Pretty much everyone agrees: the debate was a shocker, chaotic, a train wreck, embarrassing, a “hot mess inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck”, the worst debate ever.... While global reactions despair to glee (China).
Many are saying that the debate will not have shifted the true believers. Maybe so. But I’m not sure that some won’t be influenced. There are many “quiet Trump voters”, those that have decided to vote for Trump only because they see Joe as too poor a candidate, too much in hock to the far left of the party, and so vote Trump. These people may well have been shaken by Trump’s poor performance last night.
I was thinking that after the debate, and then I saw Scott Adams say exactly this about himself. “Trump has lost my vote”. This is the guy that predicted Trump’s win, and has been a staunch defender ever since. To hear him talk like that, because Trump failed to clearly condemn white supremacy (which he did fail to do), is pretty amazing. How many others like him? Maybe enough to cost him the election, which had, till yesterday, been moving his way. The centre-right folks at National Review think so too. They give Trump a D-minus to an E, and give Biden a C to a D.
The great Andrew Neil, ex of the BBC on the Speccie US. “Worst debate I’ve seen. And I’ve seen them all.” Biden was a mess; Trump was messier.
ADDED: Biden’s reply to the Supreme Court packing question (would the Democrats pack the court if elected?) was outrageous: that it would just be the issue if he said what he thought. Of course. He’s running for president! He want to make it “vote me in, and find out what I think about it”. That’s a true worry, as it would change the court for the first time since 1869, and amount to a tyranny of their side. In addition to destroying the authority of the SCOTUS.
BIG QUESTION: Will the next two debates be cancelled because of how bad this one was? And Biden would want to bank what he got. If they do debate, will there be a mute button?
