Second Clinton/Trump Debate Thoughts

I’m on vacation, folks, so this is going to be shorter than it could have been. Then again, I’m not really sure if there’s much more to be said in terms of convincing anyone of anything. I watched the debate last night from start to finish. I was really interested ahead of time to see how the latest Trump scandal would be handled by both sides, and if Trump would have improved as a debater in the last two weeks. (Hey. You never know.)

Anyway. I have a number of thoughts. Let’s see if I can get some of them down.

• Undecided voters. Seriously? Where do they find these people? Do they live right next to the unbiased jurors who never read the news so they can be impartial during serial murder trials? I suppose they must be wavering because they’re either not listening to anyone about anything, or they’re listening to both sides lob accusations at the other, and they believe both.
• Decided voters. On the flip side, I think the vast majority of decided voters have made up their minds and aren’t going to change them based on any debate. Here’s the logic: either they’re voting for Clinton because they’re a staunch Democrat or because they hate Trump. I don’t see a scenario where Trump persuades these people to change their minds. On the other hand, maybe they’ve decided to vote for Trump. In that case, after everything he’s done and said, I think he’d have to do something like eviscerate a live puppy in the middle of a debate to maybe move that needle a little. And since I’m fairly confident the little debate prep he does must include “don’t torture live furry animals where people can see you,” he’s probably safe there.
• Trump the Attack Dog. This was playground politics at its most fundamental. If your opponent says something of substance, distract everyone by attacking her character. Or if that’s not readily available, attack her husband. Or if that’s not valid, go after her friends by name. Or don’t even name them. Just leave it generic. And don’t forget to blame her for everything that’s ever gone wrong in the United States of Hillary Clinton, because why else would they have named the country after her? Just think about the ungodly amount of power this woman has held over the last 30 odd years.

1. She was First Lady for 8 years! First Ladies are oh so powerful. They set policy. They negotiate treaties. They . . . wait a minute, no. They don’t. Or is the Obama so many people have been complaining about actually Michelle Obama? Maybe I’m the one confused. Anyway.
2. After that, she was a junior senator from New York. That’s like the most important job anywhere. We all know how much the world cares what Kirsten Gillibrand (her successor in that role) thinks about everything. World leaders line up to get her advice about . . . wait a minute. Nope. Sorry. I was wrong again. Junior senators don’t have much power.
3. Secretary of State. Bingo! Now we’ve got something we can really use. Because they’re the ones with the real power in our system of government. Think of how the world has trembled and history has been changed by them. We all know their names. We’re taught them in high school. Walter Q. Gresham. Harrison F. Matthews. Alexander Haig! Oh. Wait. No, sorry. Wrong again. They influence things somewhat, but let’s not overstate the case.

• Bottom line for me on this is every time Trump blames Clinton for all the woes of the world in the past 30 years, I roll my eyes a little harder.
• Some people keep trying to equate the sins of Hillary with the sins of Donald. It just doesn’t fly. Trump actively does and says awful things on an almost daily basis. I have written so many posts about how terrible he is, I have no desire to go over all of them again. Pointing out that the other person has some mistakes too doesn’t cancel those out. If one person has 1,000 flaws, and his defense is to point out that his opponent has 100 . . .
• At this point, I feel like everyone saying “Trump had a much better night” need to check themselves. Ask yourself this: how in the world could he have had a worse night? His entire party is jumping ship. He’s not just put his foot in his mouth. He shoved it up to his kneecap. Again, he didn’t torture a live puppy, and that’s the sort of performance he’d have to have had to do worse. But let’s think of the idiotic things he did last night:

1. Threatened to jail Clinton after the election. (Because he realizes right now that the only way he’s keeping the support he has is by doubling down on the “We hate Clinton” themes.)
2. Admitted to paying no federal income tax for 18 years.
3. Denied he ever groped or assaulted a woman. (I give this a week before the line of women come out accusing him of just the opposite.)
4. Admitted he and his running mate haven’t figured out what they think about Syria just yet.
5. Called Clinton “the Devil”
6. Implied American Muslims are harboring terrorists and terrorist actions.
7. Implied all African Americans live in the inner city.
8. Claimed Clinton was the one with hate in her heart and spouting terrible things.

• Let’s face it. We all know who Trump’s debate coach is now. It all lines up perfectly. I’m amazed we didn’t see it before. (Although in this case, it’s almost like Trump took inspiration from both sides of this scene . . .)

And with that, I’m back on vacation. Catch ya tomorrow!