Well, today will be the day of the first US Presidential debate, with Former President Donald Trump going up against current President Joe Biden. Biden has been at Camp David for a week to prepare for this event.
I can’t say that I am really looking forward to this debate. We all know how it is going to go, the moderators will throw Trump very hardball questions about 2020 which will cause him to rant about that.
I don’t see them pressuring Biden that much, even though he really deserves to answer for his mismanagement of the country for the past three and a half years. They won’t ask him about the economy, immigration, or his entangling us in multiple foreign wars.
On top of everything, they have refused to let prominent independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy into the room. I am not an RFK fan, but in principle I believe that he ought to be allowed in. I also believe that Jill Stein, Cornel West, and that woke libertarian bloke Chase Oliver also should be allowed on stage.
There is also debate about whether Trump should have agreed to do this at all. Many people on the right say that he was too willing to accept the terms by CNN, while all Biden has to do is not lose as hard as people think to eek out a win.
In my view, him taking Biden up on this was a risk, but one that he had to take. Had he said no, the headline would be that Trump won’t back up his tough talk. Had he complained about the moderators, the headline would be that Trump is looking for a way out.
Trump has been vocal about wanting Biden to take a drug test prior to the debate, but it looks like Biden has declined doing so. A bit odd, given that if he was clean, a drug test wouldn’t be an issue. I have taken numerous drug tests for stupid things, but Biden once again proves that he thinks that he is above the average citizen.
As I am writing this, I have also received word that CNN will implement a 1-2 minute delay instead of the standard 7 second delay. Why they did this, I do not know. This is supposed to be a live debate, such a delay is not live in any sense of the word.
This comes after the announcement that CNN will not be allowing independent media channels to stream the debate. This will affect political live streamers who wish to do commentary on their own channels.
Who am I kidding? We all know why such decisions have been made. We just aren’t allowed to talk about it.
I will say that one good thing about having the debate this early is that people haven’t already voted. In my view, all debates should be done before early voting. Case in point the 2022 PA senate race when Dr. Oz beat down Fetterman but by that point it was too late.
Another big event to note is that Trump will probably be announcing his choice for Vice President tonight. I am not too excited for this given that most of the names that have been floated around are unimpressive.
People are saying Burgum, but I think it would be more helpful to him to have a rust belter or Governor Youngkin of Virginia. He needs someone who can absolutely humiliate Harris in the VP debates, which will be easy to do.
Potential topics
I have no faith in the topics that we will most likely see brought up by the moderators tonight. This debate will be a farce if it becomes all about January 6th, Ukraine, Israel, or whatever America Last event has happened over the past three years.
We need talks on immigration. Biden’s handling of our southern border has been inexcusable. However, Donald, that thing you said about giving green cards to college graduates, that ain’t it, chief.
There needs to be a reckoning on the economy. Why has inflation continued to spiral out of control? Why are we seeing these odd days where it looks like the stock market is about to crash? How will we stop what we can clearly see is an incoming recession?
Another big issue: crime. This also ties into immigration, but it can be its own topic. What will either of the candidates do to end the crime epidemic? There is no reason why, as the foremost superpower, we should be deteriorating with high crime.
While I said that Israel and Ukraine shouldn’t be the entire debate, I do want a section on foreign policy. I would like to hear both men explain their positions. I want to hear what benefit it is to Americans to be entangled in foreign wars.
Conclusion
Above all, while I have reservations about how this debate will be conducted, I am finally happy that we will get to hear Biden explain himself for his conduct over his term. If you couldn’t already tell, I am not really a fan of his administration.
I wish we could have gotten Kennedy, Stein, West and Oliver up on the stage too just to add insult to injury, because things have to be really bad for four left-leaning third party candidates to run in this race.
However, as many others have said, all Biden has to do for this to be considered a success is not to lose as hard as expected. It’s a shame that this is where we are at with our incumbent chief executive who we have entrusted to lead us for four years.