I mean, his kids must feel some loyalty or affection for him, right? Right?
He’d get one vote for sure. His own. The best vote ever!
Now if we could get a felony conviction soon enough so he couldn’t vote for himself that’d be a fine bit of irony. The best vote ever is gone.
One man, one vote. That’s America!
And I’m glad that Joe is finally going on the offensive. He needs to stop…Biden his time.
(Puts on sunglasses)
YEEEEAAAAH!
That does sound bad. But there is a big danger of being seen to have descended to Trump’s level, because that’s where he does best. I’m a little afraid that once others see the senior author name on my next link, they’ll dismiss it out of hand, but I think he is on to something:
True enough. But Biden does need to say forcefully and nearly every day what that author said:
Not really seeing the logic there. He seems to saying that, instead of attacking Trump, Biden should be acting Presidential and governing effectively. Presumably Biden supporters believe he has already been doing so, in which case Kristol’s advice seems to be “just ignore the fact that there’s an election in progress”. Refusing to debate Trump would just make him look like he’s afraid.
I mean, I think Biden has done a pretty good job, but given the choice of defending his record in office or attacking Trump’s, the latter seems a lot easier. And thus far it looks like the Biden campaign agrees with me, given that they just dropped this ad.
I do agree with Kristol that part of the Democrats’ strategy should be trying to amplify the voices of prominent conservative Never-Trumpers like Dick Cheney, who can’t plausibly be accused of Democratic partisanship. The MAGAts, of course, will accuse them anyway, but a lot of swing voters won’t buy it.
I disagree with this strategy. It’s possible to run a negative campaign in an effective manner, even against far right opponents. It just takes a little creativity, like LBJs “in your guts you know he’s nuts” slogan against Goldwater. Something like that would be a lot better than ignoring him.
That’s what focus groups will say. And so I do expect Biden to agree to debate under the official commission rules.
Then there will be wrangling over Trump’s attempts to get different rules. Each side will then try to convince voters that the other is scared to debate. And both will have some success there. Only then will they debate.
The tricky part is that swing/uncertain voters may be looking for an excuse to do something they know they shouldn’t — vote for the strongman. Debate wrangling will blur the contrast between candidates in how presidential they are.
After a debate, Biden supporters will be sure Biden won, Trump supporters will think that Trump won, and median voters will say they both showed their age. And that’s almost a best case scenario.
Refusing to debate trump will make him look smart. trump will NOT follow the debate rules. Unless the moderator is given a kill switch, Biden should demur.
There’s a new lie being spread- “Biden can end the genocide in Gaza by the stroke of a pen”. Of course he cant. Netanyahu is the Prime Minister of Israel. Biden is not. And the House controls Aid to Israel. Of course Biden is not helpless, he has put pressure on Bibi- to no avail.
2016 showed us the danger of letting Trump hog the spotlight. The Hillary campaign made it all about Trump. Trump, of course, made it all about himself. The media made it all about Trump.
Turns out that when you give someone the equivalent of $3 billion in free publicity, he gets more votes.
I would fully expect Biden to “lose” any debate that doesn’t have a moderator able and willing to mute Trump’s mic. Biden knows his shit and is still sharp enough to show it in a debate, but Trump will do what he always does and will end up getting two or three times as much airtime by virtue of talking over everyone else until he runs out of breath.
Debating Trump is the very definition of wrestling with a pig.
The best case scenario, other than Trump in a debate, ratcheting up an even more obvious and quotable insane quote than he already has been, is for Biden to agree on moderate terms but for Trump to slip out on the debate nonetheless and then claim that Biden is afraid to debate him. This will be red meat for his followers, but more obviously false to all who don’t already watch far right-wing news.
If a debate does happen, Biden’s team need to come up with a series of names for Trump, so that Biden can roll them out virtually non-stop, every time he has to address something Trump said directly.
“As my opponent, the twice-impeached Donald Trump says…”
“As my opponent, the convicted fraudster Donald Trump says…”
“As my opponent, the defamer Donald Trump says…”
“As my opponent, the deranged Donald Trump says…”
“As my opponent, the Pro-Putin Donald Trump says…”
“As my opponent, the anti-Ukraine Donald Trump says…”
“As my opponent, the windmill-hating Donald Trump says…”
“As my opponent, the tax-dodging Donald Trump says…”
“As my opponent, the morally bankrupt Donald Trump says…”
“As my opponent, the regularly bankrupt Donald Trump says…”
“As my opponent, the anti-abortion Donald Trump says…”
Trump’s rapidly crumbling brain is at its best when he can just riff and insult without worrying about difficult stuff like policies and platforms. Engaging him like that is just letting him drive the narrative of the debate.
No, the only way is a moderator who asks tough questions, enforces etiquette and rules, and actively redirects the candidates if they veer away from the question.
It’ll never happen but it’s fun to think about. He wouldn’t even make it through the entire debate without storming off stage.
And Trump’s been quite cozy with Bibi. Of course, I doubt Bibi likes him either, but it’s certainly a soft spot for Biden.
I, too, would like Biden to stick up for the Palestinians more forcefully, but as a reason not to vote for him in this election, it ranks right up there with “he’s old and sometimes says things that don’t make sense”.
The final debate in October 2020 had a kill switch, and polls said Biden won. But Biden was already ahead in horse race popular vote polls before the debate by about ten points, so it was mostly a matter of people saying that the person they liked best coming in won the debate.
However, I think that when Joe’s campaign experts review how the debates went in 2020, they probably will want him to debate again.
Debates rarely move the needle much, but I think the chance of Trump being obviously senile and delusional on stage is high enough to make it worth taking a shot. It’s not likely Trump will be doing a lot of in-depth interviews with neutral journalists this campaign, so we should probably welcome any opportunity to put him in a situation where he actually has to think on his feet in public.
Well, those things are at least somewhat correct. But trump would be a total disaster for the Palestinians.
If you care about the suffering in Gaza, Biden is your only choice.
Wheres Acosta? I would pay to see him interview T.