Let us begin by acknowledging that this was not a debate to see who would be a better President for the next four years. At least, not for Donald Trump. Donny wanted all Americans to know that, in his view, he is the only person who should be President… really, for the rest of his lifetime. Any other outcome would simply be fraud, in his view.
For those disgusted by his performance last night, you must understand that this was a strategy. He did not go into the debate trying to win a single voter. He went into this debate to rally his “troops.” As well, part of his strategy appeared to be an attempt to suppress the vote by convincing people not to vote. He wants to make people so frustrated that they give up completely on the election process.
I will admit that he managed to get under Biden’s skin during the first part of the debate. Adding to the issue is the stutter that Biden has had his entire life. I imagine it was a nightmare scenario for Biden to maintain any vocal calmness when Trump kept talking over him. Biden’s stutter did come out a bit, but I will give him credit for getting himself under control.
Trump’s strategy last night was to throw as many lies against the wall to see what would stick. Part of that was to take as many shots as possible at Biden’s family, especially Hunter Biden. He took those shots to the point of distraction, and even annoyance.
Chris Wallace was very ineffectual during the first half of the debate. Trump ran as roughshod on him as he did on Biden. It became my fervent wish that Wallace had the ability to turn off Trump’s mic. Alas, he didn’t.
Wallace finally called Trump out on his interruptions. Trump attempted to deflect to Biden. Wallace called him out a second time.
Where the tide turned, whether Trump just ran out of steam, or, he knew he had no wind for his argument, was when the subject of race relations came up. Joe Biden admitted that the US needed to do more. That was big.
He then landed some solid body blows on Trump by providing examples of his divisiveness, eg. calling neo-Nazis “very fine people” in Charlottesville, and his bible photo op, in DC, where peaceful protesters were teargassed so Trump could walk to a church near the White House.
On a side note, it needs to be pointed out how this particular incident shows the level of Trump’s casual sadism. He did not need to teargas the protesters. However, in his mind, this shows that he has the power to hurt people. Trump has shown, time and time again, how much he likes this power. For him, it is a game.
Trump turned back to his racist dog whistles when he made his tired argument that the suburbs will disappear under Biden because he will let minorities in. I do not think Trump has been to the suburbs lately. They are not nearly as white as he thinks, or wants, them to be.
Trump then turned to putting troops on the streets to quell the protests. That is never a good look for any American politician. For the President of the United States, it is just an announcement that fascism is his favorite form of government.
Chris Wallace asked Donald Trump, directly, to denounce far-right terror groups that have been on the streets attacking the protesters. As expected, Trump deflected. First, he started ranting about Antifa and the left-wing terrorist protesters. When Wallace persisted, and Biden taunted him, Trump actually sent out a call to action.
He said, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” Of course the right is trying to lean on the stand down part of that statement. However, we all know what he said. He told them to stop for now, but when he needs them to be violent, he will let them know.
For those that don’t see this for what it is, today, the Proud Boys began selling a t-shirt with ‘stand back, stand by’ on it. They also claim that their membership applications spiked after the debate. To them, this was their call to arms.
When you add this to Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the election, it is a very scary scenario. Trump has made it clear, and reiterated last night, that he will only accept the results of a free and fair election. But, he has also stated that the only way he will lose is if the Democrats cheat. So, Trump will only accept the election results if he is declared the winner.
In the end, Trump just began throwing accusation-filled crap at Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Biden, by now, had found his composure, so nothing landed. Luckily, this had a predictable effect on Trump. He got silent and pouted. Sadly, it did not last.
At the end, Biden called for calm as the results are tabulated. He reminded the country that he would be a President for all, not just “his” people. Trump, once again, stirred his pot of divisiveness. He called for his followers to go to the polls and “watch closely.”
How anyone can not see this for the voter intimidation tactic that it so obviously is baffling to any rational mind. Chris Wallace had to remind Trump that his campaign agreed to certain rules for the debate that Trump continued to violate. If the Biden campaign is smart, they will cancel the rest of the Presidential debates. For Trump, that is not their purpose anyway.
There was no winner last night. I can say, however, that Trump was the loser. His “strategy” only served to cement the view that he is a petulant child without the temperament to be President of the United States.