Could the “historic
debate” between President Joe Biden and former
President Donald Trump possibly live up to the
hype? CNN promoted it nonstop, and had
analysis days before, and for hours before and
after the actual 90-minute debate. Despite the
hype, neither candidate knocked the ball out
of the park. President Biden offered an uneven
performance, with a slow and mumbling start,
some strong and animated answers, and some
garbled answers. Folks like me desperately
hoped to see the Biden of the March 2024 State
of the Union Address; instead, we got the
Biden of the Trump commercials. He didn’t fall
up the stairs or off his bike, but he truly
toppled off his game. This was a high-stakes
game for Biden, and unfortunately, he lost.
Should one debate performance determine the
outcome of the election? Probably not, but
with millions watching, President Biden did
not strengthen his campaign. Indeed, the
debate was painful to watch. In fairness,
Biden handlers said he was suffering from a
cold, which may have impaired his performance.
Watching Biden was
painful, and Trump was infuriating. That man
is a blatant liar, he repeats himself
incessantly, he is rude, and he refused to
answer questions repeatedly. He kept talking
about our “ruined” country, accused President
Bident of “destroying” the country, lied about
the open borders and immigrants, took credit
for Biden policies (such as $35 insulin), and
stirred up racial animus. “They are taking
Black jobs”, Trump railed, speaking of
immigrants. (By the way, what are
“Black” jobs)? He also claimed he never said
“there are good people on both sides” when
racists marched on Charlottesville. He
dithered in response to questions about
abortion and rained negative comments on the
President. If I had a dollar for every time he
said “worst”, I’d have enough for a nice
lunch.
Flash polls say
Trump won the debate by a wide margin; I
disagree. Trump won on style; Biden won on
substance. Trump got his zingers in with his
lies, calling Biden “the Manchurian
candidate”, accusing him of taking money from
China, and repeatedly calling him the “worst”
President ever. He also predictably called out
Hunter Biden’s three felony convictions, but
Biden had snappy clapback, calling out Trump’s
convictions, the money he must pay E. Jean
Carroll for sexual assault, and the Stormy
Daniels relationship. Biden says Mr. Trump has
the morals of an alley cat (that was funny),
and generally comported himself decently, if
feebly. Those who think Trump won this debate
are looking at the undeniable optics. Trump
was a vigorous liar, while Biden was the less
vigorous, even mumbling, policy expert.
Donald Trump is a
worst liar than Lillian Hellman, the early
twentieth century writer whose rival wrote
that “every word she writes is a lie including
“and” and “the”. He lied about January 6. He
would not confirm that he would accept the
results of the 2024 election. As Biden
cleverly pointed out, he has lied about his
height and weight, and probably also about his
golf handicap. But Biden didn’t check all his
lies, as he might have. Sometimes he had time
and the moderators had to say he had a few
more seconds to make a point. In contrast,
while many did not expect Trump to keep his
cool, the fact is that he mostly did, often
speaking in calmer tones than he usually does.
I am among those who were surprised at Trump’s
demeanor, but unsurprised by his lies.
Tens
of millions of people watched the debacle that
CNN described as an “historic” debate. I
walked away infuriated about the Trump lies
and concerned about President Biden’s
well-being. And I walked away with
questions. Will there be a
rematch? Will Trump’s lies be fact
checked and widely circulated?
Vice-President Kamala Harris did a great job
by saying the President, “had a weak start but
ended strong”. Nice save. But the
raw truth is that for all his preparation,
President Biden dropped several balls during
this debate and missed opportunities to make
important points. Still, if we have the
choice between a Liar-in-Chief and a
Mumbler-in-Chief, I’ll take the mumbler every
time.
