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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
My guess is there will be no lawsuit for slander. As public persons, they will have a difficult time in court:
” However, if the court concludes that a plaintiff is either a limited or general public figure, the plaintiff must prove “clearly and convincingly” that the alleged defamatory statement was made with ‘actual malice’—that is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not”.
But my heart says GO FOT IT! At least make them pay big time to defend themselves.
Considering where and when the photos came from, how could it not be “actual malice?” That combined with their many public utterances of their opinion of the Trumps.
Speaking of lawsuits, I found it interesting to learn in Viva Frei’s Vlag that New York made “revenge porn” illegal, and such legislation could backfire on Borat’s little prank on Giuliani. (Pertinent part starts at around 4:00)
What did you think I meant? My point was it’s a new virus that no one’s ever had to deal with before. Or, in other words, nobody knows nuthin’ and we’re going to make a bunch of mistakes until we sort it out.
You used “novel” twice in the same comment, and the second time seemed to me at least to have further implications besides just “new.” So I wanted to make it clear that “novel” when used as “novel coronavirus” doesn’t have the same meaning as might be assumed the other time you used “novel.”
Garnish their incomes.
That’s far easier for government agencies like the IRS, than for private plaintiffs.
Also there are a lot of ways around it, especially for “wealthy” people like Rick Wilson. They could, for example, start another company that pays all of their expenses, with a “salary” of $1/year or whatever. So in a few million years of garnishing that $1 salary, the judgement is paid off.
You make me notice that Trumpers have a happy sense of humor. Can you imagine Romney or Republicans making a joke about “binders of women”? Or self-effacing humor about John McCain (at least Palin made the pit bull with lipstick joke). Or laughing along with an insult about Bush?
I know but keeping him poor was a pleasant thought. Because that is apparently all he cares about.
Well at least if the Dems win, they might take care of that part for us.
I think it’s a characteristic of healthy people that they have a sense of humor about themselves. Back in the 1990s when identity politics was getting more irritating some “native Americans” complained about team names like Braves, Indians, et. c. Their main line of attack was to ask “how would you like it if …” So, the Caucasians came up with these t-shirts and sold quite a few. There were a couple others, with one showing a guy in a grey flannel suit, wearing a hat and carrying a briefcase.
Every thang’s gonna be all white!
My recollection is that it wasn’t the actual “native americans” raising a ruckus about that, it was the white lefty apologists, same as now with BLM.
White lefty apologists always claim to speak for the minority-of-the-moment, and somehow they find a member or two of the group to be center stage. At least they did in the 1990s.
I suppose there are always a few. Probably the kind Dennis Miller refers to as the ones who can’t get out of bed in the morning if they find out there’s a sport team somewhere with an “Indian” name. But most didn’t seem to have a problem with teams names about Bravery, etc.
You know that plan that the former Vice President wrote? The one he got his longtime buddies in the legislature to write up and vote on and put into place? What a great plan!
I’m from California. I didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 but I will vote for him in 2020. Without equivocation and hesitation. One of the easiest decisions in my life.
Also, I did not vote for Hillary in 2016.