The substance of the debate didn’t matter. The optics or impressions do. Here’s the optics:
- TRUMP: Nothing new there. He lied, lied, and then lied some more. Immigration, immigration, immigration. Accusations and insults. Nothing new there, so no one paid attention to it.
- BIDEN: Old weak infirm. Stammering incoherence. The idea that…
- THE MODERATORS: Corporate America really are using AI to replace real live human beings and have been for much longer than we’ve suspected, which explains Dana Bash’s career.
The outcome of the debate
Trump didn’t attract any more support. His lies were transparent. His reprobateness was on full display. People who were offended by that were offended in 2016 and continued to despise him. No one watched that performance and thought, you know, we could have four more years of the Trump grift train. He added nothing.
Biden may have repelled support. No one who isn’t a Democratic supporter or a Biden supporter is leaving. But, the fence sitters who like to pretend to be interested in politics because they think chicks dig it — they don’t. The best outcome for Biden is that few swing voters were watching. The next best thing is that it is so early. They may stay home in November, which helps Trump.
The Lines
They’re taking Black jobs now.
Biden and Trump face off in their first debate of the 2024 presidential race
Watching the debate was painful. I tried to make some notes on the lines said and highlights and lowlights of the debate. There were only some that made:
- TRUMP: I didn’t have sex with a porn star.
- BIDEN: My son wasn’t a loser or a sucker. You’re the loser. You’re the sucker.
- BIDEN: Openly laughing at Trump.
- TRUMP: They’re taking Black jobs now.
- BIDEN: Lost in a Medicare and drug price answer.
Closing Thoughts
Much of the coverage was about the Democrats dumping Biden. If they had an alternative, they would’ve by now. If Biden, himself, felt like there was an alternative, he would’ve by now. Which is to say, Kamala Harris is not presidential material.
If Team Biden felt like she could campaign, beat Trump, and be a competent president, she would be the nominee. By choosing her, Biden anointed her as the next presidential front runner, which should’ve been 2024. There’s no way Biden or his team felt like he should serve two terms.
Choosing Harris as VP was Biden’s biggest mistake, and it could end up costing us our democracy and an environment that can continue to support billions of people.
Comment on the debate. I’d love to hear from you.
Image Attribution
Sreenshot of the CNN debate broadcast minute 3:55
The Psy of Life 
I never watch debates, I think they’re meaningless events, designed to get ratings (money from commercials) for the media sponsor. It has nothing to do with how well the person is going to be in office.
That said, I repeat what I said on Filosofa’s page ~
I will vote for the devil himself before I vote for Trump.
I will vote for my cat Radar before I vote for Trump.
I will vote for the leftovers in my fridge before I vote for Trump.
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Howdy Silver!
Can’t say as I blame you for not watching debates. They rarely add anything helpful to the election and have been reduced to who can get the zinger in ever since Reagan’s “There you go again.” We live in a social media world now, and it is destroying us.
I’m glad to hear that you not only won’t vote for Trump, but will vote for a viable candidate. My biggest fear since the debate is that the media narrative of horse race and Biden too old will take hold and too many will stay home rather than vote. We’ve lost sight of the big picture in our race to make it a horse race and produced the most viral social media hot take. The choice is between fascist oligarchy and democracy, between giving up on making a more perfect union and continuing on the road to a more perfect union.
Huzzah!
Jack
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I tried to listen to the debate (couldn’t stomach watching Trump for an hour and a half). I made it almost half and hour listening to Trump’s lies, fantasies, exaggerations, and more lies. He was doing his rally rant is short bursts, his personal fire hose of falsehoods. His MAGA fans watching must have been wooping, hollering and pissing themselves from giggling. Joe didn’t sound good. He did prove one thing, that contrary to Trump’s predictions, he wasn’t “jacked up on drugs or Red Bull”. In fairness, I have yet to see anybody in a debate situation with Trump find an effective way to deal with the Trump fire hose. The lies come so thick and fast that countering each one is impossible. Even a fact checker can only do it from a transcript with a numbered list of the often repeated for reference. We witnessed Trump doing the one thing he does best.
Anyway, I turned it off after that first 30 minutes, wishing I had an axe and a pile of firewood to split and maybe a shot of really good whiskey.
There will be many clips of Trump with “THIS IS A LIE!” headlines.
If there will be a second debate, Biden needs a different strategy, and not to be having a cold. The good news for that from this one is that Trump and the gang will not bother to prepare, thinking he decisively won this one. Biden will have to be able to surprise him in some way.
There is time before the election.
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Howdy Bob!
It was by far the hardest debate I had ever watched. It took everything I had to watch all of it. I started out taking notes of lines and my reactions to use in a post, but after a while, I realized that there were not going to be any zingers or gotcha moments. The format precluded them. Trump came to do the the Gish Gallop as pointed out by Heather Cox Richardson, which is to just spew so much BS that no one can keep up much less point out all of the lies. The moderators were the only ones who could do anything about it, and they did nothing. Less than nothing. They let it continue unabated.
Biden sounded bad, but wasn’t. He was trying to get his points in in the time allotted and refute the worst of Trump’s lies.
The problem is that impressions matter more than facts. Trump came off better than Biden did. He sounded more coherent and in control. Biden sounded lost and confused. The opposite is actually true if you examine what was said, but no one is doing that.
And, no one is making Tengrain’s and Heather Cox Richardson’s point that the choice remains between an authoritarian oligarch felonious rapist who wants to gut the country for his own legal and economic gain and a true democrat who wants to better the lives of the citizens of the country. That is what has gotten lost in all of the hot takes chasing likes, shares, and clicks.
The sportification of our politics will be our down fall.
Huzzah!
Jack
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The sportification is on full display in the hot takes on the debate. It seems that one of the most, if not the most important metric for many of who won, and who showed “strength” is simply decibels followed closely by speed and fluency of speech. They go by who spoke loudest and fastest, as if it is a race to see who can get out the most words. Content is irrelevant in that score keeping. Competence, honesty, policy, history, rationality, and intentions go unexamined. Even actually answering the question ceases to matter (It certainly didn’t matter to the moderators.). As much of a disaster as the “debate” was, the response of the MSM and too many politicians trying to get air time by following that lead by mirroring the pundits’ opinions is an order of magnitude worse.
The next day, the Speaker of the House, MAGAMike, said that the Cabinet members ought to begin Amendment 25 process to remove Biden and pack him off to a nursing home. When your enemy is telling you to quit, that is a clear sign that it is the worst thing you could possibly do.
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Howdy Bob!
Never take advice from your enemy is, in itself, good advice. It is evidence of the complete failure of our Fourth Estate and the Democratic Party to not be laser focused on the real choice here: continuing to build a more perfect union or giving up on the endeavor completely in favor of fascist oligarchy.
How is that possible? How is it possible that the headlines aren’t all about Trump’s promises to usher in authoritarian dictatorship with the help of Congress, the Courts, and conservative organizations? That’s essentially what happened in the debate. Now, that we’ve all had time to process Biden’s bad performance, can we get on to what really matters?
Huzzah!
Jack
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I saw two articles that speak to that question:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/30/2249887/-We-Must-Really-Must-Overcome-The-Compulsion-To-Destroy-Our-Own?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/29/2249859/-The-media-and-too-many-others-in-power-are-doing-the-classic-abuser-enabler-dance?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web
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Why, I don’t think I like this one very well, CalicoJack!
The president wasn’t nearly so weak/stuttering (he did, but not every other word, or even close to it)/incoherent (not at all) as pundits would have people believe. I watched myself, the entire damnable thing, and the best I can do for tfg is that he was quicker, and far less wandering than he has been in weeks. That being said, what he said showed that he lives in another world, and didn’t experience or see what actually happened and is happening. Well, that, or that he lies as he breathes, which is my true conjecture.
I do wish the president would have been able to simply ignore tfg and move along, but I’m not sure there’s a human who could have done that, and the president made good points when he rebutted. Meanwhile, after this so called debate, many Biden supporters are clutching pearls and visibly/audibly critiquing the president for actually staying within the debate rules, and answering the (questionable) questions under quite a bit of pressure and constraint. That’s no more than he should have done, but the other guy didn’t do that, plus proved he lives in an alternate reality. Actually, tfg proved he lies, and doesn’t follow rules to the point of being the same bullying a—–e he’s been since 2015.
I think we should remember, no matter what media tell us we heard and saw, what we actually heard and saw, as well as what we actually have heard and seen since tfg was in the White House, and we should continue to tout how things have changed since the president has been president.
I think this is the longest comment I’ve ever made here. Possibly, it’s longer than my other comments put together. Or, as tfg perhaps might say, perhaps, while playing the air-accordion, longer that we’ve ever seen in history!
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Howdy Ali!
I’m proud to be a part of such important Internet, blogging, and personal history. It is moments like these that keep me going as a full-time citizen and a part-time blogger.
Those are good points all. The media desperately needs this to be a viable horse race, so they cannot report this as it seems. One of the worst aspects of the “debate” was the lack of fact-checking by the moderators. They may as well have had the intern read the questions and a technician cut the mics on and off at the appropriate times.
I also watched the entire thing. Biden looked and sounded bad. He needed to come out swinging, and he didn’t. He had a cold, and I’ve tried to function when suffering from a cold and medication. It can be hard to do. It takes a step out of your pep. But, we can debate the merits of Biden’s performance. I found myself disappointed from word one.
However, Trump didn’t add a vote to his name or add any enthusiasm to his base. He was merely treading water. I don’t think Biden did either, though. The good news, and it is good news, is that there is still five months until the election and few “swing” voters are paying attention.
Huzzah!
Jack
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