Four days prior to this column posting, Narcissist President Donald Trump and former Vice-President Joe Biden had their second and thankfully final presidential debate.
This commentator’s first thought when hearing that there would be a second and final debate was to ask, “Why bother”; and the first thought after the debate was to ask, “why did they even bother”.
It is a question that I am sure many people had going through their heads as well. Why did they even bother going through with a second debate?
Why did they bother with a debate, given that one of the required participants is an orange-skinned malignant lying narcissist who wouldn’t know what the truth was even if it wore a swimsuit and a Miss America sash? Someone who lies about the time of day, then doubles down on the lie and accuses you of not knowing what time it really is and then blames Democrats, the media, and China for the time being wrong and that he know more about the time of day than anyone else.
Why did they bother with a second debate after the first one was an unbridled failure that descended into two old guys trying to over-talk the other; one by design and the other defensively? Maybe people expected the debacle to break down into fisticuffs, except that the orange-skinned narcissist is so physically “fit” that he would most likely lose his breath just trying to get halfway across the stage, and this was before it was revealed that he got COVID. And, besides, Space Cadet Bone Spurs isn’t a man of action. He isn’t even a man. He is the ultimate chickenhawk in a party full of chickenhawks who lets others fight his battles for him.
Maybe people expected Narcissist Trump to somehow be honest, or at least better behaved, with a mute button looming over his head. Well, “better behaved” was more like it. But the lies still lingered. Joe Biden was still debating against a self-promoting clown act who said whatever he wanted to say, true or untrue.
I could understand why Narcissist Trump thought he needed a second debate. He desperately needed a “trump” card to catch Biden. He thought he could trap Biden with some concocted story about Biden’s son (the one that’s still alive) and Ukraine, even though that subject is precisely what got Narcissist Trump impeached last year. Narcissist Trump needed a win. He didn’t get it.
But why did Joe bother to partake in this debate? He really had nothing to gain from it. It’s not like we all didn’t know about the orange clown act. He out-did Narcissist Trump in the competing town hall meetings. He hurt Narcissist Trump’s ego by having better ratings. So there was nothing more that he could gain from this.
Both camps claimed victory in this debate, of course. Some of them for the lamest of reasons. Those that thought Narcissist Trump “won” because he wasn’t the mad dog lunatic from the first debate are perhaps the most pathetic of the lot. To award a “victory” simply because their narcissistic orange-skinned man-child savior “behaved himself” is the very essence of a participation trophy. You know, those cheap things that red-hats love to decry and complain that led to the downfall of civilization. Giving Narcissist Trump a “win” simply because he behaved himself is a participation trophy.
And if people were somehow expecting this debate to “move the needle” towards one camp or the other, it didn’t. We are just days away from the 2020 Con and/or Coup and pretty much people know who they are voting for and why. There are no real surprises this time around. No “October Surprise” that changes things. The hyper-extreme-partisan divide is such that we are literally at the zero-sum extremism that I keep telling people about. If you are a red-hat-wearing cult-follower of Narcissist Trump, then nothing that can come out will change your mind about him. And if you are against the cult and you are voting against Narcissist Trump, then nothing will change your mind either. Now it’s just a matter of numbers and how many people show up at the ballot box and how many electors will each side get.
So... why the hell did they even have this debate?
Seriously, why?
Did the so-called “Commission on Presidential Debates” somehow feel emasculated after that sham of a first debate? Were they determined to supposedly “right” themselves after the originally-planned “second” debate was cancelled because COVID-carrying Narcissist Trump refused to have a virtual debate? Were they afraid they’d have to give space and airtime to those third-party and independent candidates?
Yeah, I can see that now… Joe Biden going up against Jo Jorgensen, Howie Hawkins, Jesse Ventura… and Kanye! Don’t think so.
Let’s get brutally honest here… I think it is high time that we retire the so-called “Commission on Presidential Debates” along with the debates themselves. They really have no place in this hyper-partisan environment, never mind given who one of the participants are.
It’s one thing to have a debate during the primaries and caucuses. It gives the potential voters the chance to compare and contrast between all the wannabe candidates. But I dare say that everyone’s minds are pretty much made by the time October comes rolling in. Between the conventions and the incessant news coverage and the oversaturated daily phony polls and the goddamned ads, we pretty much know everything we need to know about the candidates. If there are any “undecideds” at this point, I submit to you that they really wouldn’t be voting anyway.
The only way that the presidential debates would truly have any value now would be if they allowed the third-party and independent candidates in. Not as a “B-side” debate but right there with the two dominant parties. Give them all a chance to compare and contrast, just like the primaries and caucuses. But, given that the “Commission” is made up exclusively of members of the two dominant parties, that will never happen.
The presidential debates were born in a time when there were candidates with honor and integrity, who could calmly and politely discuss the issues. Who didn’t interrupt each other or spread one lie after another. From a time before 24-hour news channels and daily fantasy polls trying to determine who wins before a single vote is cast and always ending up a horse-race. Those days are gone. So too should the debates.
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