Harris-Trump debate: the stakes could not be higher
REMINDER: Debate "watch party"/live chat tonight at 9 pm ET
I wrote the following on June 22, 2024, the day before the Biden-Trump debate:
I’ve updated it for tonight’s debate between Vice President Harris and Donald Trump:
President Biden Vice President Harris will not be showing up for a debate, but rather a showdown. There is nothing to debate — only a dire menace to be confronted.
Donald Trump is an abomination. The confrontation is long past due. According to Axios, the Biden campaign is built around the conviction that:
Joe Biden is a great president, and great presidents get reelected.Democracy is the core issue, and January 6 is the defining event illustrating the danger of a rising extremism.
Some years ago, I said the following while appearing on MSNBC:
Fascism rose in the 1930s not because it was strong, but because democracy was weak.
Trump is running a campaign targeting Biden Harris as a faux Black woman and communist guerrilla leader. weak, feeble, senile and corrupt. It is merciless, relentless and unrebutted. The time has come when the smear will be rebutted or confirmed. The singular issue at hand is strength.
Let’s imagine that President Biden’s strategy of placing democracy at the center of the campaign is the right thing to do. (It wasn’t, but freedom is.) It should not be a huge leap to understand that the defense of democracy cannot be feeble, absent or decrepit. Instead, it must be passionate, vigorous, righteous and strong. The American position must be asserted with confidence and conviction, but also with some measure of eloquence and purpose.
A few days ago, there was a despicable vote in the United States Congress that sought to desecrate Arlington National Cemetery with the raising of a Confederate Memorial depicting a treasonous soldier kissing his baby goodbye, held in the arms of his enslaved “mammy” with his personal slave behind him, ready to head off to destroy the United States. There is no need to debate any of this. What this requires is condemnation and confrontation because the issue isn’t right or left. It is right and wrong.
(Since then, the MAGA policy of desecration at Arlington National Cemetery has taken off and gone to the next level.)
The American people love a good showdown. President Biden Vice President Harris should get that he she is walking into a non-lethal version of the OK Corral, and he she best be ready for a fight.
The whole country and whole world is about to examine Joe Biden Kamala Harris very closely. The American people are going to see what Xi, Putin, and every other world leader sees. The hour has come when Joe Biden Kamala Harris will either demolish Donald Trump’s smears, or be overcome by them. The stakes of this debate are enormous. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the most important televised political event between presidential candidates possibly ever.
Donald Trump is a grave threat towards democracy, but he is running against feebleness change and freedom, while simultaneously playing the victim for a coalition of malice and grievance that believes in personal responsibility — like Matt Gaetz believes in the age of consent. It is an outrageous spectacle, but for the vast majority of people, feebleness change and freedom is are a threshold issues and a metaphor for the state of American democracy. The MAGA proposition in the end is that both Biden and democracy America and freedom are feeble. This is what the CNN ABC showdown is singularly about. It is an old-fashioned showdown about the greatest idea in human history, which is the United States of America.
President Joe Biden Vice President Harris is called to defend the republic against its greatest threat since the Confederacy and fascism. He She must face down a determined domestic enemy who betrayed his constitutional oath, and assaulted the peaceful transition of power in a coup attempt that must be rebuked, lest we lose our freedom. It is as simple as that.
The stakes could not be higher.
Join our debate “watch party” tonight at 9:00 pm ET
Starting at 9:00 pm ET tonight, during the debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and the convicted felon and adjudicated rapist Donald Trump, I will be hosting another debate “watch party” exclusively for paid subscribers. If you aren’t already a paid subscriber, I hope you’ll consider upgrading your subscription to participate:
Once you’ve joined (and for those who are already paid subscribers), upload the Substack app so you don’t miss it:
Here are the instructions on how to use Substack Chat so that you can participate. Look forward to having you join and participate!
God help us! Please let her knock it out of the park and knock him down off the pedestal his lies have created.
“Fascism rose in the 1930s not because it was strong, but because democracy was weak.”
Never more prescient or sagacious words, Steve. Democracy dies due to apathy and malnourishment by our citizens and institutions. And our only natural enemy is from within; and the reason no nation will take us on militarily. Instead, they try to sow chaos and confusion within our nation, with mixed results.
Tonight will be a shit show. Trump’s only chance is to sow even more confusion and chaos by using information overload; or a “mind meld” that will make it difficult for Kamala to respond in the allotted timeframe, since he intends to throw enough BS against the wall, hoping Kamala has difficulty refuting most of the nonsensical allegations and lies.
And let’s face it, there will be no fact checking, and of course, the MSM will give brownie points to Trump just for showing up. How quaint!
Personally, I wonder whether the NYT’s will have their own podium on stage to act as the Trump “whisperer”; disseminating Trump’s incomprehensible, unhinged mixed word salads so the audience can fully understand what Trump clearly doesn’t? I wouldn’t be surprised if they do since the Time’s has become nothing more than a sad and pathetic apologist for Trump and a morally bankrupt party of no ideas, or really bad ideas.
That said, let’s just hope Trump continues to melt down and the MSM starts to treat Trump as he deserves: with complete and utter contempt. This race shouldn’t even be close. Trump doesn’t even understand basic economic principles like free trade and tariffs. He will run this country straight into the ground. And sadly, he has an entire party and media ecosystem willing to carry his lies and propaganda into this election! I truly feel bad for all the politicians and media personalities that have sold their souls to a false prophet, and even worse human being!
Be afraid, be very afraid!…:)