I'm hoping that by not responding to his childish taunts or by saying things to him that she knows will get under his skin that he has a total psychotic break and starts ranting, yelling and melting down completely...in public, on tv, in front of a live national audience. A setting that cannot be sanewashed by the NYT or the WaPo or CNN. In spite of the fact that tomorrow's headline will probably be that Harris didn't talk about policy or distance herself enough from Biden.
While a full psychotic break would be delicious, I doubt it will happen. As Stephanie Grisham has noted from her time as his communications director, he can be disciplined when he needs to be.
I take heart in the fact that no one but the criminally insane will watch the debate and decide to vote for Trump, whereas it's likely that some who are just beginning to pay attention will see enough substance from Harris to give her their vote.
As you point out, we'll see what the media decide to make of it. I found it interesting that there was a big article on the front page of today's NYTimes questioning Trump's mental fitness. A fig leaf, perhaps (Hey! Just in time for the debate! We criticized Trump!!), or maybe, just maybe, they're feeling the winds of change and have lost enough subscribers to adjust course. Fingers and toes crossed.
Good word: sane-washed. My terms are: false characterization due to existential fear of being labeled bias. Hence NYT goes for blatant mischaracterization.
I like the questions Lucian suggested. I would add a few more, "Aside from the Australian businessman, to whom did you show the classified documents that you took illegally to your Mar Al Lago resort? Was one of those persons Putin? Was it one of his agents? Or perhaps, when was the last time you talked personally with your friend, Vladimir Putin? Or, where do you plan to live after you are sentenced? Or, did Vladimir Putin ever offer you something while you were in the White House? Money? A site for another Trump tower? Withholding of information that would be embarrassing to anyone in your family?
Imagine what his abnormal behavior would look like......or not. I only have 2 Xanax left, that's not going to be enough, hence I'm skipping the debate.
“Donald Trump is treated every single day by the various media that cover the presidential campaign as if he is a serious man.” The two principal reasons Felonious Trump won in ‘16 = the media gave him $5 billion in exposure by covering his Nuremberg rallies in full (I.e., treating him like a serious candidate) and he had been on TELEVISION! To voters of a certain age, television celebrity equates to divine certification. (TV stardom = serious person.)
Swell route map. For non-geezers, before GPS, even before the federal interstates were built, AAA members could tell their their local branch where they wanted to go, say Philly to Chicago, and in a week or so get a printed fold-out booklet detailing what were then turn-by-turns through cities and towns. (Pittsburgh, I remember, as I recited from the booklet to mom, the driver, was particularly complicated.) Yeah, Lucian, you're more than correct that these are not "debates." (Bona fides: I was president of my school's debate group in 11th grade.) Side-by-side candidate "gotcha" interviews, perhaps. And you're certainly correct in calling for the Vice President to use dime (the old "nickel," adjusted for inflation) words, like "gay," rather than the dollar "LGBTQ." And "there he goes again" will be perfect to accentuate T***p's already visible state of mental detumescence.
Lucian, you are right on point here. Rick Wilson and Ruth Ben Ghiat also very insightful and worth reading on strategy that meets the moment.
I call these cage matches now – it’s TV entertainment and little else. Trump’s only job is to project strength. Easily accomplished against Joe. I really, really, really hope Kamala’s debate prep isn’t based on countering the lies, threats and torrent of horseshit with policy points, as Joe’s apparently was. Ridiculing Trump with grace and generosity for the people watching is all she needs to do.
Next, please drill down on Kamala's education, careers, and life experiences, then stack them up to those you cited.
Could you follow that request with how those you cited stack up w/Kamala's time on political debate stages and inside Courtroom hearings?
Respect is not a mere word in the communities of color. The idea some people feel they have some birthright to tell others how they should do this or that, or say this or that is based upon what? It would be different if Kamala requested counsel from PersonA, B, C, D. (...).
This is 2024. Still amazes me that people haven't learned and unlearned much of anything about WOC. They ain't no female House Negro who needs to be told what to do and how to do it by any person.
Certainly not by the likes of Rick Wilson who proudly displays the traitorous CSA battle flag on his beer cooler. Wilson is yt, not even close to being white, never mind someone who has a scintilla of knowledge of how WOC roll.
MOC have long understood (measured in many centuries) a simple fact and rule, take a seat, listen, and watch how a WOC operates. The word for that is respect. Many words capture speaking out of turn and speaking out of school. None of them are good words nor speak well of a person. Keep in mind opinion is the lowest form of hooman knowledge and of hooman intellect.
Again, wrote this with respect and it's not directly solely at you. It's for the non-POC no matter their political leaning. It specifically addresses implicit bias that still is alive, alive-o.
Harris had better beware of what I've recently learned is called "the Gish Gallop." Named after a notorious 19th-century Creationist who regularly overwhelmed his rational opponents with an unending stream of gabble and lies so thick that nothing the other side said ever got through to anyone. There will be no point in Harris trying to counteract the sewage t-Rump will shoot at her through a firehose. Her best response would be uproarious laughter. If there's one thing t-Rump hates, it's being laughed at!
She could laugh and comment something like, "Well, I do have time to address one of those lies." And then pick out the stupidest one of all and give it a one line zinger of a response, as she does so well.
VP Harris is well aware of the Gish Gallop, and the best techniques for dealing with it (love her laugh!). I look forward to seeing the prosecutor at work.
I will share a fantasy. One where we live in a country where people seeking political power come to it from a place of mutual respect and there is a forum for serious discussion about disagreements on policy. Where the underlying norm is that both candidates are competent and want what is best for the country. The media covers what they call a "debate" as if it is a sporting event. "What will be the defining moment?, which candidate gets the most verbal punches in". There will be no serious discussion of the issues that voters care about just a lot of rehearsed talking points. Go back and watch the Nixon, Kennedy debate or even the McCain, Obama debates (which were far less substantive but at least respectful.) and you can witness this. I suspect our modern political discourse began with Lee Atwater advising Papa Bush to forget the issues and just point to Dukakis as a "Card carrying member of the ACLU". That was the rebirth of McCarthyism that resulted in the Frankenstein Trump era. Tonight will have many possible pitfall moments for Harris to lose but none that can possibly be a turning point for Trump. His "Weirdness" has been normalized. The media will write about the importance of this evenings wrestling match. I'm sure it will be entertaining. But it has nothing to do with anything of substance.
I have no advice for VP Harris, nor do I think she needs any. She's got his number, and she's smart, enough so that any rational person listening tonight will be able to compare and realize there is no comparison. It's in her hands. And ours when we vote.
I have a tactical proposal. At some early point he will give her the opportunity to say, ^That is a wierd thing to say. Should I have them bring you a chair so you can sit and nap awhile?^
You naughty man, Lucian Truscott IV — You’ve got me chuckling uncontrollably as I sit here trying to keep quiet in the waiting room at my ophthalmologist’s office.
And laughing at the prospect of what Donald J. Trump might do — should we laugh? Is he too dangerous for us to laugh? Do we DARE to let down our guard and LAUGH at him?
YES! Uproarious laughter is that man’s due! The mainstream media treating him like a serious person since he put himself into the politisphere … that has been our downfall. The man himself did not expect to actually be elected in 2016 — he thought he was burnishing his “brand,” and then he was the “dog that caught the car,” and he actually had to BE the president. The oligarch machine that has been trying to take firm hold the the Republican Party since the Reagan years jumped into action, got behind Trump, and through fawning and manipulation, they’ve solidified their hold.
Egad. I’m so worried. I’m so stressed. I can’t laugh at all this ..
And yet, thanks to you, Mr. Truscott, a little levity has entered the fray.
Yes. Thanks for the chuckles. And time to get back to the work of making sure The Clown Man does not enter the White House again …
While ,yes, she must make it clear her position on choice and a woman's right to choose is diametrically opposed to Trump's she must make it also abundantly clear that it is also the locked in position of just about every GOP candidate and to make sure Roe can be make the law of the land again voters must vote solidly to put Democrats in the House and Senate as well as the White House.
And, she must cut his cajones off on the message of economic prosperity also by simply pointing out that overall economic growth and increased family incomes has always been better under Democratic stewardship and not because of the wasteful trickle down tax cutting policies favored by Republicans. Make sure watchers know he is lying about that also and point out his call for more tax cuts and a reduction in the corporte tax rate from its current 21% to 15% will produce massive deficits.
Harris must cut into the perception, erroneous as it is, that Republican policies are better for the economy. History and statistics prove the contrary. She must win over white working class voters to win this thing and focus on the economy and what her proposals would for the white working class is the path to do that.
Abortion while a powerful argument is a one trick pony dead end with many voters who simply oppose it our of their "priniciple." She must reach them on other issues.
Abortion is health care. Yes, I agree it is paramount to winning the election.
I never thought that I would be on the same team as Dick Cheney, but here we are on team Harris/Walz. As the old saying goes, “Politics makes strange bedfellows.”
My 2 cts "America knows the only thing you want are tax cuts for the rich so they'll pay the millions of dollars in criminal fines against you." Or, "the main thing your administration accomplished was bringing a pandemic to the US and then making the situation worse." Or "your ideas are toxic. Like your behavior towards women."
I'm hoping that by not responding to his childish taunts or by saying things to him that she knows will get under his skin that he has a total psychotic break and starts ranting, yelling and melting down completely...in public, on tv, in front of a live national audience. A setting that cannot be sanewashed by the NYT or the WaPo or CNN. In spite of the fact that tomorrow's headline will probably be that Harris didn't talk about policy or distance herself enough from Biden.
While a full psychotic break would be delicious, I doubt it will happen. As Stephanie Grisham has noted from her time as his communications director, he can be disciplined when he needs to be.
I take heart in the fact that no one but the criminally insane will watch the debate and decide to vote for Trump, whereas it's likely that some who are just beginning to pay attention will see enough substance from Harris to give her their vote.
As you point out, we'll see what the media decide to make of it. I found it interesting that there was a big article on the front page of today's NYTimes questioning Trump's mental fitness. A fig leaf, perhaps (Hey! Just in time for the debate! We criticized Trump!!), or maybe, just maybe, they're feeling the winds of change and have lost enough subscribers to adjust course. Fingers and toes crossed.
I too, am hoping for a total breakdown in front of the cameras and his idiot supporters.
With whipped cream and a cherry on top!
💙💙💙💙💙
Good word: sane-washed. My terms are: false characterization due to existential fear of being labeled bias. Hence NYT goes for blatant mischaracterization.
Lawrence O'Donnell did a superb job last night condemning the NYT's "sane splaining" of Trump's gobblegook!
I like the questions Lucian suggested. I would add a few more, "Aside from the Australian businessman, to whom did you show the classified documents that you took illegally to your Mar Al Lago resort? Was one of those persons Putin? Was it one of his agents? Or perhaps, when was the last time you talked personally with your friend, Vladimir Putin? Or, where do you plan to live after you are sentenced? Or, did Vladimir Putin ever offer you something while you were in the White House? Money? A site for another Trump tower? Withholding of information that would be embarrassing to anyone in your family?
He's already ranting, yelling and melting down and his worshipers love every bit of it. That's his "normal" behavior.
Imagine what his abnormal behavior would look like......or not. I only have 2 Xanax left, that's not going to be enough, hence I'm skipping the debate.
He just about did have that!
“Donald Trump is treated every single day by the various media that cover the presidential campaign as if he is a serious man.” The two principal reasons Felonious Trump won in ‘16 = the media gave him $5 billion in exposure by covering his Nuremberg rallies in full (I.e., treating him like a serious candidate) and he had been on TELEVISION! To voters of a certain age, television celebrity equates to divine certification. (TV stardom = serious person.)
I agree. That free coverage was a significant reason my BP blew up! They could not get enough of him and he exploited every minute of it.
Mark Burnett and the other producers of The Apprentice have much to answer for.
For sure!
The Mantra of the night. "THERE HE GOES AGAIN, LYING"
The only other time I really want to hear "there he goes again" is when he is transferred from Lompoc to Leavenworth.
"There he goes agian" Yup. nothing more needed .
Swell route map. For non-geezers, before GPS, even before the federal interstates were built, AAA members could tell their their local branch where they wanted to go, say Philly to Chicago, and in a week or so get a printed fold-out booklet detailing what were then turn-by-turns through cities and towns. (Pittsburgh, I remember, as I recited from the booklet to mom, the driver, was particularly complicated.) Yeah, Lucian, you're more than correct that these are not "debates." (Bona fides: I was president of my school's debate group in 11th grade.) Side-by-side candidate "gotcha" interviews, perhaps. And you're certainly correct in calling for the Vice President to use dime (the old "nickel," adjusted for inflation) words, like "gay," rather than the dollar "LGBTQ." And "there he goes again" will be perfect to accentuate T***p's already visible state of mental detumescence.
Lucian, you are right on point here. Rick Wilson and Ruth Ben Ghiat also very insightful and worth reading on strategy that meets the moment.
I call these cage matches now – it’s TV entertainment and little else. Trump’s only job is to project strength. Easily accomplished against Joe. I really, really, really hope Kamala’s debate prep isn’t based on countering the lies, threats and torrent of horseshit with policy points, as Joe’s apparently was. Ridiculing Trump with grace and generosity for the people watching is all she needs to do.
Respectfully, are any of those who cited a WOC?
Next, please drill down on Kamala's education, careers, and life experiences, then stack them up to those you cited.
Could you follow that request with how those you cited stack up w/Kamala's time on political debate stages and inside Courtroom hearings?
Respect is not a mere word in the communities of color. The idea some people feel they have some birthright to tell others how they should do this or that, or say this or that is based upon what? It would be different if Kamala requested counsel from PersonA, B, C, D. (...).
This is 2024. Still amazes me that people haven't learned and unlearned much of anything about WOC. They ain't no female House Negro who needs to be told what to do and how to do it by any person.
Certainly not by the likes of Rick Wilson who proudly displays the traitorous CSA battle flag on his beer cooler. Wilson is yt, not even close to being white, never mind someone who has a scintilla of knowledge of how WOC roll.
MOC have long understood (measured in many centuries) a simple fact and rule, take a seat, listen, and watch how a WOC operates. The word for that is respect. Many words capture speaking out of turn and speaking out of school. None of them are good words nor speak well of a person. Keep in mind opinion is the lowest form of hooman knowledge and of hooman intellect.
Again, wrote this with respect and it's not directly solely at you. It's for the non-POC no matter their political leaning. It specifically addresses implicit bias that still is alive, alive-o.
Harris had better beware of what I've recently learned is called "the Gish Gallop." Named after a notorious 19th-century Creationist who regularly overwhelmed his rational opponents with an unending stream of gabble and lies so thick that nothing the other side said ever got through to anyone. There will be no point in Harris trying to counteract the sewage t-Rump will shoot at her through a firehose. Her best response would be uproarious laughter. If there's one thing t-Rump hates, it's being laughed at!
She could laugh and comment something like, "Well, I do have time to address one of those lies." And then pick out the stupidest one of all and give it a one line zinger of a response, as she does so well.
VP Harris is well aware of the Gish Gallop, and the best techniques for dealing with it (love her laugh!). I look forward to seeing the prosecutor at work.
Yes indeed! She proved that last evening!
I will share a fantasy. One where we live in a country where people seeking political power come to it from a place of mutual respect and there is a forum for serious discussion about disagreements on policy. Where the underlying norm is that both candidates are competent and want what is best for the country. The media covers what they call a "debate" as if it is a sporting event. "What will be the defining moment?, which candidate gets the most verbal punches in". There will be no serious discussion of the issues that voters care about just a lot of rehearsed talking points. Go back and watch the Nixon, Kennedy debate or even the McCain, Obama debates (which were far less substantive but at least respectful.) and you can witness this. I suspect our modern political discourse began with Lee Atwater advising Papa Bush to forget the issues and just point to Dukakis as a "Card carrying member of the ACLU". That was the rebirth of McCarthyism that resulted in the Frankenstein Trump era. Tonight will have many possible pitfall moments for Harris to lose but none that can possibly be a turning point for Trump. His "Weirdness" has been normalized. The media will write about the importance of this evenings wrestling match. I'm sure it will be entertaining. But it has nothing to do with anything of substance.
I think this debate was as good as it gets.
I have no advice for VP Harris, nor do I think she needs any. She's got his number, and she's smart, enough so that any rational person listening tonight will be able to compare and realize there is no comparison. It's in her hands. And ours when we vote.
I have a tactical proposal. At some early point he will give her the opportunity to say, ^That is a wierd thing to say. Should I have them bring you a chair so you can sit and nap awhile?^
Or maybe "Is it time for a Coke? There's some in the backstage fridge."
You naughty man, Lucian Truscott IV — You’ve got me chuckling uncontrollably as I sit here trying to keep quiet in the waiting room at my ophthalmologist’s office.
And laughing at the prospect of what Donald J. Trump might do — should we laugh? Is he too dangerous for us to laugh? Do we DARE to let down our guard and LAUGH at him?
YES! Uproarious laughter is that man’s due! The mainstream media treating him like a serious person since he put himself into the politisphere … that has been our downfall. The man himself did not expect to actually be elected in 2016 — he thought he was burnishing his “brand,” and then he was the “dog that caught the car,” and he actually had to BE the president. The oligarch machine that has been trying to take firm hold the the Republican Party since the Reagan years jumped into action, got behind Trump, and through fawning and manipulation, they’ve solidified their hold.
Egad. I’m so worried. I’m so stressed. I can’t laugh at all this ..
And yet, thanks to you, Mr. Truscott, a little levity has entered the fray.
Yes. Thanks for the chuckles. And time to get back to the work of making sure The Clown Man does not enter the White House again …
While ,yes, she must make it clear her position on choice and a woman's right to choose is diametrically opposed to Trump's she must make it also abundantly clear that it is also the locked in position of just about every GOP candidate and to make sure Roe can be make the law of the land again voters must vote solidly to put Democrats in the House and Senate as well as the White House.
And, she must cut his cajones off on the message of economic prosperity also by simply pointing out that overall economic growth and increased family incomes has always been better under Democratic stewardship and not because of the wasteful trickle down tax cutting policies favored by Republicans. Make sure watchers know he is lying about that also and point out his call for more tax cuts and a reduction in the corporte tax rate from its current 21% to 15% will produce massive deficits.
Harris must cut into the perception, erroneous as it is, that Republican policies are better for the economy. History and statistics prove the contrary. She must win over white working class voters to win this thing and focus on the economy and what her proposals would for the white working class is the path to do that.
Abortion while a powerful argument is a one trick pony dead end with many voters who simply oppose it our of their "priniciple." She must reach them on other issues.
Abortion is health care. Yes, I agree it is paramount to winning the election.
I never thought that I would be on the same team as Dick Cheney, but here we are on team Harris/Walz. As the old saying goes, “Politics makes strange bedfellows.”
Well... Trump might have said something truthful or accurate at SOME point in his life.
Accidents happen.
Great article. The strait jacket comment calls to mind the thought that many people institutionalized are probably better qualified than The Felon.
My 2 cts "America knows the only thing you want are tax cuts for the rich so they'll pay the millions of dollars in criminal fines against you." Or, "the main thing your administration accomplished was bringing a pandemic to the US and then making the situation worse." Or "your ideas are toxic. Like your behavior towards women."
She really should have made more of the pandemic deaths under his watch.