In the opening moments of the debate, Joe Biden shuffled in and looked as old as the worst of the stereotypes had portrayed him.
Then Donald Trump got the first question, a simple one about the effect of how his tariff proposal would raise consumer prices, and in addition to beginning the start of his torrent of constant false statements, also demonstrated that he doesn’t have the slightest idea of how tariffs actually work. Trump spoke forcefully and with the illusion of confidence, but what came out of his mouth was so obviously false, so obviously ignorant of policy and so full of nastiness that it turned undecided voters off.
And the longer the debate wore on, the more Donald Trump responded to questions of policy by simply ignoring the question and talking about whatever else he wanted to talk about. Question about childcare? Don’t say a single word about childcare, but pivot to China and tell some more lies and demonstrate some more ignorance.
After that, Trump continued to lie in a constant stream of obviously misrepresent facts that even the low-information undecided voters could tell were fake as they revealed in focus debates after the debate (seriously, “I did not have sex with that porn star” — shades of Bill Clinton denying his brief encounter with Monica Lewinsky), demonstrate policy ignorance, and put on a display of nastiness beyond what he normally demonstrates.
As the debate wore on, Trump became increasingly unhinged and — talk about stamina and staying upright for ninety minutes — Biden got warmed up, his voice grew stronger, his attacks grew sharper and he showed more of the real Joe Biden.
In the opening moments of the debate, Joe Biden shuffled in and looked as old as the worst of the stereotypes had portrayed him.
Then Donald Trump got the first question, a simple one about the effect of how his tariff proposal would raise consumer prices, and in addition to beginning the start of his torrent of constant false statements, also demonstrated that he doesn’t have the slightest idea of how tariffs actually work. Trump spoke forcefully and with the illusion of confidence, but what came out of his mouth was so obviously false, so obviously ignorant of policy and so full of nastiness that it turned undecided voters off.
And the longer the debate wore on, the more Donald Trump responded to questions of policy by simply ignoring the question and talking about whatever else he wanted to talk about. Question about childcare? Don’t say a single word about childcare, but pivot to China and tell some more lies and demonstrate some more ignorance.
After that, Trump continued to lie in a constant stream of obviously misrepresent facts that even the low-information undecided voters could tell were fake as they revealed in focus debates after the debate (seriously, “I did not have sex with that porn star” — shades of Bill Clinton denying his brief encounter with Monica Lewinsky), demonstrate policy ignorance, and put on a display of nastiness beyond what he normally demonstrates.
As the debate wore on, Trump became increasingly unhinged and — talk about stamina and staying upright for ninety minutes — Biden got warmed up, his voice grew stronger, his attacks grew sharper and he showed more of the real Joe Biden.