Unhinged

It was a live American horror show. Three and half years of the Trump madness spewing out for the most frightening 90 minutes in the history of presidential politics, We’ve seen and heard it all on a daily basis for so long, we’ve grown exhausted and numb. Last night’s presidential debate wasn’t really a debate, and certainly wasn’t presidential. Trump came out growling and swinging knowing he had to bully and overwhelm Joe Biden because he was desperate. He knows he’s losing. He knows he’s survived by telling lies and living in an alternate reality universe where he’s always right and he can do wrong. He knows the clock is ticking and he’ll do anything to avoid being a loser and a fraud on Election Day.

Biden just had to show he wasn’t Trump. He was never a great debater. He just had to call out the bully and show he has ideas about how to heal the country. He tried to counter Trump’s badgering by talking straight to the American people about how he would try to heal the divisions. Biden did lose his patience when he said to the president of the United States, “will you shut up, man?” Biden also called Trump a “clown”. That just shows where we are as a country. Trump has lowered the bar of civil discourse. In pre-Trump America, we couldn’t imagine speaking to the president in that manner. But Biden was so fed up, he said what many people were thinking as they watched the spectacle unravel.

Trump is consistent. He won’t condemn white supremacists. Mail in voting will be a disaster. He handled the COVID crisis perfectly. He knows more about the virus than public health officials. California wild fires can be reduced and controlled if state officials would sweep all those leaves off the forest ground. (He didn’t mention that 60 percent of the forest fires are on federal land.) Climate change is not a thing. He’s a tough guy who will bring law and order to the streets that will only get worse if Biden is elected. He’s paid millions of dollars in federal income taxes despite proof to the contrary. And who says he doesn’t like masks? He pulled one out of his inside pocket where it apparently stays most of the time.

We knew he would get vicious and personal about Hunter Biden. He even claimed Hunter Biden took three and half million dollars from the wife of the mayor of Moscow. Of course, he didn’t offer any proof. Trump is the last guy who should be brining up the behavior of another candidate’s children. It was the moment Biden showed what it meant to be a father. He looked into the camera and said he was proud of his son for overcoming addiction. Biden has almost half a century of political baggage. Some will argue he’s not the most dynamic candidate and won’t be able to heal the terribly damage country. The country is in critical condition. It is one of the most important elections in our history. Maybe the most important thing Biden said last night was when he looked into the camera and pleaded with people to vote. Last night’s unhinged performance by the president should shake us all to our core. Our future is up to us.