Debate showed president at his ugly worst
Let’s start with what President Donald Trump didn’t do Tuesday night.
He didn’t swiftly, fully and in a complete, coherent sentence condemn White supremacy. He didn’t urge supporters — in the imminent weeks of routine, legitimate mail ballot counting that voters should expect after the Nov. 3 election — to stay calm during this extended period and not to engage in any civil unrest. And he didn’t behave with the manners that most everyone else learned in kindergarten.
Trump’s bullying and brutish behavior Tuesday night in his first debate with Democratic opponent Joe Biden — in which he relentlessly interrupted Biden and ignored debate rules despite repeated admonitions from moderator Chris Wallace — made for the worst presidential debate in the modern era.
Biden not only refused to be baited into losing his temper, as Trump plainly hoped, but the former vice president also stayed on message — repeatedly emphasizing that he would bring decency back to Washington, D.C., and calm the chaos created by the incumbent. In a nation that has yet to truly and collectively mourn a staggering 200,000-plus Americans dead from COVID-19, Biden spoke directly to Americans with “an empty chair at the kitchen table” as Trump lashed out at him: “You would have lost far more people. ... Far more people.”
This isn’t a game, Mr. President, if we may stick to the decorum you’ve let languish. And Tuesday night wasn’t a debate. It was a horror show. Trump’s constant interruptions of his rival created a maddening, unnerving spectacle — leading commentators worldwide to call the debate a symbol of American decline. Wednesday’s announcement by the Commission on Presidential Debates that it would change rules so the next two debates are more orderly and productive was a relief — even if no one believes Trump will relent, short of being muted.
He also can’t stop lying. In defending his coronavirus pandemic response, the president rewrote history, denying the fact that for months — even as the virus ravaged Asia and Europe — he downplayed the threat and rejected calls to stockpile protective personal equipment. He shrugged off the idea that by refusing to wear a mask, he encouraged dangerous behavior by Americans. He even pulled one from a pocket as if he were Gallagher, it was a prop and this was stand-up comedy. Then he made fun of Biden for wearing one more regularly.
On racial justice issues, Trump’s declaration that the rankly racist Proud Boys group should “stand back and stand by” was a stark reminder of his 2017 comment about racist protesters and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, that there were “very fine people on both sides.”
Asked about the “science of climate change,” Trump declared “we are doing phenomenally” in responding to it — when in fact the United States is by far the single Western nation most undercutting international efforts to respond to the existential threat posed by the world getting hotter and dryer.
Then the president cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election. He suggested tens of millions of mail-in ballots made necessary because of the pandemic will lead to “a fraud like you’ve never seen.” And he suggested the conservative majority of the Supreme Court prepare to step in for him — “I think I’m counting on them to look at the ballots, definitely.”
There’s no debate about it. Donald Trump is not just a very bad president. He’s a very bad person.
