„The clearest loser was America”, “national humiliation”, “never had American politics sunk so low”, “the first line of America’s obituary”, “a dangerous message for black America”, “the US embarrassed itself in front of the world for 100 minutes”, “ill-tempered, incomprehensible squabble”, “horrifying fever dream”, “chaotic, childish, gruelling”, “a TV-duel like a car accident”. Those were national and international reactions to what was supposed to be the first debate between Trump and Biden.
And except for Trump aficionados everyone agrees that this to 95 % was due to a man who lacks everything required of a decent citizen, not to mention of a leader of a nation, of a statesman. No, this was no one-star bottom-line reality show. It was real. And the host’s performance was equally poor as he was absolutely incapable of making it perfectly clear to a mud-wrestling Trump to accept at least the most basic forms of civility.
That Trump is incapable of rational, knowledgeable discussion and exchange of opinions is old news and no surprise. So his one and only goal was to provoke Biden, to insult him and deeply hurt him in order to avoid anything close to a debate about policies, a field on which he and his advisors very well know he would lose 0 to 100. But with few exceptions Biden kept his cool, which demanded a lot from him considering the demeaning, shameful, condescending attitude and prole-like attacks.
And the worst fears have been confirmed. Not only did Trump make clear that there will not be a lawful and peaceful transition of power, should Biden win this election. There will be unrest and violence. First he denies and ignores what FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress: that racially motivated extremism driven by white supremacist ideology makes up the largest share of the FBI’s domestic terrorism cases. Asked whether he was willing to condemn white supremacists and militias, Trump declares: “Proud Boys – stand back and stand by. But I’ll tell you what… Somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem.” This unequivocally encourages a group known for its racist and misogynist attitudes and their violent attacks on everybody they consider ‘leftist’. This was a call to take action after the election! And the Proud Boys clearly understood it this way as they immediately made clear.
And now he wants to make us believe he didn’t even know the Proud Boys? I guess he knows them just like all those “very fine people” who gathered in Charlottesville.
As I have said before, all of this does not come as a surprise* . It just confirms everything everybody can be aware of if they care to. There is no need for further presidential trash talk. Please, cancel the other two ‘debates’.
* https://www.myview-wolfgangmebs.de/over-the-hill
https://www.myview-wolfgangmebs.de/the-wind-you-sow/
https://www.myview-wolfgangmebs.de/the-times-they-are-achanging/
