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"He starts with nonsense and then digresses into blather." [1]

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Date: 2024-06-25  

There have been a lot of opinions published lately about Thursday’s debate: What should Biden say, what might Trump do, what impact it will have, all kinds of advice (some of it even sincere). But there is only person who has actually had the experience of debating both men on the presidential stage, and that is Hillary Rodham Clinton. Her opinion is worth reading.

Hillary Clinton: I’ve Debated Trump and Biden. Here’s What I’m Watching For.

It is a waste of time to try to refute Mr. Trump’s arguments like in a normal debate. It’s nearly impossible to identify what his arguments even are. He starts with nonsense and then digresses into blather. This has gotten only worse in the years since we debated. I was not surprised that after a recent meeting, several chief executives said that Mr. Trump, as one journalist described it, “could not keep a straight thought” and was “all over the map.” Yet expectations for him are so low that if he doesn’t literally light himself on fire on Thursday evening, some will say he was downright presidential.

She writes of her experience with Trump 8 years ago:

Mr. Trump may rant and rave in part because he wants to avoid giving straight answers about his unpopular positions, like restrictions on abortion, giving tax breaks to billionaires and selling out our planet to big oil companies in return for campaign donations. He interrupts and bullies — even stalking me around the stage at one point — because he wants to appear dominant and throw his opponent off balance.

(Side note: I have long maintained that Clinton would have won the election if she’d had the presence of mind to turn to Trump at that moment and say something like, “If you need to go to the men’s room that badly, we’ll wait for you.”)

She does have a word of caution for the president:

Unfortunately, Mr. Biden starts from a disadvantage because there’s no way he can spend as much time preparing as I did eight years ago. Being president isn’t just a day job; it’s an everything-everywhere-all-at-once job. Historically, that has led to weaker first debate performances for the incumbent.

It does seem Biden is already well aware of that, since he has been holed up at Camp David for several days spending as much time as the job allows prepping. (And making Trump and the Republicans nervous by doing so, since they have been mocking him for doing so.)

Here is Hillary’s advice to viewers:

First, pay attention to how the candidates talk about people, not just policies. . . . Second, try to see through the bluster and focus on the fundamentals at stake. . . . Third, when you see these two men side by side, think about the real choice in this election. It’s between chaos and competence.

Good advice for watching any debate — but even more so for this one. She adds some details as well; I’ll just list a few of them here:

Abortion and women’s rights generally

Inflation (and check this out: Nobel Economists See a Trump Inflation Bomb)

Fidelity to the democratic process

Age (“[Biden’s] just three years older than Mr. Trump.”)

Etc. etc. etc.

This election is between a convicted criminal out for revenge and a president who delivers results for the American people. No matter what happens in the debate, that’s an easy choice.

In a sane world, it would be. Let’s make it so.

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