The September 29th Debate

Trump was totally unhinged but I thought Biden did a lousy job. He Had so many better responses that he could have made.  Thankfully his prepared remarks right into the camera were well rehearsed.  Trump - D.  Biden - C.  Please call off the rest of these.  

For the first time I am worried about US democracy. I guess I never really listen to this a$$hole. Proud boys stand back and stand by. Really?

Please donate your money or time to Dem candidates. This guy is going to kill our country, just because he thinks he needs Putin to bail him out personally. But most of all, vote vote vote

basil said:

For the first time I am worried about US democracy. I guess I never really listen to this a$$hole. Proud boys stand back and stand by. Really?

Please donate your money or time to Dem candidates. This guy is going to kill our country, just because he thinks he needs Putin to bail him out personally. But most of all, vote vote vote

 For the first time?

Where have you been?

The end of the debate tells the whole story -

Chris Wallace: All right, gentlemen, final segment, election integrity. As we meet tonight, millions of Americans are receiving mail-in ballots or going to vote early. How confident should we be that this will be a fair election, and what are you prepared to do over the next five plus weeks? Because it will not only be to election day, but also counting some mail-in ballots after election day. What are you prepared to do to reassure the American people that the next president will be the legitimate winner of this election? ...

Mr. President, two minutes.

President Donald J. Trump: So when I listen to Joe talking about a transition, there has been no transition from when I won. I won that election. And if you look at crooked Hillary Clinton, if you look at all of the different people, there was no transition, because they came after me trying to do a coup. They came after me spying on my campaign. They started from the day I won, and even before I won. From the day I came down the escalator with our first lady, they were a disaster. They were a disgrace to our country, and we’ve caught them. We’ve caught them all. We’ve got it all on tape. We’ve caught them all. And by the way, you gave the idea for the Logan Act against General Flynn. You better take a look at that, because we caught you in a sense, and President Obama was sitting in the office.

https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-joe-biden-1st-presidential-debate-transcript-2020

drummerboy said:

basil said:

For the first time I am worried about US democracy. I guess I never really listen to this a$$hole. Proud boys stand back and stand by. Really?

Please donate your money or time to Dem candidates. This guy is going to kill our country, just because he thinks he needs Putin to bail him out personally. But most of all, vote vote vote

 For the first time?

Where have you been?

I thought it was overblown, that trump is just an a$$hole. But he is pure evil and he will bring us all down with him.

has anyone looked at the reaction to the debate in right wing media? I'm going to guess that Fox & Friends is doing a lot of faux outrage over Biden calling Trump a clown and telling him to shut up.

I ate the whole thing and now having visited the bathroom, feel a bit better but still dizzy.

The UK Guardian called it "this dark, horrifying, unwatchable fever dream".

I'd say that was pretty accurate. I think that Biden and Wallace, while trying to enjoy a civilized evening, did about the best anyone could with that raging nut job down at the end of the bar.

Chris Christie got up this morning, and decided to double down on being a scumbag.

It's not Trump's fault that you heard him give a shout out to the "Proud Boys", says Chris.  There's something wrong with you, not Trump.  

ABC contributor Chris Christie defends Donald Trump's remarks about the Proud Boys: "I heard it differently" https://t.co/e6x6Yx07mv pic.twitter.com/tiqIREBq8B

— Media Matters (@mmfa) September 30, 2020

steel said:

I ate the whole thing and now having visited the bathroom, feel a bit better but still dizzy.

The UK Guardian called it "this dark, horrifying, unwatchable fever dream".

I'd say that was pretty accurate. I think that Biden and Wallace, while trying to enjoy a civilized evening, did about the best anyone could with that raging nut job down at the end of the bar.

"The Guardian described it as a "national humiliation".

"The rest of the world - and future historians - will presumably look at it and weep," the paper wrote, adding that Mr Biden was the only man who looked "remotely presidential" on the stage and saying that if Mr Trump was re-elected in November, "this dark, horrifying, unwatchable fever dream will surely be the first line of America's obituary."

"The Financial Times highlighted how the president had stoked lies about voter fraud and urged his supporters to carefully watch polling stations. "'Dog-whistling' is the politico-speak for such language, but it implies subtlety. Mr Trump was blatant," it wrote."

https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54354405

nohero said:

Chris Christie got up this morning, and decided to double down on being a scumbag.

It's not Trump's fault that you heard him give a shout out to the "Proud Boys", says Chris.  There's something wrong with you, not Trump.  

nohero said:

Chris Christie got up this morning, and decided to double down on being a scumbag.

It's not Trump's fault that you heard him give a shout out to the "Proud Boys", says Chris.  There's something wrong with you, not Trump.  

"On the Proud Boys' account on the social media app Telegram, the group appeared to take the statement as marching orders.

"Standing down and standing by sir," the account wrote. The account then posted two videos of the answer, including one with the caption "God. Family. Brotherhood," in which a man howled at the TV in response to Trump's response.

Megan Squire, a computer science professor at Elon University in North Carolina who tracks online extremism, said Trump's giving the Proud Boys orders was their long-sought "fantasy."

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/proud-boys-celebrate-after-trump-s-debate-call-out-n1241512

I didn't see anything that helps Trump close the gap. I'm increasingly confident that Biden will receive the most votes, even in the swing states. Whether it will be by enough margin to overcome Republican attempts to corrupt the election I don't know.

Part of the BBC coverage called it a food fight. That was where they were being polite. The link is above, I won’t re-post. 
Here’s an Australian analysis: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-30/key-takeaways-donald-trump-joe-biden-presidential-debate/12716568 

And

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/30/trump-debate-national-humiliation-analysis

Several commentaries I’ve read earlier called it ‘a national disgrace’, and ‘international humiliation’. If you’re looking at The Guardian online, change your editions from UK to International, Canada, Australia and read the different reports, it’s quite revealing. 

cramer said:

You’re spreading crap, cramer. That photo (even if it’s undoctored) is from a Fox News town hall in March.

DaveSchmidt said:

You’re spreading crap, cramer. That photo (even if it’s undoctored) is from a Fox News town hall in March.

 considering it was time stamped before the debate, it's pretty easy to tell it wasn't from last night.

ml1 said:

 considering it was time stamped before the debate, it's pretty easy to tell it wasn't from last night.

Depends on jrehling’s time zone, doesn’t it?

DaveSchmidt said:

cramer said:

You’re spreading crap, cramer. That photo (even if it’s undoctored) is from a Fox News town hall in March.

I was wondering why it hadn't been covered more.  I saw it in a rt.  

eta - I missed it at the time. 

https://www.comicsands.com/donald-trump-hair-town-hall-2645409914.html

I'm grateful to find myself oddly relieved this morning compared to yesterdays' dread. I think I was afraid that something disastrous could happen to Biden's campaign last night. It did not.

Trump, frankly was no surprise except to the degree of his insanity on full display. He really seemed to act as though he was at one of his rallies and could just say whatever the f_ck he wanted to applause.

Trump is a very weak person with zero vision and zero plans for his second term, except to be the puppet of Mitch, play golf and hold self adoration rallies.

DaveSchmidt said:

Depends on jrehling’s time zone, doesn’t it?

 isn't the time stamp for the time zone of the reader, not the poster?

steel said:

I'm grateful to find myself oddly relieved this morning compared to yesterdays' dread. I think I was afraid that something disastrous could happen to Biden's campaign last night. It did not.

Trump, frankly was no surprise except to the degree of his insanity on full display. He really seemed to act as though he was at one of his rallies and could just say whatever the f_ck he wanted to applause.

 I'm not feeling relieved because the stuff Trump said about the election truly is scary.  No matter the outcome, we're almost certainly headed for some scary stuff in the near term, and likely the long term as well. About 40% of the country seems to now be convinced convinced that our elections aren't going to be legitimate.  How does this country move forward after that?

ml1 said:

 isn't the time stamp for the time zone of the reader, not the poster?

I don’t know. That’s why I phrased it as a question.

If you’re right, it’s a relief that nobody thought that was from the debate last night.

DaveSchmidt said:

I don’t know. That’s why I phrased it as a question.

If you’re right, it’s a relief that nobody thought that was from the debate last night.

 I'm in NJ, and if I read that tweet now, the time stamp says it was posted 17 hours ago, which would have been before the start of the debate.

DaveSchmidt said:

ml1 said:

 isn't the time stamp for the time zone of the reader, not the poster?

I don’t know. That’s why I phrased it as a question.

If you’re right, it’s a relief that nobody thought that was from the debate last night.

JRehling appears to have known that the photo was from the Fox Town Hall. Mea  culpa, I saw the tweet in a rt and failed to check the time stamp. 

Should the second "debate" cancelled? Should Biden insist on stricter rules? Should the moderators be more forceful?

Is Jimmy Dore still on?  Wonder what that side is saying. 

STANV said:

Should the second "debate" cancelled? Should Biden insist on stricter rules? Should the moderators be more forceful?

 How do you enforce a debate rule if one of the participants is a tantrum throwing baby?  You can't mute him, because then he gets to claim censorship and "it's rigged".  

STANV said:

Should the second "debate" cancelled? Should Biden insist on stricter rules? Should the moderators be more forceful?

 No, no, and probably not. Last night worked out well for Biden -- as ugly as it was, I think the Biden camp would be happy to have two more of these same rock fights. It's Trump who's behind and needs to change something.