Donald J. Trump blew it in that first joint appearance with Hillary Rodham Clinton.
No doubt about it.
Now he’s got to ready for the next one. Will he do what he needs to do or will he follow his misdirected instincts and do what he seems to always do: ignore the best advice he can get?
Dan Balz, a veteran political columnist for the Washington Post, seems to think he’ll do the latter.
Lessons learned from the first debacle seem to have gone unheeded by Trump, according to Balz. Contrast that with what happened when Barack Obama fell asleep during his first debate in 2012 with Mitt Romney. He thought initially he did well; then his staff told him otherwise. Obama listened, then got ready for the next one.
Trump, according to Balz, instead is relying on “Internet polls” that have told him he did just fine during that first encounter.
Keep thinking it, Trump.
This “unconventional” campaign of his worked well in securing the Republican presidential nomination. That’s because the base of his party was willing and ready to accept someone wholly unqualified, unfit and unprepared for the office he is seeking.
The rest of us know better.