Up To Date With Ethan Callender Entry 8: A Rough Patch

 Up To Date With Ethan Callender Entry 8: A Rough Patch

On Tuesday, September 29, 2020, a Presidential debate happened. Sure, some name-calling was inevitable, but surely Trump and Biden would stick to talking about policy, right? About that. Last night’s debate was absolutely miserable. Jake Tapper from CNN went so far as to call it “a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a trainwreck.” In fact, I had only two different reactions the whole time: either I laughed in shock or facepalmed in humiliation. Very little of anything substantial happened at that debate, but there were still highlights, although just for the wrong reasons.

We begin with a discussion on the state of the Supreme Court, which only stayed on track for two minutes at best before violently derailing, setting the tone for what was to come. Trump pointed out tht his party held both the Presidency and Senate, saying that “elections have consequences” and that his nominee for the Supreme Court should be confirmed. However, there are two wrinkles to this. Those are the facts that the election is about a month away and that under somewhat similar circumstances, the GOP Senate blocked Merrick Garland from the Court for nearly a year! Then Biden brought up that the woman Trump nominated is against the Affordable Care Act, and Trump proceeded to take the conversation wildly off topic. Of course, Biden made mistakes like that, too, and the original topic was no longer being brought up by the end of the segment. The moderator even mentioned that to both of the candidates. My message to them after this segment is… 

Next up came the discussion about COVID-19, but before that, Trump tried to label Biden a socialist in regards to his position on healthcare, surprising many Democrats who should’ve seen this coming ages ago. One of the main elements of the debate was Trump interrupting Biden like there weren’t two more debates on the schedule, and this is where that really started. Biden then responded by calling Trump a “clown.” If unprovoked, that would probably have lost Biden the whole debate, especially because there was no policy linked to the insult. However, Biden obviously felt provoked by Trump calling him a socialist when he has a 40+ year record of centrism. Once the COVID discussion actually happened, it was more of the same idiotic rambling. But then, Trump launched an attack on Biden’s intelligence, which is rich coming from a man who once “sarcastically” suggested bleach injections to cure COVID in a press conference. Just saying, a press conference has to be played dead serious, or else people won’t get the message.

Let’s skip a while now, up until Trump starts attacking Biden’s sons, one of whom (Beau) is no longer with us. He brings up the ‘Hunter Biden Worked For Ukraine’ trope again, and Biden also has defend the deceased Beau Biden from a morally bankrupt attack on his discharge from the military. The moral bankruptcy here comes from Trump’s past issues with “bone spurs” (READ: Draft Deferrments from Vietnam), which meant that he actively avoided military service. Trump seems to subscribe to the Patches O’Houlihan School of Dodging Both Balls And Consequences, as shown by this meme.

Finally, we get to the big bombshell moment that the moderator just passed over. That moment

came when Trump was handed the easiest debate question of his life. All he had to do was say he

denounced white supremacy. He could’ve even lied about it, and many would have believed it.

Instead, he blamed “radical leftists” such as Antifa (Which is an ideological coalition and not an actual

organization) for the violence. He even told the Proud Boys, who are basically a prominent far-right

street gang, to “stand back and stand by.” Out of all the viable options Trump had, he chose the one

that wasn’t anywhere near a good idea. Well, the only one aside from outright admitting he was a white

supremacist, anyway. He just hid and deflected, proving his complete lack of self-awareness and fueling

much speculation about his views on the white supremacist movement. It was the climax of the night,

and was what I feel sealed the deal for Biden to “win” the debate. In short, Biden won because Trump

gave a master-class on how not to appeal to any remotely undecided voters. After this, Biden will

probably get a lot of sympathy votes, and I thank Trump for this because of his embarrassing

self-sabotage. We are not out of the woods yet, but we can see an open field through the trees.

Now, we just pray we don’t get dragged back in. I leave with these words to Trump. You’re about as

useful as a poopy-flavored lollipop.