Debate

Debate Night Open Thread

Mark Noonan69 Comments

I admit to having a sense of dread about the debate. Been gnawing at me all week. After thinking it over, I realized why: the concept of seeing and hearing Biden for 90 minutes utterly disgusts me. He is such a thoroughly bad man and such an egregious liar. The thought that he was installed into office is an outrage against all decency.

Like many, I do think it was a mistake for Trump to agree to a debate on such unfriendly grounds. Rely on it, both Biden and CNN will be working from a script they’ve both had for the past week. The questions are known. The signals for where the moderators should jump in to help. Plans already in place to cut away from Biden if he glitches out. If they need Trump’s microphone to “malfunction” it is all set up. The questions will be dishonest and all designed to work against Trump no matter what direction he goes. It is a mistake because it allows liars a platform to lie to the American people.

But, it is what it is. Trump wanted this. Presumably he’s got a plan here. Hope it works!

I doubt, though, that the debate will move the needle much either way. Don’t get me wrong, the MSM already had instant and other polls ready to show a Biden bounce. Regardless of how Biden does, they will straight face announce that all questions of his physical and mental capacity has been answered by his vigorous and scrappy debate performance (and I mean this literally: Biden could pee himself on stage and these pre-set talking points will be used). Meanwhile, Trump will be Trump: the good and the bad. He’s not a very good debater. Biden allegedly is but that is only because the MSM lies for him – he’s actually a quite stupid man who tells the most fabulous lies. But it is up to Trump to make some lemonade here – to place a garnish on the poop sandwich. We’ll see if he’s able to do it.

Whatever the talking points and polling shows, observe the iron-clad Ten Day Rule when dealing with Trump. If in ten days polling is roughly where it is now, then the debate did nothing. My bet is that it’ll be roughly where it is now. And this is especially true if Trump does very well – the better he does, in fact, the more the MSM will cook the polling books to show otherwise. The very last thing the DNC will let the MSM do is show Trump pulling away. As I’ve mentioned before, if in October the reality is Trump heading for a Reaganesque win, the stats will still show it close – perhaps even a Biden lead. This election will be decided by the voters…and it all hangs on whether or not Trump can, as he has before, bring to the polls people who don’t normally show up. If he does, he wins. It is as simple as that. What the Establishment will be doing is trying to drive down turnout…to make it appear as if Biden has this in the bag so don’t bother.

One thing: they might hop Biden up on drugs so much he gets all shouty. That would be a catastrophe for him. Worse than him glitching out for a minute or two. Nobody likes to see old men shouting. It is cringe.

UPDATE: Good, lord that was terrible! I knew Biden was senile and physically decayed but I didn’t realize how badly until tonight! Is this guy even going to be alive in November?

Trump kept pretty solidly to message discipline – the muting of the microphone may have unintentionally helped in here. He was still able to get his Trumpist digs in but he wasn’t able to fly off on weird tangents as he’s prone to do at times. He landed several very telling blows on Biden’s record. As for Biden? His few coherent statements were just lies.

Open Thread

Mark Noonan34 Comments

Rumor is that Team Biden is working with the Israeli Left to oust Netanyahu so a new, Leftist Israeli government can agree to a ceasefire which will save Hamas. For the Israeli Left, this is how to get back into office – and without the tedious need for an election that Likud might well win. For Biden, it gets Gaza off the table before the Convention so the Democrats don’t have to deal with Hamas rioters in Chicago. The primary thing here is the illustration that for the Left it is always about power – Team Biden and the Israeli Left don’t care about those who have died, nor about those who will die if Hamas is allowed to survive. They have no human feelings at all – just appetite for power (and wealth, sex and the things that go with power).

Will it work? Don’t know. Depends, in the end, how firm the Israeli people are and how much courage Netanyahu’s coalition has. We’ll see about that. But I will lay a lot of blame on Netanyahu: as I’ve been saying from Day One: celerity is crucial. Israel could never afford to drag this thing out. Unless the goal was to let Hamas survive after some severe punishment – and Netanyahu said it was about destroying Hamas – then the only way to do that was a maximum application of Israeli firepower on a tightly besieged Gaza. No supplies or people in or out; systemic, block by block destruction of every person and building in Gaza until the people of Gaza surrender unconditionally. And make no mistake about it: they would have surrendered. Probably after no more than a few weeks of that. Nobody was ever braver than the Poles in World War Two – but both in the initial invasion and during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, the Poles eventually quit after being hammered quite mercilessly by the Germans. People can endure a lot. Courage can make up for a lot of things…but after a while all you’re doing is dying with no hope of success and it is time to call it quits.

The Great Debate: far too many rumors about why now – and why it is being set for June, prior to the Convention. The only things we know for certain is that Trump has accepted and Biden will be in a soft, cuddly cocoon of MSM when it happens. I think it is a high risk gamble by a Team Biden that knows its losing.

Russia launched a surprise offensive north of Kharkov – that is, a surprise to everyone but those who can read a map.

They keep saying the offensive north of Kharkov is a feint…but I gotta say it looks to me like the Russians are going for a pretty classic double-envelopment of Ukrainian forces east of the Kharkov-Donetsk line. We’ll get a better idea as time goes on. But the problem seems to be that the Ukrainians had very limited forces up north…and apparently have a severe manpower shortage in general. In other words, if this “feint” in the north is the real thing, the Russians might find they’re punching into an empty bag. The Ukrainian forces in the east would have to retreat, or be cut off and destroyed – and if Ukraine loses a significant portion of its army, that’s game-over…it would be abject surrender. This is probably the time for the Ukrainians to ask Putin his price for a peace treaty. If it mostly entails giving up what the Russians already have, take the deal. If it is a demand for Ukraine’s destruction, then fight on and probably with more help from the West.

Peru has apparently decreed that being non-binary and the rest of that drivel is a mental illness…mostly because it is.

As I’ve said all along: live your life! Let your freak flag fly if that is what gets you through the day. As in all things, I’ll diligently work to ensure that there is no unjust discrimination against anyone for what they are or what they do. But, a guy in a dress is still a guy. Nobody is born in the wrong body. There are no trans children. Gender is immutable and it is binary. I don’t care what you do – but don’t do it to kids and don’t demand that I participate, even a little bit, in your weird, little world.