Twenty-four days until the election. It seems like the campaign just began -- some four years ago.
We were to have three pre-election debates between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden. The first one, held on September 30, was an astonishing display of arrogant and unseemly behavior by the president, resulting in a further dip in his poll ratings. His subsequent contracting of Covid-19, the disease that, on February 27, he had predicted would just go away:
“It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.”
caused a further decline in his polling, probably because of uncertainty as to whether he would survive, or at least be able to function, until even the end of his first term.
The second debate was scheduled for October 15. At least purportedly because the president might still be contagious, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that the the second debate would be handled virtually, with the two contenders and the moderator being in separate locations. I'll always wonder if the Commission simply had no stomach for another fiasco similar to the first debate.
In the first debate, Trump ignored the rules regarding the times allotted to each candidate, extending his own comments far beyond the cut-off time, while the moderator ineffectually attempted to stop him, and talking loudly over Biden during Biden's allotted time. As the moderator finally brought the debate to a close, giving the Commission's thanks to the sponsoring institutions, Trump was still yelling his arguments in the background.
Trump exploded and refused to participate when the Commission stated that the two would not be in the same room next Thursday. He argues that the Commission is biased, and is attempting to "protect" Biden from having to face Trump in person. The debate has been canceled.
What is the president actually saying? He is saying that he has no interest in a debate -- meaning a formal argument with each side presenting its argument with agreed time restraints, and the other side given the opportunity for rebuttal. A "debate" to Trump is an opportunity for him to show that he is louder, ruder, and more uncouth -- and thus more "manly" in the eyes of certain elements of his base -- than the calmer, more relaxed Mr. Biden. Trump has no interest in even the minimally intellectual discussion that debates in the past have provided.
By analogy, as a high school student, he would have approached an interscholastic wrestling match as though it were professional wrestling -- entering the ring dressed in a garish robe, screaming insults at his opponent and the referees, prancing around the ring, jumping out of the ring and into the audience at times, and soaking up the cheers of his adoring supporters.
Trump has turned his four years in office into a circus. He has done nothing worth bragging about to any audience other than his already committed "base," and so he offers instead a low form of entertainment. If he can't do that, he won't do anything. He doesn't know anything else to do.
His refusal to meet Biden on separate cameras and attempt to discuss the issues dividing the two parties is no loss to America or the voting public. I'm happy to see the debate canceled. Unless, like St. Paul on the road to Damascus, he suddenly awakens to a new vision of himself and of his presidency, I'll shed no tears if the third and final debate is canceled as well.
The president is a pathetic, insecure, childish, and emotionally needy 74-year-old. I'd feel some compassion for him if he hadn't caused so much damage to our country and to its citizens over the past four years.
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