Back in 2000, in the first Presidential debate, Vice-President Al Gore dragged Texas Governor George W. Bush up and down the stage. He was ready, he was knowledgable, he had command of the facts and the figures, and Bush looked like a deer in the headlights. There’s no evading the truth: Dubya got rinsed.
Except within 24 hours, the RNC had cut up a video of Gore’s exasperated sighs and exhalations and whatnot, and the media – ring through the dick as always whenever the GOP complains – ran with that. And, well, you know the rest.
This is why I don’t watch debates anymore, because they do not matter. They’re merely an hour and a half of performance art where you wait for someone to fuck up or get off a zinger, and then wait two days to see how the press decides to spin it, and then another five days to see how it’s moved the polls, and it’s a complete waste of time. I spent the debate watching Norwegian slow TV and tinkering with my Moto X (of which more later. I can’t quit this phone) and I think my life is better for it.
Looking at the transcripts and reports, though, it’s more apparent than ever. Donald Trump is running as the candidate of old white people who believe everything they get in email or see on Fox News. No sane candidate would ever think that “Ask Hannity” was some sort of dispositive explanation, but a sane candidate isn’t what we’ve got. We’ve got a guy with exactly one speed who’s never had to go for an hour and a half and be challenged like this in an individual setting – the monkeyshines of the GOP debates meant that you never had more than a minute and a half every half hour or so to say something, and because nobody wanted to alienate the Trump base, they never counterpunched in a way that would have put John Kasich or Marco Rubio on that platform last night instead. He’s literally never been challenged like last night, and he wasn’t ready.
And that alone should be disqualifying. Being President isn’t something you roll up and film for 30 minutes twice a month, it’s a 24-7-365 job for four to eight years. Look at how it ages everyone it comes in contact with and tell me that Donald Trump will have the interest to do that, never mind the intelligence or the capability. Hell, he already offered one VP candidate control of “domestic and foreign policy” so his focus could be on “Making America Great Again.” This is not American big business where all you have to do is sit and play golf and yell down the chain of underlings if something doesn’t work. You have to do the fucking job.
He can’t. He won’t. He’s not capable of it. She is. Case closed. Now we just have to confirm it at the box.
What are you prepared to do?