It was awful.
My vote was Adderal.
I watched it from here in Canada. Yes, there is a point where you can see his mental focus slipping away and just fixations and non sequiturs taking over. I thought he had been doing a reasonable job of delivering his electioneering talking points to that point. But then he starts not having any reaction to specific things his administration created — his mind looks completely blank. Sometimes I just mute these things and watch the body language.
I watched it last night and I felt my blood pressure hit the roof again. Happens when I have to listen to Trump’s voice.
He was telling the same old lies, he had nothing to offer the country and wow his obsession with Hunter Biden is off the charts. He is putting the economy before people and playing a game he can’t win with the virus.
As for Joe, at least he was straightforward in his answers. I’ve already cast my vote for him.
Right? Even his voice is punchable.
There’s just something about it. Nasally, childish and whiny.
I’d like to think that he’s the reason why noise canceling earphones were invented, lol.
I thought trump did much better then the last one. Biden has been part of government 40 years, so isn’t exactly an outsider.
Good thing Biden’s not running as an outsider then.
He’s running as the normal one. Like if you get a greeting card and it has two little sketches and says “happy birthday from the normal one and the crazy dude”. Biden’s the one on the left, the normal one.
I kind of want someone who knows how gov’t works and doesn’t try to run it like one of his (several bankrupted) businesses.
Right? I don’t understand the appeal of an outsider. maybe a DC outsider (so a governor or something), but not an outsider to how government works, to how important bipartisan relationships are (although the Rs have definitely forgotten that at this point), not an outsider to how laws are actually made. there’s something to be said for experience and yes, expertise, and it keeps getting drowned out. not just with government – we see it with Fauci and scientists, or the WHO – everyone is an expert who knows more than the actual experts, and its tiring. Some people DO know more than me. some people are a LOT more informed than I am about how a virus works, or whatever. And that’s good! That’s how it should be! Being an expert or having decades of experience that prepare you for the job you are trying to get – that’s not a negative and I’m SO tired of people acting like it is.
Trump has served a term as president, he’s no outsider anymore anyway.
Why are people obsessed with outsiders? It’s the only profession where people are upset that someone has established relationships, knowledge and experience. I wouldn’t wail for an outsider to operate on my brain or do my taxes. I don’t want a businessman running my country, the government isn’t and doesn’t operate like a business.
Nothing like setting the bar really, really low — Trump didn’t rant and scream this time, so he “did better.” He showed us his Dr. Jekyll face this time, instead of his Mr. Hyde one — but it’s clear from his Twitter feed that Hyde is the dominant personality.
SE Cupp said he only cleared the bar because it was set on the floor
Is this person some kind of bot? They really have no clue do they? I am referring to this Alex who seems to be showing up with a very odd sort of view of the Emperor).
Alex is a Russian troll. Don’t engage!
After the last 4 years of incompetence and chaos, I think experience has proven to be a good thing. I hope this was the first and last time we have someone’s only elected office be POTUS. It’s been a disaster.
Trump wasn’t screaming and interrupting nonstop like the first one, so sure, it was “better”, but it was still nonsense and lies.
I didn’t watch. No frakking way. Even Biden would’ve irritated me with his quips. Nothing is funny about this. If anyone, ANYONE, is going to stand alongside nacho man in an effort to represent our democracy and the state of our nation, they need to be the adult in the room. They need to be the polar opposite. Smart. Informed. Educated. Prepared. They need to prove, systematically and comprehensibly, why we are where we are. What we need to do turn things around. And what we need to do following the 180 about face. Lay shit out historically. Be a smart purveyor of American history and government’s successes and failures. Draw lines and parallels. Illustrate what happens when a 12yo bully somehow gets elected and how dangerous that is as evidenced by A to Z. Full stop. No jokes. No puns. No laughs. And no sarcasm. It’s a mission.
Biden did laugh at trump’s bizarre statements of being the least racist person in the room and randomly accusing Biden of taking money from china.
You’re right that it can get frustrating how much people don’t take the trump administrations damage seriously. It’s a constant punchline in pop culture, but it’s important we don’t forget how many people have suffered and died under this administration. Idid appreciate how visibly upset Biden got when talking about family separation. It was the most heated I saw him get. He also showed a lot of emotion when talking about people losing family to covid, climate change, and racism. He also said the crime bill was a mistake. I almost forgot what it was like to have a president admit to mistakes and care about other people. What a low bar jeeze. It’s obvious that Biden is frustrated that we even entertain trump’s lies and rants.
It’s clear that Trump can only repeat the same talking points over and over. Joe showed the ability to think on his feet.
But I did feel Trump makes it hard for Joe to control his stutter. You could tell Joe was so busy controlling himself so he wouldn’t yell or curse at Trump’s lies. I think that made Joe less smooth in delivering answers. He was busy mentally dealing with that irritating Trump and that made it more difficult to get his words out as usual.
I can’t help but notice the differences in Dr. Biden’s dress and mask as opposed to Melania.
Dr. Biden looked cheery and chipper and melania looked like she was going to a funeral
Dr. Biden’s shoes were beautiful. She has incredible taste in shoes.
I thought Ashley Biden’s dress was interesting, the pink long sleeves with the red in the pleats. I’m not sure if I really like it, but it intrigues me. I can’t find any information about it, though.
“Abraham Lincoln over here.” Least racist person in the room! 🙄 Why was Dump’s spray tan so dark? He looked like Ross. Melania in all black looked like she was at a funeral. Jill in floral looked like she was at a garden party. I’m so glad the “debates” are done. Now on to getting this “election” over with.
Trump’s face was painted so dark. It was insane.
I watched with my college student and her roommates and I was actually encouraged. Donald Trump was horrible, as expected. But Biden really came through and I could tell that the kids truly liked him during his performance, even if they all were basically coming from the perspective of “settling” for Biden. He showed himself to be someone you could actually want in the White House, not just the lesser of two evils. So I hope that lots of younger voters were encouraged and will really show up for Biden.
We found ourselves laughing out loud alongside Joe at some points. Donald Trump announcing that he’s the “least racist person in the room” is just a knee slapper at this point.
When he said “I might even be less racist than Lincoln…” I had to turn the debate off. I ran out of coulds and just couldn’t.
“The least racist person in the room” when the moderator is a woman of color….
He truly lives in his own reality.
TX-MOM- it was really funny that right after that “least racist person” comment, and got on FB. The first thing I saw? A post with a Spanish Anti-Trump sign that said:
“#chingatuMAGA
Pendejo
No mas naranja 2020”
If you know Spanish, this sign is freaking hilarious. And definitely not something the least racist person in the room would get.
I didn’t watch because I can’t stand to watch Trump speak. I can only read about it. I have a coworker who is extremely bothered by the fact I have no interest in getting myself worked up before bed over what is essentially entertainment to those who have already cast their ballot.
I can’t wait to wrap up this hell season.
I watched it. It was great. The time flew by. It was quick-paced because of the moderator. Kristen Welker did an amazing job. I realize she had help with the automatic mute button, which kept OrangeMan in check, but she also was really great at directing them back to original questions or picking up on something said and following up, and checking Trump several times.
I thought Biden was fantastic. Trump was reeled in, but his faces, OMG, and the fury in his eyes as they went further along in the debate. Joe looked handsome, kindness radiated from his face, and intelligence, and he talked about issues and what he planned And he was prepared for Trump’s nonsense attacks. Trump had no policies to talk about, no answers, no solutions. No empathy for those 500 plus children. He couldn’t even fake it, because he doesn’t now how to show empathy or concern.
The lies that kept coming out of Trump’s mouth, no need for facts, was his game plan, as usual. His COVID-19 responses killed him in the debate. As usual, I yelled at the screen when Trump blatantly lied often with his “facts.”
Trump showed continually what he thinks of Democrats, as Joe made it clear he was going to be a president to all Americans.
He doesn’t know how to feel empathy or concern either.
I didn’t watch but I had a curmudgeonly uncle of mine comment making fun of Biden on a Facebook photo of my Halloween decorations last night. Ok.
I also noticed that trump complimented the moderator. That was a pretty obvious coaching by his handlers so that he appealed better to women. She’s in the middle of her job weirdo, let her work. He cannot help himself though and insulted the women Biden’s been working with like Kamala and AOC (wth is AOC plus three). Which…. just points out that Biden works with women and values their input (a frustratingly low bar). Trump inadvertently helped Biden with a key demo that trump is struggling with. He’s so bad at this.
Joe won this. 1. He forward of a bright blue background looked better. 2. I think people don’t like confrontation, he leaned into sick Trump just enough for responsibility of things getting out of hand, but not too much to look like the bad guy. Very good.
I wish Bidenhad asked Trump if he could even say what the minimum wage was when he was blathering about the economy. You know he wouldn’t know. He didn’t know he states could set their own either.
Trump it’s all about a shouting match. Biden took time to reference and go into detail, Trump just shouted lies over and over again on the spot, it’s pointless to argue with someone like that, how did he ever get to president idk.
I didn’t watch it but I overheard Trump yell “I am the least racist person in this room!” or whatever it was while my parents watched it while I went down a rabbit hole of French true crime.
As for NYC dying, well it is true people are fleeing the city in droves. I
left the city in 2019 after 4.5 years not by choice but now I’m not sure if I’ll ever move back. Nearly all my friends have left or plan on leaving. Hudson valley real estate (Westchester and other counties in upstate NY, Fairfield County in CT) has never been so hot. My aunt and uncle who live across the border in Westchester County (where I’m originally from, currently living in CT) sold their house in 24 hours and it never actually went on the market. They would have had a really difficult time selling their house otherwise due to the horrible location on a very busy street.
I was just in the Catskills a few weeks ago for Columbus Day weekend and it was PACKED, I tell you. Everyone from Brooklyn/Queens/Manhattan were upstate to see the foliage and to get away from the city. We were warned to get to the trailheads early because otherwise the parking lots are overcrowded and people are turned away. So we got up at 7 AM on a Saturday and got to the trailhead by 9 AM and it was already super crowded, we managed to get one of the last spots. When we finished our hike about 3-4 hours later, we saw cops giving out tickets to people who had parked on the main road away from the parking lots. Year-round residents had signs indicating they would let tourists park on their property for a fee so they could go hiking. It was insane!!! I have never seen the Catskills like that and I have been going there for years. All the Airbnbs are booked months in advance up here. It’s bananas.
And rents have fallen WAY down too. My cousin is moving to the East Village in a few weeks into a studio that is around $1450/month which is completely insane. Just a few years ago that same studio was renting for $2100/month. Landlords can’t find enough tenants because people want out of the city.
This obviously isn’t a permanent situation and NYC will bounce back eventually, but it’s going to be awhile.
Similar here in Bay Area. Rents are going down but houses are selling fast. Our tenants just bought a house and we’ll have to upgrade and remodel a bit if we want to attract new tenants. Areas like Tahoe, Russian River, and wine country are also crowded and causing infections to go up there. State has been closing beaches and trails on some weekends to avoid major crowding, which just leads to parks being more packed. We all want to get away, and our downtown looks like zombie land.
It is hard to remember compassion and empathy. I’m thankful he exhibited emotion over travesties, and any range is far more than we’ve had by miles. Nacho man is unmoved by menial human qualities. In fact, he makes fun of such, ‘weaknesses.’ And, unfortunately, his many weaknesses are our weaknesses because of his projections which garners cheers from his supporters. So they’re quite useless in his vicinity. He needs to be asked specific and pointed questions he can’t answer which force him into his toddler dance/tantrum around absolutely nothing. He says he has a healthcare plan. But Leslie wouldn’t stop when he said people could keep coverage. How? How? How? He has no answer, he storms out and posts a self-damning video. In 30 minutes, Leslie pushed more than Congress has in four years. It’s despicable. Their ‘future histories’ will be embarrassments, and they will deserve every bit of every byte.
I so wish Joe would have said I grew up middle class, you crap on a golden toilet. How can DT possibly understand the average American?
Here’s my story about the cost of plexiglass:
A couple of weeks ago I went to the post office. When I was called up to the counter, I accidentally went to opening at the counter on the side where the postal employee was not working/did not have the computer on. I awkwardly picked up my packages to move down, but bumped the plexiglass. Because the plexiglass has not been installed, and was just a sheet of plastic glued to two wooden blocks painted blue, it began to tip over. Luckily, I caught it before it crashed into a computer monitor. Plexiglass is not expensive. Having to replace a government computer because you’re too cheap and too shortsighted to properly set up your workplace health and safety measures is expensive.
My favorite part was when Biden thought he was muted and just said, “Oh my god”. I laughed. Vote vote vote, we can’t do this for four more years.
Haha poor boys, that’s gold.
Trump didn’t get elected for being smart. He got elected because Americans actually like bullying other struggling countries for no reason. Most of the Americans are okay with him as long as they can profit off of his hateful and honestly disgraceful policies.
Only a quarter of the eligible voters actually voted for Trump. His core supporters, the ones who will vote for him no matter what he says or does, are likely to be much less than that. Maybe as low as 15%.
And definitely there are people who voted for him simply because they weren’t paying close attention. They were traditionally Republicans, some for decades, have always felt closer to traditional Republican platforms than Democratic platforms on certain issues, and really didn’t notice what Trump was saying and doing. I have a friend like that. She herself is a kind and generous person. She helps people all the time. But she just wasn’t interested in politics, was very busy helping her family and also my family (she made my relative’s final months so much easier) and engaging with her parish church, and had no idea what was going on with Trump’s campaign. She voted for him just because he was a Republican. If she had really listened to him, I can’t believe that she would have voted for him. He was everything that she is not.