Respectfully disagree.
I don’t believe there is anything wrong with apologizing for being part of a white hot mess. By taking responsibility for the minor infractions Biden might have been guilty of just makes Trump look like an even more outrageous asshole.
Also, I believe those voters who judge by who is the most ‘alpha’ are already Trump voters. While I do have to question any remaining undecided voters as to making ANY decision, if they cared not about substance and only style the decision would have been easy for them and long ago made.
This I agree with.
But I have to excuse Biden because it must have been very difficult to organize ones thoughts with the Trump breathing fire a few feet away. As I said yesterday, I can throw a perfect spiral and hit the neighborhood kids almost every time when we go to the schoolyard. I have no delusions about being able to do that against an NFL pass rush.
Opportunities were lost, but it didn’t hurt him. Instead Trump, the Barney Fife of presidents, shot himself in the foot repeatedly.
You mean the selfish immature brat with absolute power, who acts on instinct and retaliates blindly without compassion against anything that displeases him? Unfortunately he’s running the country.
I should shut up now, but I have one last thought on future debates:
As far as revisiting the debate rules, Trump is never going to agree to his mic not being live all the time. But that is okay, it isn’t the best solution anyway.
The best tactic might be a cumulative system where Trump feels he can get away with shit and not be punished at all, then reign in just before the liquidated damages kick in. Make rules like this:
After ignoring moderator instruction five (however many) times you are on probation.
After speaking past your allotted time five different times you are on probation.
After ten times of either your question for the next segment is forfeited.
If you get to a point where you have violated the rules more than six times, and you have spoken more than twice as much (50% more, 40% more, 20% more? whatever the Trump campaign will agree to) as your opponent – you will be removed from the stage and your opponent will remain alone and answer questions. You will have NO opportunity to refute answers from your opponent.
It can’t be little stuff like: “you spoke over for twenty seconds so your opponent gets an extra twenty seconds on the next question” thing. Set a trap for him by making it seem like a far off debt he will never have to pay. Make the rules hard and fast – bullet proof, and then let him violate with moderator warnings whenever he feels like it. Trump will plan to march right up to the edge and stop, but he will almost certainly be dismissed like the unruly schoolboy he is in no time at all. You just have to make the rules be immutable and appear very lenient while they are actually quite severe.
This will work because Trump can’t resist an opportunity to outsmart the other guy. He will violate on purpose at first because there is no penalty. He will get a good rhythm going and be cocky about flouting the rules. After the first few violations he will either shut up and follow rules, or be escorted off the stage – either way a win for all that is good and right in the world. As long as Biden remains quite and breaks no rules but is allowed to speak Biden will already be looking like the winner.
The only question will be who has the gravitas and demeanor to gracefully escort the president of the United States off the stage. I would recommend a young attractive woman myself, but the Secret Service could be used as an alternative. Personally I would love to see this implemented and Trump be asked to leave and refuse! Even if he agreed to the rules beforehand, he will never honor them so he would be marched out by someone.
See, I wasn’t thinking this through!
It never occurred to me any young attractive woman would be on Trumps team because – ugg!! and I didn’t think his actual security detail would allow anyone else to do it because – who doesn’t want to punch that guy in the face? Including them most likely!
That aside, would an approach where you get a couple of mulligans up front – but then get a death penalty after a number of warnings work? Trump would agree to it because he doesn’t see his own weaknesses. If his team would allow it does this solve the problems? Trump would have to comport himself properly, or leave the stage (be ordered off the stage). Either way is a win for the system.
Even in the town hall format, are Trump and Biden on the same stage at the same time? What prevents Trump from shouting down Biden when someone addresses a question to Biden? Trump has been known to do exactly that kind of stuff at his news briefings, when a question is directed to someone else.
Though, with tonight’s news that Trump has tested positive for COVID-19 (see this thread), it seems likely that there will not be any additional debates any time soon.
Has anyone considered nominating some of the SDMB moderators for the job? They’re well experienced at banhammering unruly participants. They will know exactly how to handle Trump.
Assuming that Trump is still able to debate, the debate organization is threatening to use mics that can be silenced. They could also put the candidates in separate boxes. Trump would use this as an excuse to withdraw since the rules were changed and Biden would get an hour and a half of nation-wide coverage.
Sanity finally prevails as the debate commission decides that the next debate will be conducted remotely. Napoleon Boneyspurs uses this as an excuse to chicken out.
Sounds like an excellent idea. Fill Napoleon Boneyspurs’ half of the split screen with a picture of a milk carton with his face or something.
If I had a nasty devious mind, I’d suggest that Biden surrogates (not the candidate or running mate themselves) make sweetly solicitous hoping that the President will soon feel well enough to attend a later virtual debate…
Trump has said he’s going to hold a rally the night of the debate. I guarantee you that took his staff by surprise and right now they’re scrambling to create a Covidpalooza event somewhere in Trump land.