I could be totally imagining this, but somewhere in my memory during the 2016 debates, one of the moderators asking both Hillary and TFG to “say one thing nice or good about the other one” (it sounded like a parent trying to force a couple of siblings to make up).
I’m guessing the chances of that happening tonight are slightly less than 0.
I felt bad for Hillary when that happened because while I understand the intent behind that question, and I understand that we can be too black in white in thinking about people we dislike, that they’re all evil and have no redeeming value, I truly believe that Donald Trump is the rare human being that does have absolutely no redeeming value and I wouldn’t have known how to answer the question in her place. She did a competent job with it (IIRC talking about his kids) even though it was pure bullshit and the’re all assholes too.
Not so sure. I wouldn’t think you’d need the boost, and it might make you have to pee halfway through the debate.
(Not that that would faze Diaper Don.)
Has the Trump team been laying groundwork for excuses for not attending? A week ago I would’ve put money on him not showing up. I still think he probably won’t. But he’s cutting it closer than I would’ve expected.
This is why campaign consultants get paid the big bucks. Cup of coffee, or diet coke, and you may have the pee problem. Give the boss a caffeine pill (that typically has the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee), and there’s a slight risk of it coming out. Then your opponent, who drank his caffeine, says he’s got the evidence you were jacked up.
Aside from Trump, this debate is different because of the commercial breaks. A pee and another mug each time may work. Problem is that if the commercial is a political ad (Kennedy? West? Stein? Oliver? AIPAC? Hamas?), while peeing you missed something you’d want to respond to.
P.S. Can the networks forbid political advertising? Or will they sell to the highest bidder?
If I were Biden and that question were posed to me tonight. I’d say something along the lines of “My opponent is well-behaved. So much so that I am quite confident he will be eligible for early release and probation because of that good behavior.”
Call me silly if you wish, but I just prayed for Biden. Literally prayed he would do well and wipe the floor with Trump.
The problem with CNN and other news sites is that they normalize Trump. They have a million crazy statements from him to ask him about, including the shark battery thingy.
I bet he gets asked normal questions.
Don’t they kind of have to? I thought the idea was to ask both candidates the same questions, and they’re not going to ask Biden about sharks.
Maybe they should.
“Candidate Trump, what is you opinion on the use of electrical batteries and motors in boats? Candidate Biden, you will have a minute to rebut following Trump’s ‘answer’.”
Perfectly reasonable and balanced.
They both should be asked: “Who pays the tariffs on imports?”
Trump: “The Chinese!”
Moderator: “Does that include the tariffs you placed on Canada?”
Trump: “…why are you such a terrible person?”
Unfortunately it doesn’t sound like the format allows for moderator follow up.
If it was Dana Bash it would be “Nasty person.”
I’ll be at work while the debate is happening unfortunately. I’ll still probably catch a few minutes of it on the radio while I’m on break.
Even if I were off I probably would not watch the whole thing. I can watch Trump for short clips, such as discussing a particular stupid statement he’s made and I want to see the entire statement in context. But 90 minutes is a lot and I don’t think I could bring myself to watch him uninterrupted even for something like this. I’ll definitely catch the analysis and follow up and I’m sure if anything particularly newsworthy happens there will be a million clips of it online afterwards. And I’m more than certain that this very thread will have some very good analysis in it after the fact as well.
I couldn’t watch Trump for even a minute or two during one of his rallies. I can watch 90 minutes of him sharing a stage with the Democratic President.
(I think. I’ll report back if I couldn’t hang in there.)
Like many in this thread, I don’t think I could stomach viewing very much, plus I won’t be able to watch anyway (I will be on a plane flight).
I doubt the debate will make a difference, unless something totally horrific and unlikely happens: Trump literally and unmistakably shits his pants, Biden has a heart attack on stage, etc. I wish Biden all the best, of course.
Yep.
Just because I’m interested, I looked in on a predominantly right-wing/Trumpist message board. They’ll be watching the debate too. But what was interesting is what they were discussing. Selected topics:
What if Biden has an adverse reaction to his debate meds?
Will Biden survive the debate?
Two biased CNN moderators at the debate.
Is Pres [sic] Biden pretty much stressed out now?
So Grandpa Biden takes a week off his job, in order to do his job?
Looking through those and other threads, a few things became apparent and consistent:
Like I said, interesting.
Don’t forget the" 1-2 minute delay" bs thats on another board.
Even though they’re the exact same questions! Makes sense, though. Everything is hard for Trump since he doesn’t know anything, and just has to play his invisible accordion and act belligerent.