Trump cannot understand why, after all he believes that he has done for the country, he continues to trail Joe Biden in the polls. He cannot understand why voters would want to replace him after seeing the gains in the stock market. He cannot understand why we are holding him accountable for the deaths of 200,000 of our fellow Americans. He cannot understand why he’s losing and that makes him angry.
He’s angry at the system, the voters and the entire election apparatus, including the debates.
What we saw last night on that debate stage was an out of control child masquerading as the President of the United States. He’s on a path to delegitimize the election and that plan started with the debate last night. He does not respect the process, so he figured there was no need to play by the rules because they do not apply to him.
He had one job last night, to change the dynamic of this race, but he reinforced it instead.
It was pretty clear that Trump’s strategy heading into the debate was to rattle Joe Biden, get under his skin and make him dig a hole for himself. But, that strategy quickly became a tragedy when Trump started to indulge himself and his true self emerged. He could not look into the camera and denounce white supremacy. His failure to outright condemn groups like the proud boys was actually his only truthful moment in the entire 90 minutes of the debate, because it shows the American people who he truly is and how he really feels.
There were other moments in the debate that shows Trump’s level of contempt for the process, arguing with the moderator and constantly interrupting Biden. But, there was no moment that reveals just how amoral and dirty Donald Trump truly is than when he interrupted Joe Biden talking about his dead son’s military career to attack his living son’s business ties repeating false, unproven claims about corruption.
Biden, to me did very well. It is very difficult to keep your cool when somebody is bullying, attacking, interrupting and berating you at every turn. Biden was a leader, he remained calm and had some very good moments especially when he looked at the camera and spoke directly to the American people. Another moment was when he spoke about being proud of his son who overcame addiction.
He was clear. He was human. He did what he needed to do, he showed that he can be a calm, steady leader under pressure. There were moments when he cracked, like when he called Trump a clown but that was fair, he deserved it. Biden clearly won the debate.
Every American should be embarrassed by what they saw from Donald Trump last night. But that should motivate us to go to the polls and send a clear message that this is not who we are, Donald Trump is not who we are.
