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If you watched the presidential debate yesterday, you got a taste of bad Americana.
In one corner was the challenger with the upper hand because he was less senile. In the other corner, a president for whom you had to breathe a sigh of relief when he strung his thoughts together.
With World War III becoming a real possibility, there was one-upmanship about who’s better at golf and who didn’t have sex with a porn star. How far we have fallen.
On the one issue that could affect millions of people in the western world, we didn’t get a straight answer. Russia regularly threatens to use nuclear weapons against NATO countries. Trump didn’t answer the question about what he would do about the war in Ukraine, now in its third year. Trump only said he would not accept Putin’s proposal for ending the war: international recognition of the annexation of occupied territories and guarantees Ukraine would not join NATO.
In a series of uncomfortable moments, Trump returned to previous questions that had absolutely nothing to do with what was being asked. Both moderators tried to steer him back. “Mr. Trump, the question was….”
Trump is used to controlling the narrative like he does during his campaign speeches. That’s not how a debate works. A debate requires actually answering the question or, if the question isn’t answerable, at least addressed. Instead, character accusations flew back and forth. No wonder we are in the environment we are in.
There was a time when we had standards. In 1988, Democratic front-runner Gary Hart dropped out of the presidential race after his extramarital affairs became public. Those accusations seem like child’s play today. Today, we have a convicted felon that could become president. I can only imagine Hart thinking, “if only these standards applied back then.”
None of the questions addressed the character of either candidate, but both candidates made it a point to turn questions into character assassinations.
These are our two candidates? The brash liar or the senile statesman? Why do we do this to ourselves?
There is a hint of the national stage happening locally. Former MVSD school board member Mary Anne Quigley, who passed away at age 84 on June 3, gave up her board seat when her replacement was sworn in six months ago. At last year’s high school graduation, it was evident she needed help just to stand up.
Why do people hold on to power even after they are physically compromised? Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman was elected after suffering a stroke. Pennsylvania is a swing state. They must have really not liked the other guy. That was the joke- a candidate with brain damage was preferable to the alternative.
And now, on the world stage, when the stakes are high, we are in a mud fight, our laundry visible to everyone.
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While Trump has a lot of issues one must observe that the extent of Trump’s convictions has not been determined due to potential appeals and the recent SCOTUS decision on presidential immunity. Most believe that the process is a reversal of just court proceedings where a charge is stated with the hope of finding sufficient evidence to make it stick. So Trump’s situation is more a political manipulation in many ways than a just seeking resolution to crime(s) with evidence. The article can be improved by distilling from the debate what both candidates plan to bring to the table if elected.
Trump was convicted of 39 felony counts by a jury. Thirty-nine (39). The votes for each count were unanimous. I think there is more than political motivation here. Perhaps he’s actually guilty. I would love to have written more about the issues in the debate if I didn’t have to squirm over Biden losing his train of thought and Trump using his response time to attack character, make exaggerations (like the US isn’t respected in the world), assert he would solve the war in Ukraine before he comes to office and avoid questions from the moderators. In terms of rhetoric, Trump had the advantage by mere mental faculty, but in an earlier time, he would still have been roasted. What, exactly, is a “black job”? Are we living in 1960 or 2024? Because Biden’s faculties were so poor, he became the main story. Biden’s age was evident on video in meetings with foreign leaders. People around him should have been more prepared, and most of the media didn’t do its job because they didn’t examine Biden’s fitness to serve before the primaries even started. Most of all, it is Biden’s inner circle that should have known. Their actions are detrimental to the American people. The presidency isn’t something to be taken lightly. The threshold for a debate now is not rhetoric but mental acuity.