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Trump Wins Second Debate. Will It Be Enough?
The second debate was a completely different animal from the first. President Trump and former Vice President Biden were able to present their answers, arguments, and attacks without constant interruptions from each other or the moderator.
The new muted mics rule worked quite well and we should expect to see it in future debates. When one candidate answered a question, the other’s mic was muted. After both provided their statements, the mics were left open for that lively partisan bickering we’ve come to expect.
This worked greatly to Donald Trump’s favor.
The President vastly improved his performance, holding Joe Biden’s feet to the fire while maintaining his cool. Biden turned in the journeyman performance one would expect from a frontrunner. His job was to remain upright and not commit some outlandish gaffe, a feat he achieved. And yet…
That tricky Trump fellow laid several traps and Joe eagerly jumped right into them.
To start the debate, Trump hit Biden hard on the growing “laptop from hell” controversy. Biden’s answers were either unsatisfactory or downright deceptive; that will come back to bite him. Since about 20 minutes were dedicated to the issue, the press will have a hard time maintaining their embargo.
Impressively, Trump focused on the Biden family’s lucrative arrangements with China, Russia, and Ukraine in a relaxed manner. His “more in sadness than in anger” tone raised question after question without the need to bang the table. Trump concern-trolled the hell out of Biden and it worked like a charm.
He also got Joe to deny that he ever wanted ban fracking, although we saw him say just that in the Democratic primary debates. Trump has the video and promised to release it yet again to our ever-incurious press.
When Biden blasted Trump over putting children in cages, POTUS kept reminding him that Obama created them. “Who built the cages, Joe?” Trump kept asking. Biden had no response.
Biden’s worst moment was when Trump actually got him to admit that he will end the US oil industry. Later, Joe tried to massage that promise but Trump highlighted it repeatedly, calling out voters in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, and Oklahoma to pay close attention to what that will mean for their jobs. Let a thousand ads bloom.
In addition to creating headaches for himself, Biden was remarkably inconsistent. Angry one moment, fake laughing the next, marble-mouthing convoluted answers. His energy level waxed and waned over the 90-minute affair, while Trump always appeared in command.
Moderator Kristen Welker of NBC wasn’t as dreadful as Chris Wallace or Savannah Guthrie, but she was faster to interrupt Trump than Biden, especially when the President was on a roll. According to the numbers, there were 24 interTrumps to two for Biden. And, of course, all the questions came from the left.
By the end of Thursday’s debate, the former vice president was looking at his watch, a move that doomed George H.W. Bush’s re-election (at least according to the press at the time). It was a visual reminder that Biden is playing a Prevent Defense and hoping to run out the clock.
A lot can happen in the second half of the fourth quarter. Tonight, Trump was moving down the field.
Published in General
Biden talked about Russia because that was topic of the coup d’etat project. There is no connection with Russia.
Hilarious again. Ignore the lies, which were most of the “cogent comments” I didn’t watch the whole thing but I did see a few moments of confusion. Keep trying though. There has to be a pony in there somewhere.
because you have no answer.
You made a big point of the Laptop is a Russian ploy, based on “people you talked to” and not seeing it anywhere like the WSJ. I gave you links to the fact that the DNI and FBI have stated unequivocally the Laptop is real and not a Russian disinformation plot. And a link the the WSJ demanding Biden explain his dealings with China.
You have no answer for that, so you dissemble and claim you won’t lower yourself. It’a your typical tactic and I will not let you get away with it.
Address the issue. You can’t can you. You were exposed as completely uninformed on the topic but that didn’t stop your pontificating and spewing DNC talking points. Thats the extent of your ability to debate.
As an engineer myself, that is completely true. You have to evaluate options, even if you mentally have ruled them out. Yes for completeness but also because you sometimes find your intuition is wrong.
You are ignoring my Comment #117 where I said:
“No. I just don’t respond to a half dozen people who have shown themselves to be wholly inappropriate. You are one of them.
“Nothing good ever comes out of arguing with you. I have neither the time, nor the inclination to wrestle in the mud with you.“
Your continued ranting shows the wisdom of my decision to not interact with you.
Read it again Gary. That [coal miners son] was describing Neil Kinnick, not what Biden said.
Cut him some slack, Biden helped a stutterer once!
Neither Biden, nor anyone from his campaign, has denied the laptop belonged to Hunter, or denied the content of the emails.
But even if they had, that wouldn’t make their denials automatically credible.
According the Sacramento Bee (a newspaper…not to be confused with the Babylon Bee) today:
He only had 12% in the 2016 poll.
I thought you had acknowledged this before and respect you for it. I was speaking of our disagreement on the second point. That this unique service to mankind forgives Trump’s petty crimes, which I know you disagree with. Don’t misunderstand I disagree with you profoundly; however, I don’t think you come by your point of view dishonestly. We simply have a profoundly different reading of the situation.
He may not have originally come by his point of view dishonestly, but I think there are several here who can argue and provide evidence that he pursues it dishonestly.
I am trying hard to assume good will in people I disagree with this days. I am also trying to engage their arguments and not their personalities. I may not always succeed but I hope it will sharpen my skills. In the real world I am a pilgrim in a hostile land, so I have to hone the skill of argument where the vast majority are not on my side; however, with luck and perseverance perhaps a few may be swayed.
Well, maybe you just haven’t been at it long enough. But for one example, the Charlottesville Lie has been dealt with several times, yet Gary continues to repeat it as if it were gospel. That is difficult to see as coming to, and is certainly not pursuing, anything honestly.
I have never seen Gary answer the question: Which of Trump’s policies are disqualifying, or which Democrat/Biden policies do you find preferable to Trump’s/Republican’s?
It seems his preference for Biden (or Anyone But Trump) is very strongly determined by style over substance. Not a position I find intelligent, wise, or respectable.
And anyone who still thinks Biden is a kind, gracious person or whatever, really hasn’t been paying attention.
Why engage with someone when it’s obvious to all you will never agree? Most of us have learned to ignore obvious Lincoln Project types who only seek attention.
Someone mentioned a while back that there are new members joining Ricochet occasionally who need to see push-back against Gary rather than silence perhaps suggesting agreement.
Look I am voting for Trump, I was supporting him here back when it was unpopular.
It takes more than just the Republican base to elect a President, so yeah maybe you need to “coddle” a few people on a single issue so that you get to keep leading on all the others.
In my part of the Country “those that are fearful” include virtually everyone in left, right and Center who is in healthcare. A refusal to “coddle” to there concerns will loose their votes and several more. When the doctors and or nurses you know turn against Trump on the issue several others will follow, as they assume doctors, nurses and hospital lab workers know what they are talking about
Rather than coddle them and make them feel comfortable in feeling afraid, and maybe help them feel justified in thinking everyone else should be afraid too, how about showing them that their fears are exaggerated? And that it’s okay to work and stuff? Should everyone be Joe Biden hiding in his basement between debates?
Sometimes, although I am not really doing it here on Ricochet, because others in the debate will be influenced by the argument. If it is sharp enough and yet cool enough, in the sense of lack of heat or personal animus, that it can challenge preconceptions. I am not young and naive anymore and hopefully not yet addled. I spend a lot of time amongst young millennial’s and Gen Z folks because of my work. Many are whip smart, but completely maleducated. I have a responsibility, which I had been avoiding til recently, to attempt to correct some of their education. I am working on cultivating patience, and serenity in my arguments. Trying to engage with Gary’s arguments while retaining my calm and hopefully not resorting to the personal is part of me honing my craft. I am under no illusions I’ll be able to sway him or really anyone here. I may however be able to change the point of view of one of my younger colleagues, or at least plant a few seeds.
I’m pointing out you have no answer to the fact that you state the Laptop is Russian disinformation, without any evidence to support that, and yet the DNI and FBI have stated categorically it’s not and it’s authentic, and even the WSJ wants Biden to address it, something you specifically mentioned.
If the laptop is true, and even the Biden people have not disputed that, because they can’t, your man is one of the most corrupt politicians in American history and essentially runs a Mafia like crime family involving his brother Joe and son Hunter.
Because it’s got nothing to do with policy. He has a monomaniacal hatred of Trump and that tops any rational policies that Trump has delivered on.
I am going to repeat Mr Robbins words since he will not respond, for all to see including non members since this is main feed.
He continues to dismiss the Laptop as Russian disinformation
DNI John Ratcliffe says info on Hunter Biden laptop isn’t Russian disinformation
Oct 19,2020
FBI Says Hunter Biden Laptop Not Russian Disinformation
The FBI has possession of the Hunter Biden laptop referenced in the New York Post reporting and has determined the laptop is not a Russian disinformation effort and the emails as reported in the media are “authentic,” Fox News reported Tuesday.
WSJ Editorial Board: Joe Biden Must Answer Questions About Hunter Biden and China
Again quoting MrRobbins
“People I have spoken to already believe that the so-called “Hunter Biden laptop” is a Russian plant, and thus a Trump hoax. Unless the story breaks into the MSM, or at least the WSJ, I agree.
The evidence is the man Mr Robbins self proclaimed “Reagan Republican®” supports, the person he is are working hard to elect, who he has donated hundreds if not thousands of dollars to, is one of the most corrupt Vice Presidents and Senators in the history of the United States, who runs a crime family involving his brother and son, profiting in the tens of millions from this corruption.
When Joe Biden sits down with foreign leaders the American people aren’t at the table they are on the menu.
Or they are wearing peril-sensitive glasses The type that opaque whenever something that challenges one’s assumptions appear.
It’s too bad people in the medical profession are afraid, and it’s understandable since they’re on the front lines. However. What would be a reasonable expectation for the President’s actions under the circumstances? It’s called the “novel” coronavirus for a reason.
I’m sure President Trump made mistakes early on, because I’m sure everyone made mistakes — or would have if they’d been in charge — when circumstances are such that nobody knows nuthin. Should we hold medical professionals accountable for the likely excess deaths they caused by using ventilators?
From my admittedly sketchy memory of Larry Arnn’s definition of what a statesman is and isn’t: a statesman is not an expert on every subject. An expert is necessarily limited to his subject of expertise and lacks the big picture. A statesman listens to experts from the affected fields of interest (in the case of coronavirus, this goes way beyond medical and includes economic, social, constitutional, international relations, . . .), weighs the options and makes his decisions. This is leadership. And it’s my opinion President Trump has done a stellar job under these novel circumstances. The very fact that he stayed within constitutional bounds and let states decide how to handle the crisis is remarkable and to be commended. I’m certain almost every other president from either party would have taken the opportunity to seize power not enumerated in the Constitution. They would likely have become the authoritarians Trump is so often accused of being.
And if this is about him not wearing or promoting masks sufficiently . . . I got nuthin’. I think nothing will overcome the irrational fear of a (hopefully someday) maskless society. We can’t live like this. This is not living as full human beings.
You know, there’s a happy medium between ” I’m going to completely ignore this and pretend nothing is happening” and “full blown panic”. Most medical people are in the rational position of “healthy respect for a new infection”. Most of us advocate reasonable actions, like wearing masks in public places and keeping a reasonable distance when possible. But thanks to the idiot politicization of an epidemic by both sides, reasonable actions are somehow unreasonable.
I agree about the happy medium. And I’m hopeful most medical people fall into that range. But, if they’re suggesting that Trump has been uniquely awful in his response, or that Biden and the Democrats would be better? I don’t think that’s rational.
Here in Colorado, we have a mask mandate. And our numbers are spiking. People are congregating in bars and restaurants (for now, but not for long) and wear masks as a kind of talisman. The emphasis on mask wearing has become a kind of religious faith in their efficacy — no matter how poorly fabricated the mask is or how improperly worn.