Of course he should participate. Typically only the first debate moves polls at all, so all he has to do is get through two more 90-minute spectacles and he should be home free.
It’s hard to see how this one helped Trump, but we will know in 3-4 days if it moved polls at all.
Ultimately it’s up to Trump to somehow change the narrative of who Biden is, to make him unelectable to enough votes in PA, WI, MI, and FL. The two main charges are: “Biden is demented/feeble” and “Biden is a closet leftist”. Both of those are pretty straight-forward to rebut in a debate format, and Biden did fine doing that last night.
FWIW, odds makers scored Biden the big winner of the debate and his odds of winning in November have gone up. It might of been ugly, but it might have helped.
How about changing it slightly to play into the idea that he can’t control himself, due to mental difficulties? Maybe just adding one line: “if he’s even able” or “assuming he even can.”
He has to walk a fine line with how much he insults Trump, though. “If he’s able” is a pot shot - Biden’s fans will love it, but it hurts his argument that he’s the adult in the room.
He did say that during the debate last night, when Wallace asked Trump to please not interrupt for two minutes. Biden said something like “he cant’ do that”. And, of course, he was right - Trump interrupted before the two minutes were up.
The thing is, there are people who just like that behavior. They literally believe that whoever interrupts more, or speaks more definitely, or talks last “won” the point. They like the bully, the interrupter, the asshole.
Just popping back in to say that I love I got both sides so quickly. I did legitimately mean what I said as a question–I wasn’t sure if it would work or not.
Biden has no choice but to participate in the next two debates. However, he does have a choice about how he chooses to respond to Trump. He must learn to stop listening to Trump’s tirades and learn not to react to them. Biden can’t change himself into a raging lunatic that will talk over Trump. But what he must learn to do is to ignore Trump and stop pausing to allow Trump to talk over him. He must also commit to memory a half dozen vicious attacks on Trump’s character which include: Trump is a pathological liar, Trump is incompetent, Trump is stupid, Trump is a grifter, Trump is a failure. Those must be his opening lines in every response Biden makes and they should be his closing line at the end. Over and over. Otherwise, under no circumstances, should Biden allow himself to fall into the trap of responding directly to any question Trump puts to him directly. Engaging directly with Trump is a mistake. Showing condescension and disdain are the only weapons that Biden is capable of using effectively if he makes the effort.
Yeah, it’s a really good question. Trump is so difficult to debate, not because he’s a good debater (he obviously isn’t) but because the constant stream of bullshit and interruptions and cacophony makes it almost impossible to get your point across.
If you ignore the bullshit you seem to validate it. If you respond to the bullshit you seem petty or rude. If you interrupt as much as you’re being interrupted you get both-sides-do-it. If you insult or mock, you get “he’s unpresidential”. It’s hard for even the most capable debaters, and the Democrats didn’t nominate their best debater.
I think Biden took pretty much the right line, possibly needing to tone it down just a little bit. He absolutely cannot roll over on the lies and the interruptions, simply due to the nature of the format. Perhaps the town hall even will be a little different, but with no penalty for interrupting (other than looking like a dick) you pretty much have to fight fire with fire on that front (IMO).
It’s also a little bit tougher for Biden because of his difficulty speaking (whether it’s the stutter or just his poor oratorical skills). Getting interrupted knocks him off balance a little more than most, and it’s harder for him to recover.
Is that true? I thought lapel mics were used in a studio setting. With significant separation, if a mic is shut off and someone continues shouting, you’d still hear them faintly picked up on the other mics, but I think it would make a big difference.
Although, of course, I’m sure that the preagreed rules preclude turning off mics.
I think whenever Trump starts spouting nonsense, Biden should just stand there and make the “jackoff” motion with his hand.
Seriously though, yeah, the Trump camp will spin Biden not participating into weakness or fear or both, and that can only hurt him.
The way I see it, Trump voters are Trump voters. The only question is whether the rest of the voters will vote for Biden or for nobody. Biden needs to power through the remaining “debates” and keep his composure and avoid taking Trump’s bait, lest he give the undecideds an excuse to sit out the election altogether.
I came here to post this exactly: put 'em in soundproof booths and give the Mod the microphone switches. Maybe give our so-called president a spit rag so he can keep the glass clear.
In 2016, wasn’t there something about how Trump was gonna bring a couple of the women that had accused Bill Clinton of rape, and put them in the front row of a debate, or something like that? I can’t remember if he actually did or not.
Can you imagine the possibility of (not for the town hall debate, but for the final debate), Biden bringing President Obama as a guest and having him sit in the front row? Wouldn’t that drive Trump bat-shit crazy?
Biden absolutely should continue with the WWE Smackdown…I mean debates. If Trump plays the next, town hall-style one the same as he did last night, it seems likely he’ll shave another 2 or 3 points off his approval rating. Distasteful as it may be to participate in such an undignified spectacle, it’s pretty much all upside for Biden.
I won’t be watching, understand, but I wouldn’t want to deprive anyone of their entertainment.
Looking forward, the next debate is town hall style. That should be very good for Biden. Even by himself without an opponent, Trump doesn’t do well in this format. The rant, blovate, insult and ignore the moderator style is not going to go over as well when the camera pans to “real” Americans waiting for answers to their questions.
I don’t know if there is any point to the third debate, but Biden should definitely keep his appointment with the second debate.
Absolutely there should be a moderator-accessible mute button to cut off interruptions. “Debates” like these are pretty much a joke to begin with; they become farcical when participants have no respect for the minimal rules that apply.
Since neither party (Trump especially) would consent to being muted for misbehavior, it would be understandable if Biden opted out of the remaining shout-fests, and instead concentrated on holding “town hall style rallies where he takes questions from a small audience and tries to answer them honestly.”
Yeah, right.
At least that’d blunt accusations he’s lost his marbles, and we’d still get to hear entertaining comments like how Biden is the Democratic Party.
