Tag Archives: Biden-Trump debate

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It’s official: Trump is nuts

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I have concluded that Donald J. Trump is crazier than a loon, that his butter has slipped off his noodles, that he is certifiably nuttier than a fruitcake.

How else can one explain why in the name of civil discourse he has rejected a bipartisan presidential debate commission recommendation that he and Joe Biden “debate” each other online in a virtual town hall format next week?

I cannot.

The commission made the call because — yep, you got it — Donald Trump is infected with a potentially fatal disease, one that has killed more than 210,000 Americans during the COVID pandemic. Trump and first lady Melania Trump now are among the 7 million-plus Americans who have been diagnosed with the killer virus.

He isn’t out of the woods. Trump likely will not be out of the woods when debate time rolls around next week.

So what does the Macho Man in Chief want to do? He wants to meet with Biden in the same room in Miami. This is crazy. It’s nuts. It’s, um … insane!

There is now open speculation that the intense drugs Trump is taking has affected his judgment. He has been given, reportedly, a healthy dose of steroids to combat the infection. Some doctors have said the meds can alter a patient’s mental acuity. Trump, though, keeps bellowing and boasting that he hasn’t felt this good in “20 years.” C’mon, Mr. President.

Look, I want him and the first lady to recover fully from the illness. I do not want him, though, to put anyone else in jeopardy, which is precisely what he would do by insisting on an in-person face-off with the Democratic challenger, Joe Biden.

Astonishing, man!

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Trump cannot recover

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

First-debate performances have been a curse occasionally for presidents seeking re-election.

Donald Trump’s astonishing display of boorishness Tuesday night, though, might produce an insurmountable obstacle for this president. I want to revisit two recent examples of first-debate stumbles.

  • In 1984, President Reagan stumbled, bumbled and mumbled his way through a joint appearance with Democratic challenger Walter Mondale; many observers wondered whether Reagan had “lost it.” The two men came back at the next debate and the president was asked whether he was up to the job of president. He responded that “I will not exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” He brought the house down … and then won re-election in a 49-state landslide.
  • In 2012, President Obama was facing a tough fight against Republican nominee Mitt Romney. The candidates faced off in a debate. Obama was clumsy, off his game, offering muted responses to questions. Romney essentially wiped the floor with Obama. They returned a few days later and Obama recovered his voice and thumped Romney. Obama then was re-elected with a handsome majority.

So now I ask: Is there any way that Donald Trump can recover from what’s been called a “sh** show” this week? I do not know how he does.

Trump won’t listen to advice. He doesn’t accept the wisdom of others with actual knowledge of pertinent matters.

Indeed, given the astonishingly graphic nature of his behavior Tuesday night, it boggles my mind to understand how he steps across that behavior to make Americans forget about what they witnessed in real time.

We all saw what I consider to be the most shameful incident ever put on by a president of the United States. He has demonstrated once and for all that he is an embarrassment to the country he was elected to govern.

He told white supremacists to “stand by” while we count the ballots; he mocked his opponent for wearing a mask in the middle of a killer pandemic; Trump told lie after freaking lie on live TV.

How does he recover from that? In my humble view, he doesn’t … and that’s a good thing for the United States of America.

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You want more of that?

REUTERS/Brian Snyder

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

I awoke this morning after a good night of sleep wondering the following: What the hell did I witness last night?

My wife and I sat in our living room for 97 minutes and watched Donald John Trump behave in a manner that was stunning in its lack of decorum, honor, decency and dignity. He was, to put it candidly, the worst example of political boorishness many of us have ever seen.

As my wife noted, “He might be ‘the president,’ but nothing he did was presidential.”

Then we had Joe Biden, the Democratic challenger who had to endure what we all endured. Oh, my. Biden didn’t sparkle, or shine. However, he did more or less seek to play by the rules agreed upon by both presidential campaigns. They involved letting both men speak for two minutes uninterrupted when answering questions from moderator Chris Wallace.

Donald Trump failed. He couldn’t keep his yapper shut for two minutes. Hell, he couldn’t keep quiet for 20 seconds before interrupting Joe Biden or talking over Wallace’s efforts to restore order.

What did we learn from that encounter?

Not much of a constructive nature. However, two moments stand out for me.

Wallace asked Trump if he would categorically condemn white supremacists and urge them to “stand down” and not foment further violence. Trump refused. He demonstrated a reprehensible tolerance for the hate groups that have lined up behind him and his re-election bid. He urged them to “stand back and stand by.” Stand by!? What the fu** is that all about?

We know what he meant. Disgraceful, indeed.

Then came the moment when Biden sought to remind Trump that Biden’s late son, Beau, served in Iraq for a year and earned the Bronze Star. He said Beau Biden was not a “sucker or a loser.” Did Trump acknowledge Beau Biden’s service to the nation? Oh, no. He then launched an attack against the former VP’s younger son, Hunter, and lied about Hunter Biden’s discharge from the military.

We have two more of these events coming up; I refuse to call them “debates,” but what we saw Tuesday night bore no resemblance to anything of the sort. If we’re going to get more of what we have just witnessed, I will not watch. As a friend of mine noted immediately after last night’s sh** show, Trump needs to be fitted with a shock collar that should be wired to blast him when he speaks over Joe Biden.

I am so looking forward to casting my vote for president.

national news

Issues might cause noggin to burst

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

We’re getting ready to head down the stretch in this run for the presidency and so help me, the issues — personal, political and public — are threatening to make my head explode.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump are getting ready to meet in their first of three debates. I’ll have more on that later.

I am trying to take all this in as we settle down for an evening of give and take between the Democratic Party challenger and the Republican Party incumbent.

I want Joe Biden to win this election. You know that already. There is no possibility for Donald Trump to collect my support. I detest the very idea that this self-serving narcissist even got elected in the first place. He did so against my strong protests. Now we need to get his ample backside tossed out of the White House.

It is mind-boggling in the extreme to even ponder how Trump can be anywhere near Biden in the horse-race aspect of this campaign. Trump has, in no particular order:

Disparaged men and women who serve their country in the military; denigrated actual war heroes; paid next to zero federal income tax; lied to Americans about the threat posed initially by the COVID pandemic; told an estimated 28,000 lies all told during his time in office; insulted political foes mercilessly; insulted our international allies; pretended to be a man of faith when everyone knows he is nothing of the sort; spoken kindly of KKK’men and Nazis.

I am trying like the dickens to wrap my noggin around all of this. My goodness, in a perfect world Joe Biden would be prepared to roll up a historic landslide, something rivaling President Reagan’s 49-state pummeling of Walter Mondale in 1984.

That base of voters remains loyal to Trump despite his lies, the reports of his tax cheating, his myriad boorish statements, the insults he hurls at opponents. They like that about him because, I have to surmise, he speaks their language; Trump speaks on their behalf. How does one cope with that?

So the debate tonight opens up a possible new lane for Joe Biden to travel. My version of political nirvana will unfold if the former vice president thoroughly thrashes the president and puts this race out of reach. Trump has given so much ammo to unleash.

May the former VP use it wisely … but with maximum effect.