Well, shit show it was as everyone has noted. Everyone unfortunately lived up to expectations. Trump was an outrageous television personality, Biden was an optimistic but somewhat befuddled, boring moderate who was only mildly effective, and Wallace was a guy who believed reason and appealing to Trump’s better angels was going to make for a lively but honest debate.
If all one cared about was “controlling the situation” then Trump won in the same sense that those who pour gasoline on themselves and self immolate control a situation. If you cared about anything else at all – like all of the rest of America, including the three people on stage last night – you lost. I do want to talk about the debate more because I convinced a family of Trump supporters to watch it much to my regret, but I will do that in a separate post. I want to speculate about the next debate for a moment.
First of all, as a long time registered Republican who hates Trump and everything he stands for, who believes Trump and McConnell are ruining our country and the entire world by extension, let me just say that if it was Bernie up there flinging shit with Trump I would stay home on election day and vote for neither just like I did in 2016 when I could not bring myself to vote for either Trump (and because of the announcement of reopening the e-mail investigation) or Clinton. I know many of the more progressive elements here are disappointed Biden was nominated, but he was the ideal candidate for me and I know several other registered Republicans who want to vote against Trump but like me are never going to vote for Sanders or many others in the Democratic party. Biden despite his faults is the guy who can win over moderate swing voters like me.
Agreeing to rules with Trump before an event is an exercise in futility. He is not going to abide by them, and as we all saw last night, no one can use his own bluster and the weight of his absurd spectacular statements against him, he is jiu Jitsu proof. I don’t see that changing in future debates and I want to think about what CAN be done and it seems the opening statement is going to be the only thing that matters in the next debate. There were no opening statements in this debate; will there be opening statements in the next two debates?
I think something like this might be effective:
“Good evening moderator(s), thank you for this opportunity.” Then look up into the camera and address the nation. “I want to apologize to the American people who tuned into the last debate because they did not get what America deserves, a thoughtful and thorough investigation of the policies and ideals that will guide each candidate if he is elected to the next presidential term. I hope I have an opportunity to express my ideas, my plans and policies that I believe will lead our nation into a healthier, safer, more prosperous future. There are plenty of things we can do better and I want to address them all. I want to be examined and questioned by the moderators and held to account for my actions and my plans. I would like the moderators to question my opponent and hold him accountable . . . both on this stage tonight, and for his actions for the last four years.” Then shift back and address the moderator(s) directly again.
“I do not want to participate in a reality TV spectacular tonight. We are here to discuss the administration of the United States government and that is a very serious business. The last presidential debate devolved into lies and posturing and accusations and insults. I have to admit, I allowed myself to be frustrated by the events and occasionally replied in kind. The American people deserve better, our nation is facing some serious challenges and I believe we can work together and solve them all. But we can’t solve anything when we are just bullies. So, no matter how frustrated or insulted I am tonight I am going to behave in a dignified manner because I believe to solve problems we have to be dignified and mature and resilient. I believe I can convey more in silence and with dignity than a charging bully disregarding the rules and posturing like a lesser primate. If my opponent refuses to live by the rules (which his taxes prove he is not very good at doing-zing!), I will simply wait for the moderators to regain control and I believe they will be wise enough to allow me to finish my statement and rebut any distraction that might be introduced. Leading this country is a complicated and difficult job; it takes more than bluster to do it well.” Look back at the cameras- “I look forward to lively but civil debate tonight…. I hope we get one.”
Then, every time Trump lapses back into his standard tactics, he can literally shrug, roll his eyes and hold his hands as if presenting the featured trained monkey. He will have to pause and gather himself then decide if he should finish what he was going to say or address the distraction being lobbed against him – ideally both.
I think the grin/laugh he tried and failed to pull off last night was his coach’s suggestion to just laugh off all the absurd shit they knew Trump was going to say; it didn’t work well as we all saw. Would this approach work? I am sure the verbiage can be much better, but the tone and message are important because it sets an expectation of Trump being a complete ass (which he will eventually be), and it admits a small misstep but demonstrates he learned from it. It might be the only time he gets to speak uninterrupted – does this hit his message pretty well and give the audience a chance to see Trump for who he is?
One last thing, Biden should also rehearse this line and drop it into the debate where it will fit:
“He was asked to tell the Proud Boys to stand down – instead he told them to stand by. Either he doesn’t know those two things have an opposite meaning, or he called them to arms. Which do you think it was?”