The debate this evening will be historic. America will be watching, and so will the world. The Warning will be hosting a debate “watch party” exclusively for paid subscribers. We’ll start at 8:45 pm. If you aren’t already a paid subscriber, I hope you’ll consider upgrading your subscription to participate:
It should be obvious to all Americans that Trump violated that oath by plotting illegally to remain in office and when that failed, ordering a last ditch violent insurrection to accomplish that goal.
He has corrupted the judiciary with the appointment of judges like Aileen Cannon, who certainly knows that Trump illegally took 1000's of government documents with him to Mar a Lago, many top secret, yet she is employing every delay possible in the hopes Trump will win in November and the trial will never take place. She has scandalous accomplices on SCOTUS also delaying the trial by putting off, as long as possible, a decision on the ridiculous notion that a sitting president can not be charged with a crime committed in pursuance of his duties while in office.
Let's end Trump/MAGA's nine year reign of terror this November. Let's take our government back from the corrupt liars and con men trying to control all of us through establishment of an American theocracy.
How is it that everyday American evangelicals don't see that they are pawns being used by powerful, greedy, and unscrupulous "clergy" and politicians out to enrich themselves, most of whom defy the actual moral teachings of the New Testament.
Lauren Boebert won her primary. Here is a carpetbagging Congressperson with no morals, values, or intelligence — and she wins. That is as sad as it gets.
And in my state, the misogynist homophobe running for Governor said he does not care what people think about his statements because Jesus is on the throne. He is doing well in polls and remains popular here.
I’d say as a society we have big problems, and a good outcome for Biden will not change a large and perhaps election-deciding population that prefer Fascism, stupidity, ignorance, and grievance.
Found out last night we will be moving to Boberts district in Jan. Horrifying!!!! Too late to vote there, but cannot wait to visit my new “congresswoman”, or whatever she goes by these days.
Best of luck. I’ve mostly gotten used to living in a state where the sitting Lieutenant Governor said we were “absolutely” a better country when women could not vote. It is horrifying and I try to live with it.
Boebert won because the four or five other primary candidates split the GOP vote. None were willing to quit the race thereby giving her only one or two opponents. Perhaps if she keeps up her performative “work” while in office the CO GOP will wise up and run one candidate against her. I’ve red elsewhere that her district is solid red, but who know maybe a strong Dem can win.
I’m not a GOPer but I wish Bieber had been removed in the primary. We have a not-quite similar situation with Dems candidates for CD1 in AZ. There are six Dems running in the primary to unseat Rep. Schweikert. I wish there were fewer because there’s only so much money people have to donate to political campaigns, especially when an incumbent is sitting on money.
Christofascists project as much as the rest of GQP and conservatives. They claim the problem in America is not enough Christianity but that is exactly what is dividing us as they seek dominion, which of course is contrary to our founding principles
On Boebert, many of us marked our primary ballots as best we could, in Colorado, to vote AGAINST her. But Douglas County is hard GOP, and she had MAGA money and there were many competitors. AND she took Ken Buck’s congressional seat. Ken was a real decent man who had had enough of the madness. 🤢🤮😣😖😤
Didn't Boebert move from CD3, which she barely won in 2022, to CD4 because it was a higher percentage of registered Rs there? She knew she had little chance in her previous district.
I appreciate the efforts. My point with Boebert is similar to my concerns about Mark Robinson here in North Carolina: we don’t have enough good people voting to stop this insanity.
My nerves. My blood pressure. I'm giving this one to God folks. I'm praying hard. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 Good essay Steve. 45 out of 700,000,000. Such a ginormous Honor Trump takes completely for granted and acts like he's entitled because he's Donald J. (F'ing)Trump. So sick. How did we get so sick?! I pray we can heal as a country when he is dead and gone. 🙏🏻💔🇺🇸💙
I am amazed at how much nastiness my preschool grandsons have learned already just via the access corporate MS Media gives this vile man for FREE.
What I am glad to see are the number of GenZ organizations that have risen to oppose him. I whole heartedly support them as they have more skin in the game than many of us who are older. I will be doing my part as a senior-letter writing, calling, etc. but please support this younger generation. They’re more active and determined than you think.
Yes, Steve, this debate is indeed a mirror that will both reflect the self-image of the American people and compel their self-reflection and introspection about who we are and want to be as a nation and society. Never in the republic’s history, save the Civil War, has the pristine clarity of perception and thought been more exigent, existential and portentous.
Hysterical, Francis -- a veritable psychic pantload. The orange dodo bird is the antithesis of Hegel’s owl of Minerva, the symbol of knowledge and wisdom, since it is always in flight from reality and truth.
Tonight, President Biden will stare down the face of consummate evil. Let there be no question, this is a battle between good and evil. Donald J. Trump is the devil in spades and his Republican allies and supporters nurture the darkness and destruction that Trump wants to unleash across our country and the world at large. The comic strip character Pogo remarked, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
Short term memory loss is a treacherous and insidious, self-betraying phenomenon. I wonder if all this week long prep is setting Joe Biden up. So many replies, so many issues, so many possible counters covered. And in the now, under such pressure, will he struggle on point to recall just what should be recalled? Short-term memory loss of recall does not warn, mediate or present clues--it slams and separates like a cleaver. It is one step over the cliff, not noticed until too late. It sells out. More than any other fault of old-age dementia, it is the most toxic in the real world. This election in many ways posits established rational discernment and structured accountability against the current care-free, cavalier immediacy of spontaeneous performance. Progress? This debate seems to resemble the juiced-up, more violent spectacles of the Roman arena just before the fall of the empire. Biden, thumbs up, Trump, thumbs down.
Tonight is a night of contrasts. Trump will be a fire hose of lies, misinformation and nonsense. Biden will be steady but slow.
I heard there won’t be any real time fact checking. That’s nonsense.
Trump, is a total coward. He creates excuses for losing ahead of time knowing he is a fish out of water intellectually.
Trump’s prep was a round of golf which confirmed that his ignorance and stupidity will be on display. Roy Cohn his mentor told him to always attack. Trump has no attention span to learn. He can’t study because he doesn’t have the discipline to study. That’s why his briefings as President, instead of being 50 pages , would be 2 or 3 and his name would have to be in every paragraph for him to read it.
If Biden is controlled and emotionless then he will fulfill the rights narrative that he is slow and fragile. If animated, it’s the drugs.
But this presidential campaign is more about perception than ideology or issues.
It’s a shame that we have a person as vile as Trump even running for president.
But he couldn’t be leading in the poll without his useful idiots and the billionaires, posed to take control of the government ( they pay Trump to be nothing more than a figurehead. If he steps out of line, Trump will be ousted . Currently the billionaires are deciding who will be VP).
It will be someone totally corrupt and will do as he is told. I’m betting JD Vance.
I don’t know why there wasn’t real time fact checking. The ONLY way to deal with Mr. Marmalade is to have recipients and when he spews his crap, fact check him.
I think Joe is up to the task, has prepped extensively, and let's face it, Trump is an easy target with his misdeeds, lies, and recent legal losses. It would be nice to see Joe attack him to anger him and then he'll let the unhinged ranting out for all to see.
For the last two weeks before the 2016 election, Trump acted relatively normal, far more low key than he behaved up till that point. I am sure Chris and Suzy are pushing him in that direction now. What if that's who shows up tonight, and people believe it ? This frightens me about tonight above all else.
As a Canadian, I just want to say God help Americans. Not in a traditional religious sense, but in the sense that so many MAGA Americans are infected by the vile sickness of Donald Trump that those of you who are still free need all the help you can get.
And my hope is that the debate this evening will expose Trump as the sick and evil man he really is.
Because if not, American democracy has very little chance of surviving.
In a WAPO poll of swing state voters, when asked who be better at defending democracy, 44 percent said Trump, 33 percent said Biden. Sad. And embarrassing.
I have said it before and I am saying it again. This kind of inexplicable ignorance, polls showing results that fly in the face of facts all Americans should know, is giving me a pounding headache. There is NO figuring it out other than acknowledging that America's culture, educational system, media, and government, are failing institutions and we are in grave danger. Too many journalists are not doing their job or are in the pockets of billionaires or outright fascists and bigots themselves.
It should be obvious to all Americans that Trump violated that oath by plotting illegally to remain in office and when that failed, ordering a last ditch violent insurrection to accomplish that goal.
He has corrupted the judiciary with the appointment of judges like Aileen Cannon, who certainly knows that Trump illegally took 1000's of government documents with him to Mar a Lago, many top secret, yet she is employing every delay possible in the hopes Trump will win in November and the trial will never take place. She has scandalous accomplices on SCOTUS also delaying the trial by putting off, as long as possible, a decision on the ridiculous notion that a sitting president can not be charged with a crime committed in pursuance of his duties while in office.
Let's end Trump/MAGA's nine year reign of terror this November. Let's take our government back from the corrupt liars and con men trying to control all of us through establishment of an American theocracy.
How is it that everyday American evangelicals don't see that they are pawns being used by powerful, greedy, and unscrupulous "clergy" and politicians out to enrich themselves, most of whom defy the actual moral teachings of the New Testament.
What should be "obvious" to some is oblivious to the 35%.
I forgot the wor FORMER, as in a "FORMER" sitting president.
Spot on Anthony. That’s what we the voters must do
Well said Anthony!! 👏👏👏
How can Trump swear to uphold the Constitution when he’s publicly stated he will tear it down?
And sadly, 60% of Americans believe Trump would defend our democracy better than Biden. Right-wing propaganda is working…:)
Half the country's gone fucking insane.
I thought that was 35%. The 60% may be among Republicans; not the entire electorate.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/26/biden-trump-swing-state-poll-democracy/
It’s actually 44 to 33 amongst swing state voters. I was wrong on the percentage, but it’s still double digits.
That’s an indictment of American ideals!
Where did that poll come from Robert? Seems more like something The Onion would write.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/26/biden-trump-swing-state-poll-democracy/
It’s actually 44-33% of swing state voters. Still double digits in trump’s favor.
WAPO paywall. 🤬
Sorry…:)
That's a very good question Mike!! One I wish someone would ask him. Grrrrr.
Lauren Boebert won her primary. Here is a carpetbagging Congressperson with no morals, values, or intelligence — and she wins. That is as sad as it gets.
And in my state, the misogynist homophobe running for Governor said he does not care what people think about his statements because Jesus is on the throne. He is doing well in polls and remains popular here.
I’d say as a society we have big problems, and a good outcome for Biden will not change a large and perhaps election-deciding population that prefer Fascism, stupidity, ignorance, and grievance.
That's as good a synopsis of the real problem as I've ever read.
I try to remain optimistic, but I look at certain indicators and I don’t like what I see.
Ditto.
Agreed. This election scares me to death.
Found out last night we will be moving to Boberts district in Jan. Horrifying!!!! Too late to vote there, but cannot wait to visit my new “congresswoman”, or whatever she goes by these days.
Best of luck. I’ve mostly gotten used to living in a state where the sitting Lieutenant Governor said we were “absolutely” a better country when women could not vote. It is horrifying and I try to live with it.
Coming to Douglas County, CaliWyo1?
Boebert won because the four or five other primary candidates split the GOP vote. None were willing to quit the race thereby giving her only one or two opponents. Perhaps if she keeps up her performative “work” while in office the CO GOP will wise up and run one candidate against her. I’ve red elsewhere that her district is solid red, but who know maybe a strong Dem can win.
You do a good job of explaining about Boebert, Sandy. Groan 😩
I’m not a GOPer but I wish Bieber had been removed in the primary. We have a not-quite similar situation with Dems candidates for CD1 in AZ. There are six Dems running in the primary to unseat Rep. Schweikert. I wish there were fewer because there’s only so much money people have to donate to political campaigns, especially when an incumbent is sitting on money.
Christofascists project as much as the rest of GQP and conservatives. They claim the problem in America is not enough Christianity but that is exactly what is dividing us as they seek dominion, which of course is contrary to our founding principles
On Boebert, many of us marked our primary ballots as best we could, in Colorado, to vote AGAINST her. But Douglas County is hard GOP, and she had MAGA money and there were many competitors. AND she took Ken Buck’s congressional seat. Ken was a real decent man who had had enough of the madness. 🤢🤮😣😖😤
Didn't Boebert move from CD3, which she barely won in 2022, to CD4 because it was a higher percentage of registered Rs there? She knew she had little chance in her previous district.
I appreciate the efforts. My point with Boebert is similar to my concerns about Mark Robinson here in North Carolina: we don’t have enough good people voting to stop this insanity.
My nerves. My blood pressure. I'm giving this one to God folks. I'm praying hard. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 Good essay Steve. 45 out of 700,000,000. Such a ginormous Honor Trump takes completely for granted and acts like he's entitled because he's Donald J. (F'ing)Trump. So sick. How did we get so sick?! I pray we can heal as a country when he is dead and gone. 🙏🏻💔🇺🇸💙
Lisa, read Heather Cox Richardson’s take on the debate.
I read it. Won't change my mind. Time for Joe to go.
I am amazed at how much nastiness my preschool grandsons have learned already just via the access corporate MS Media gives this vile man for FREE.
What I am glad to see are the number of GenZ organizations that have risen to oppose him. I whole heartedly support them as they have more skin in the game than many of us who are older. I will be doing my part as a senior-letter writing, calling, etc. but please support this younger generation. They’re more active and determined than you think.
Yes, Steve, this debate is indeed a mirror that will both reflect the self-image of the American people and compel their self-reflection and introspection about who we are and want to be as a nation and society. Never in the republic’s history, save the Civil War, has the pristine clarity of perception and thought been more exigent, existential and portentous.
Is it too much to ask for Vonschitzenpants to implode or explode in full view of those of us watching? Asking for a friend.
Hysterical, Francis -- a veritable psychic pantload. The orange dodo bird is the antithesis of Hegel’s owl of Minerva, the symbol of knowledge and wisdom, since it is always in flight from reality and truth.
Had not thought of Hegel and the Owl of Minerva since college days. Appropriate.
Tonight, President Biden will stare down the face of consummate evil. Let there be no question, this is a battle between good and evil. Donald J. Trump is the devil in spades and his Republican allies and supporters nurture the darkness and destruction that Trump wants to unleash across our country and the world at large. The comic strip character Pogo remarked, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
Did you mean Pogo who said “we have met the enemy and he is us”
Yes. I edited my original post. I caught that I had omitted Pogo and corrected it. Thanks for the heads up.
😑
An old and beloved teacher of mine posted on Facebook that he was opposed to Trump because he was opposed to evil. That was it. To the point.
I’m not a young person and many of my old teachers are no longer here. I love my old teachers and never forget the truth tellers that they were.
Short term memory loss is a treacherous and insidious, self-betraying phenomenon. I wonder if all this week long prep is setting Joe Biden up. So many replies, so many issues, so many possible counters covered. And in the now, under such pressure, will he struggle on point to recall just what should be recalled? Short-term memory loss of recall does not warn, mediate or present clues--it slams and separates like a cleaver. It is one step over the cliff, not noticed until too late. It sells out. More than any other fault of old-age dementia, it is the most toxic in the real world. This election in many ways posits established rational discernment and structured accountability against the current care-free, cavalier immediacy of spontaeneous performance. Progress? This debate seems to resemble the juiced-up, more violent spectacles of the Roman arena just before the fall of the empire. Biden, thumbs up, Trump, thumbs down.
Tonight is a night of contrasts. Trump will be a fire hose of lies, misinformation and nonsense. Biden will be steady but slow.
I heard there won’t be any real time fact checking. That’s nonsense.
Trump, is a total coward. He creates excuses for losing ahead of time knowing he is a fish out of water intellectually.
Trump’s prep was a round of golf which confirmed that his ignorance and stupidity will be on display. Roy Cohn his mentor told him to always attack. Trump has no attention span to learn. He can’t study because he doesn’t have the discipline to study. That’s why his briefings as President, instead of being 50 pages , would be 2 or 3 and his name would have to be in every paragraph for him to read it.
If Biden is controlled and emotionless then he will fulfill the rights narrative that he is slow and fragile. If animated, it’s the drugs.
But this presidential campaign is more about perception than ideology or issues.
It’s a shame that we have a person as vile as Trump even running for president.
But he couldn’t be leading in the poll without his useful idiots and the billionaires, posed to take control of the government ( they pay Trump to be nothing more than a figurehead. If he steps out of line, Trump will be ousted . Currently the billionaires are deciding who will be VP).
It will be someone totally corrupt and will do as he is told. I’m betting JD Vance.
I don’t know why there wasn’t real time fact checking. The ONLY way to deal with Mr. Marmalade is to have recipients and when he spews his crap, fact check him.
The fact that people support him is astounding.
I expect it will be Putin’s toadie: J.D. Vance. We all know who is calling the shots for MAGA.
I think Joe is up to the task, has prepped extensively, and let's face it, Trump is an easy target with his misdeeds, lies, and recent legal losses. It would be nice to see Joe attack him to anger him and then he'll let the unhinged ranting out for all to see.
For the last two weeks before the 2016 election, Trump acted relatively normal, far more low key than he behaved up till that point. I am sure Chris and Suzy are pushing him in that direction now. What if that's who shows up tonight, and people believe it ? This frightens me about tonight above all else.
If he comes across as low key without the grievances and snide comments and names, he would probably help himself.
I agree. That's what I'm afraid of.
Who are Chris and Suzy— his political consultants? I’m guessing….
Yes, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles. I couldn't remember their last names, and I was too lazy to look it up.
As a Canadian, I just want to say God help Americans. Not in a traditional religious sense, but in the sense that so many MAGA Americans are infected by the vile sickness of Donald Trump that those of you who are still free need all the help you can get.
And my hope is that the debate this evening will expose Trump as the sick and evil man he really is.
Because if not, American democracy has very little chance of surviving.
In a WAPO poll of swing state voters, when asked who be better at defending democracy, 44 percent said Trump, 33 percent said Biden. Sad. And embarrassing.
I have said it before and I am saying it again. This kind of inexplicable ignorance, polls showing results that fly in the face of facts all Americans should know, is giving me a pounding headache. There is NO figuring it out other than acknowledging that America's culture, educational system, media, and government, are failing institutions and we are in grave danger. Too many journalists are not doing their job or are in the pockets of billionaires or outright fascists and bigots themselves.
In biblical terms, "Woe is us!"
Well said.