The Year of the Debate
For the second time in three months and for the first time in my life, I am anxiously awaiting another presidential debate. I guess for people who have followed politics for many years, this may not seem so very different form other election years. But for me, this is a strange feeling to be on tenterhooks over a debate. This has caused me to look up the work tenterhooks and I see it is a frame for stretching and drying woolen cloth that has been in use since the 14th Century. The idea is that if one is on tenterhooks, one is under a great deal of tension over some impending event. Well, to \put it mildly, it seems that our entire nation and perhaps a large part of thinking world is on tenterhooks today. This seems especially so because the last debate on June 27th was such a watershed. A watershed is such a symbolic turning point in life because watersheds divert water in one direction or another towards one seat of rivers or another…like the Continental Divide. That debate was a turning point because all of the worst fears everyone had (or perhaps the greatest hopes for opposing Republicans) were borne out the moment Joe Biden walked out onto the stage looking lost and confused like a patient prematurely released from some abattoir for dementia patients.
Since that debate the political world has been in turmoil, least of all due to the normal machinations of the Republican National Convention that followed it or the Democratic National Convention Convention a few months later, but mostly because of the excitement and exuberance that has surrounded Kamala Harris’s candidacy. To say that it was unexpected is an understatement. If I had guessed right after the debate on June 27th, I would have said that it was possible that Harris would emerge as the Democratic nominee, but no one was expecting the overwhelming enthusiasm that the Trump-hating electorate would immediately show towards her. It was as though the blue members of the tribe had all received an instruction that the was the one and only and that she was the second coming of Biden/Obama/Clinton/JFK and FDR all rolled into one package.
This phenomenon so unsettled the Trump camp that their first reaction was the ridiculous one of crying foul and defending Biden, which was such a transparent and weak move that they themselves probably couldn’t believe the things they were saying. They have worked steadily since then to find a handle with which to grasp and beat back Kamala and her joyous crowds. They have called her stupid, nasty, Communist and chameleon-like, and are still struggling with how to land a seriously damaging blow to her clear theft of the political momentum. It’s not working and the momentum just keeps building from women of color to women overall to educated men and women to the youth vote to the progressives and moderates alike and now, even, to a growing array of prominent Republicans who are willing to outwardly endorse her and decry Trump unfit to lead.
The early maneuvering on the topic of a debate led me to believe that Trump was positioning himself so he could excuse himself from yet another campaign chore by making an excuse that Harris would not be reasonable about the terms of a debate of that he didn’t have to debate her since the country was already so strongly enamored with his candidacy. The Harris juggernaut was taking the stance that they could take nothing from granted and that they were the underdog. That is always the smart way to head into such a battle and they were taking full advantage of it. Meanwhile, Trump was looking more and more beleaguered and annoyed and his silly demand for multiple debates devolved into one debate like what was already agreed with the Democrats for the Biden candidacy.
I still made a $10 bet that Trump would be a no-show, but that isn’t happening. Now the guessing game is less about whether he will show up and more about how he will show up. Will he double down and be the combative, insulting, misogynistic brute that he has always been on stage or has his campaign staff prevailed on him to calm down and be polite to show the estimated 50 million Americans who will be watching that he is actually a very reasonable guy.
So I just watched the whole debate and I have to say it was more of a non-event than I had hoped. Trump had some minor rants and lied through his teeth but he was only fact-checked twice I think. Kamala did a good job of looking and sounding presidential. She also got a lot out about her plans where he just spun the same old same old Trump bullshit like he got “concepts for plans” on hon to make Obamacare better…after 9 years of nothing. I wish I could believe that the broader public, especially the uncommitted folks in the middle that might well decide this election, could distinguish truth from fact since they would then see that Trump is full of shit, as always. Kamala still has work to do over the next 55 days.
Trump is an angry man who is desperate. Harris is, by contrast, light on her feet and extremely presidential sounding and looking. She handled herself well with real plans and facts and Trump talked about immigrants eating dogs and cats in Ohio despite the moderator trying to debunk that accusation. His story is old and tired. Her story is strong and vibrant and clearly reflects what the majority of the electorate wants. The problem is that our country remains divided and Harris kept talking about what we need to do for the people, but 40+% of the population still thinks Trump is the real deal, which he clearly is not. His economic plan has been trashed by most economists and responsible arbiters of the economy. The entire debate was defined by Harris reaching out to shake Trump’s hand and him not knowing what to do. Harris stood up for America and Americans while Trump denigrated America and Americans and used every lie in the book to evade responsibility for January 6th (trying to put the blame on Nancy Pelosi) and that tells the tale of the man. In that sense, the debate did show everyone who Trump is. Harris nailed him when she said that if you go to a Trump rally what you will not hear about ids anything about you, the voter. You will hear lots of Trump bizarre craziness and lots of things that matter to him.
I saw what I wanted to see about Trump and Harris and the debate is already being called the best presidential debate ever. I don’t know about that, but it sure spoke to me. I hope it did as well for some of those undecideds.