Watching the debate tonight?

[Safe-Keeper]

I was amused when Trump, who paid someone to take his SAT for him got on Biden for going to the University of Delaware. If your base is non-college educated white males, deriding someone for the school they went to is rather an odd choice. The few Trump voters smart enough to pick up on it will understand that he thinks even less of them than he does Bidden because they didn't go to any university.

Probably just Trump projecting, as usual. He's probably insecure about his own schooling, and decided to vent by attacking Biden.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

Those were just his cuff links. I wear them sometimes with my nicer suits and dress shirts. Instead of buttons at the end of the sleeve at your wrists there are two button holes and you put the link through the hole in the cuff.

Sure, but are yours secret double-0 earpiece/microphone with a special decoder attachment cufflinks?

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

I was amused when Trump, who paid someone to take his SAT for him got on Biden for going to the University of Delaware. If your base is non-college educated white males, deriding someone for the school they went to is rather an odd choice. The few Trump voters smart enough to pick up on it will understand that he thinks even less of them than he does Bidden because they didn't go to any university.

And, he got the school wrong - he said Delaware State. My girlfriend is from the Philly area, and PA parents send a ton of kids to UD (in fact, one of my daughters is a Sophomore there). Looks like Trump pissed of a lot of Pennsylvanians by disparaging the University, which is in fact a top 50 public university.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

He also is a much more successful businessman than Trump.

He has been running his own promotion into the ground for a while, though, because he's sure that he knows better than everybody else, no matter the evidence to the contrary.

 

[Scopedog]

About what? That you saw something suspicious in a video?

I saw the probable ornament of a rosary bracelet and not a cufflink. What part of this are you disputing?

 

[The Don]

Those were just his cuff links. I wear them sometimes with my nicer suits and dress shirts. Instead of buttons at the end of the sleeve at your wrists there are two button holes and you put the link through the hole in the cuff.

President Trump was wearing cufflinks with double cuffs.

Joe Biden was wearing a shirt with single cuffs secured with buttons - he wasn't wearing cufflinks.

 

[Scopedog]

What with your innuendo and JAQing off?

Stop being coy and say what you mean. Then we'll agree or disagree with it.

Hahaha!

 

[johnny karate]

I saw the probable ornament of a rosary bracelet and not a cufflink. What part of this are you disputing?

I haven’t disputed anything. You said you saw something suspicious in a video, and so far, I don’t even know what you’re talking about.

 

[Horatius]

I remember strongly disliking Bush, and yet, when it was was over, I found that more than anything, I just felt bad for the guy.

Bush's Presidency kind of got screwed by history. The events of 9/11 made everyone forget: the 2000 election wasn't supposed to be about a historic choice for who would lead the world against Islamic Terror. Both parties nominated the blandest candidate they could. No one wanted to rock the boat, we'd won the Cold War, the economy was doing well, we all thought we'd get rich off the Internet. The election was so bland that it came down to a statistical coin flip as to who won. Without the Florida Debacle and 9/11, Bush would have been an unremarkable, middling President, which is what most people wanted at the time.

Then things blew up in his face, and he found himself out of his depth. Everything that followed was the result of him being the wrong person for the job he ended up facing.

When the intended target of an alleged insult claps and cheers in response, perhaps it wasn’t meant as an insult and everyone involved understood that.

Understanding that would require they know the difference between someone who is actually joking, and someone who just says they were joking. It's clear that the vast majority of Trump supporters don't understand the difference.

 

[Lurch]

I think Joe is onto something here, although I don't know that he took it far enough.

What if Trump sat down with his campaign strategists before the debate and decided that at this point in the race, very few minds were going to change. Therefore, it's all about turnout. In that case, Trump wins if he can depress voter turnout.

If we assume that Trump's conscious goal was to get people to stay home on election day, everything he did makes sense.



It goes along with this story:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...-suppression-black-americans-2016/3567588001/

For those who haven't seen it, it's about a leak of Trump's campaign data from 2016, showing that millions of Americans were targeted with "deterrence" ads. These were ads specifically aimed at depressing voter turnout among people who were more likely to vote for Hillary Clinton. It was a conscious, deliberate, strategy on his part.

What if that circus* last night was also part of that strategy? If so, I'm sure it worked. I'm sure that the antics last night will keep people away from the polls, and in a pattern that means Biden loses more votes that way than Trump. Some of his comments, like bringing up "you just lost the far left" were clearly aimed at that tactic, but the entire performance would have had that effect.

In a strange way, I find this even more sickening than the overt voter suppression techniques that we have seen that use just barely legal, or even illegal, tactics to disenfranchise people. That's despicable, trying to prevent people from expressing their choice. However, this Trump campaign tactic is more aimed at the actual soul of the voters. It aims not to keep them down, but to convince them there is no point in getting up. It's very disturbing.

I hope the Biden team recognizes it, and is effective in countering it. If this tactic were to succeed, it would not merely mean that Trump would be president for another four years, it would mean that he was successful in sapping the spirit of the American people. That's a lot bigger deal than just four years of bad policies.



*Circus workers have expressed offense at this comparison.

If Americans are so easily dissuaded from protecting democracy itself (or worse yet, too doltish to see the danger), then if Trump does squeak out a win due to their apathy, the country fully deserves the Orange Excrescence.

Will the Deplorables prevail? This is a test of the national will to democracy.

 

[JoeMorgue]

What if that circus* last night was also part of that strategy?

Here's the thing though. It's not a "strategy" and thinking about it in those terms is dangerous.

A two year having a temper tantrum isn't deploying a strategy, but they can still ruin your evening at the nice restaurant. You don't deal with screaming toddler by outthinking their strategy.

Biden was never going to "out debate" Trump in the way Trump thinks of it, no more than you could out debate an air horn set go off on random.

Trump doesn't sit down and think of these complicated plans to expertly get under the skin of da Lirburls. He's a troll, not Hannibal Lector or Keyzer Soze.

Again against "I'm going to flip the board over and declare myself the winner" the answer is not "Play better chess."

 

[Safe-Keeper]

*Circus workers have expressed offense at this comparison.

Have worked at a circus, can confirm .

A travelling circus is all about cooperation, coordination, good communication, hard work, and a solid plan you follow thoroughly to keep on top of things.

Nothing in the Trump administration resembles a circus in any way whatsoever. Okay, maybe a circus with animals.

 

[Scopedog]

When the intended target of an alleged insult claps and cheers in response, perhaps it wasn’t meant as an insult and everyone involved understood that.

When accused by Trump during the debate, Biden denied saying it, therefore it should be identified as a Biden lie during the debate in an article about Presidential candidate's lies during a debate.

 

[johnny karate]

And, he got the school wrong - he said Delaware State. My girlfriend is from the Philly area, and PA parents send a ton of kids to UD (in fact, one of my daughters is a Sophomore there). Looks like Trump pissed of a lot of Pennsylvanians by disparaging the University, which is in fact a top 50 public university.

“Bad things happen in Philadelphia.”

- guy running for President about the biggest city in a battleground state, on live television.

 

[johnny karate]

When accused by Trump during the debate, Biden denied saying it, therefore it should be identified as a Biden lie during the debate in an article about Presidential candidate's lies during a debate.

You go right ahead and do that.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

Sad to say, 98+% of the talk today is about Trump's debate "performance", with his tax returns, the determination to crash the election, and the effing tape recording of him admitting to flat out lying about the coronavirus relegated to birdcage liner.

 

[kookbreaker]

“Bad things happen in Philadelphia.”

- guy running for President about the biggest city in a battleground state, on live television.

He’s writing off Philly. The GOP has written off cities in general but the GOP in particular has tried to make Philly the pillar in their accusations of voter fraud since 2008 despite a singular lack of a shred of evidence. Instead he’s hoping for the voters in the rest of the state who utter despise,loathe, and envy the big cities and their suburbs to rally and support him.

 

[Scopedog]

I haven’t disputed anything. You said you saw something suspicious in a video, and so far, I don’t even know what you’re talking about.

Someone else mentioned the allegation of a device in Biden's sleeve and I've seen the videos and pictures and I offered my opinion of what it was. What's unseemly about this to you?

 

[shemp]

Cut his mike when it isn't his turn to speak.

Cut off his supply of Big Macs and Cheetos when he gets out of line.

 

[Scopedog]

You go right ahead and do that.

I don't work for The Washington Post.