"An avalanche of lying even by Donald Trump's standards."
- Nicole Wallace, last night, MSNBC Debate analysis
"Perhaps, in the end, the greatest usefulness of the debates was as a vivid illustration of just how far we have fallen." - Roger Cohen, NY Times
"I am the least racist person in this room!"
"There's been nobody tougher than me on Russia."
- Two of the 490-odd lies spewed by Trump last night
"I don't know what debate these analysts were watching. Because the one I saw was between a normal politician, Joe Biden, and a man whose utter lack of empathy for any other human being is only matched by his baseless self-regard. The mute button only allowed Trump to speak at greater length, showcasing for all of America to see a textbook illustration of what sociopathy looks like. Afterwards, I wondered if Christian Bale had been watching, and if so, if he was worried that his star turn in "American Psycho" was too understated.
I know we've all grown numb to Trump's casual cruelty and his obvious inability to imagine that other people are fully real, but hot damn, it is incumbent on us who carry the dubious title of "journalist" not to let that numbness cloud our vision. There is something deeply wrong with that man. Anyone who listened — really listened — to him on Thursday night could see it. " - Amanda Marcotte, see Blog post in link at bottom.
First, let's get out of the way the nature of a "shit show". Contrary to a widespread pundit belief it does not have to be a chaotic scream fest and tantrum epic such as the Sept. 29 debate. In fact, it need not be too contentious at all, but still a shit show if one candidate lets loose an incessant stream of lies that can't be checked in real time. With the truth literally violated second by second, total audience disrespect allowed, then shit has certainly been evacuated - and the "debate" can't even be defined down.
Such was the case last night, so let's not bandy idiotic words about how it was "much more substantive" as a debate. No, it was not! Time to get out of Fantasy land. If you want to see what a substantive debate looks like then please watch the first Kennedy-Nixon debate from September, 1960 - with link provided at the end. This was the event that marked my entry into following U.S. politics, when - as a 14 year old high school freshman - I watched JFK debate Richard Nixon. Suffice to say I was mesmerized by the presentation and deep discussion of issues which made current debates look like jokes. Last night? It was a Joker's mock event by comparison, given how Trump's incessant lying defiled it. If you didn't see or hear them you were not paying attention.
On Monday I warned that the best move now for Joe Biden would be to just turn down this totally unnecessary debate. There was nothing of advantage and only much to lose. I believe last night's Lie-athon proved it, even as some Biden supporters believe he blew Trump out of the water. But not so
The torrent of lies from Trump - I lost count at 455 - just before I left the room and Janice screamed "Stop lying!" for the umpteenth time, was too much to handle. Like successive hammer blows to the brain and consciousness. These were also clearly too much for Biden to counter and the moderator to check. Too many lies to even list here but the astute reader who has the stomach to play back the debacle from a DVR list - just the first hour- can see and hear them first hand.
The worst part of this entire fiasco? It was totally unnecessary and may now cost Biden 4-5 points in national polls, and probably at least two or three of the battle ground states. I may be wrong, I hope I am, but we will see.
Why? Because after the first psychotic, screaming, interrupting display, all Trump had to do is behave in a half way civilized manner to appear 100 percent more "presidential" than he did earlier. So he took his advisers' recommendations to heart and spoke in a (mostly) calm voice but still delivered lie after lie after lie - as well as numerous distortions.
All the lies spewed as well as outrageous claims (e.g. "Biden took $3.5 million from Russia") followed the liar's template exposed in Bob Woodward's book RAGE (p.258). That was where we learned from a particular Trump playbook: 'Win Bigly - Persuasion In A World Where Facts Don't Matter') that there is a method to Trump's lying madness.
Thus "Trump's misstatements of fact are not regrettable errors or ethical lapses but part of a technique called intentional wrongness persuasion." As proclaimed by Jared Kushner in those pages Trump "can invent any reality for most voters on most issues" and "all you will remember is that he provided his reasons, he didn't apologize and opponents called him a liar." That was perfectly on display last night, and because of it, the American viewing public lost, and lost big as they became victims (most of them - at least the allegedly "undecided") of the intentional wrongness persuasion delivered by the orange scumball.
That strategy was helped when "useful idiot" pundits appeared, like on CNN this a.m. and agreed with Trump that "Yes, Trump is correct, Biden didn't do anything much to move the needle in his eight years" (On North Korean denuclearization) Hello, fuckwit! Biden wasn't President, Obama was!
It is sad that Biden participated in this travesty and it will be sadder still if the race now becomes much closer. Because what we need on November 3rd when the votes are tallied is a blowout, landslide win. And we may now be lucky to prevail in a squeaker- thanks to Joe's false confidence to take on Trump - without fact checking - and prevail.
See also:
by Amanda Marcotte | October 24, 2020 - 7:41am | permalink
Now, for those who want to see a REAL debate, please check out this link below for the full 58 minute, first Kennedy -Nixon debate - or go to the next link after for a clip (8 minutes) of the same debate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbrcRKqLSRw
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