Sick to my Stomach Over This!

By the time this post goes live the first presidential debate for the 2024 Biden vs Trump election will have been hashed over and dissected everywhere except maybe in outer space where it's still not known if there are little green creatures living there and if they are, have they 'cracked' our language enough to understand how seriously flawed this debate was? What is for certain is the 51 million people on earth watched that hour and an half Hot Mess in what CNN is saying was "both the highest-rated program and largest livestream event in CNN history." But like I've said many times in the past I often write to help me sort out my emotions so let this be a warning to anyone who is sick to dead of this topic, you may want skip reading this post. But I hope you don't.

There is no way around it, Biden (81) came out looking fragile and very early on he delivered a word salad at the end of a sentence and he never recovered from that faux pas, even though he stuck to the format of the debate and actually tried to answer the moderator's questions where Trump (78) employed an underhanded and nasty debate technique called The Gish Gallop. Wikipedia defines the Gish Gallop like this: "The Gish gallop is a rhetorical technique in which a person in a debate attempts to overwhelm their opponent by providing an excessive number of arguments ...with no regard for the accuracy or strength of those arguments." I used to be on a debate team in college and I have no clue how anyone could ever successfully combat the number of lies and insults Trump threw out at a such a fast pace and usually with no relationship to the questions the moderator asked of Trump, leaving Biden looking befuddled and at a loss for words. Who wouldn't be?

CNN didn't live fact-check the debate because, they said, it was up to the candidates to call each other out on misleading and false stuff. The day after, however, Fact Checkers were going at it all over the place including at NPR that reported Trump's claim that food costs have "double, tripled and quadrupled" under Biden when it actually only increased 21%. NPR also said of Biden's claim that Trump's tariff proposal would drive consumer costs up $2,500 per household that it would actually range from $1,700 to $2,500 per year.

I could be here all day if I repeated all the false claims Trump made so I'll jump on the two most outrageous. 1) He denied that the Charlottesville march with the Proud Boys wearing swastikas and carrying tiki torches while chatting Nazi slogans ever took place, and 2) he claimed that the January Sixth Insurrection only "involved a relatively small number of people who where escorted in by the Capital Police." How on earth he gets his followers to believe lies like these when those events were both live on TV and documented on film by a wide number of trusted media sources is beyond understanding. It's scary that we live with so many low information people who believe the crap coming out of his mouth or worse yet, they don't care that he lies and insults his way through life.

The next day both men were at rallies hashing over the debate and Biden was a totally different person who looked and sounded strong and energetic. I truly wish that Biden had shown up at the debate. A couple of sources said he was fighting a cold the night before but I find it hard to believe a night's sleep would make that much difference unless he'd taken something for the cold before the debate. He admitted he isn't the debater he used to be or as young as he used to be but, he said, "I know right from wrong and how to tell the truth and how to get things done. When you get knocked down, you get back up!"

Obama put out a Facebook post after the debate that said much the same things. "Bad debate nights happen," he wrote. "Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself. Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the American people straight — and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit. Last night didn’t change that, and it’s why so much is at stake in November." 

I have to confess that watching the debate made me sick to my stomach. There's talk among the party big wigs about replacing the top of the ticket and there is still time to do that, but that process is messy. Here's what Reuters reported was said by Elaine Kamarck, from the Brookings Institute and a ranking member of the DNC. "He will not be nominated officially until later this summer, so there is still time to make a change and a handful of scenarios to enact one: Biden could decide himself to step aside before he is nominated; he could be challenged by others who try to win over the delegates he has accrued; or he could withdraw after the Democratic convention in Chicago in August, leaving the Democratic National Committee to elect someone to run against Trump in his place." Doing it after the convention would be less messy and would present a more united front. Governor Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg or Governor Gretchen Whitmer are mentioned by most sources as the most likely to get voted in at the top of the ticket. This all makes me feel better that we aren't locked into running the Biden who showed up at the debate, should he show up more often in the next few weeks. 

But I'll be perfectly honest here, I'd prefer it if Biden stepped down but if he doesn't I will vote for him over Trump even if Joe is in a coma. Our Democracy is at stake and that is NOT hyperbolic. Trump's a dangerous threat to our entire system of government. Especially now that the Supreme Court has ruled that the president has "absolute immunity from prosecution for official acts, even if done corruptly or in violation of the criminal laws," as Chief Justice Robert wrote in the majority ruling.

Trump plans to gut the FBI, the Justice Department, the Internal Revenue, do away with the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, undo all the climate control protocols set in place, not to mention how he'll continue to destroy women's reproductive rights. All that and his allegiance to the NRA, Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation that has already made serious inroads into watering down our Supreme Court will fundamentally change the character of our country from a Democracy to Authoritarian government at best, or a Dictatorship at its worst. And let's not forget that the next president also will get to appoint two Supreme Court justices because Thomas and Alito want to retire. 

This election is the most important one in our lifetime. We all need to stay informed and help people understand that we must go to the polls this fall if for no other reason than for the down-ballot people. Which party controls the House and Senate are is going to be crucial no matter who is elected our 47th president.

Until Next Wednesday. ©

Footnote: I just saw this posted on Facebook by Kati Berg: "I have fond memories of the last time Trump was in office ….. refrigerator trucks full of bodies.”about 100,000. Food shortages, people fighting over toilet paper. And essential workers, being sacrificed. Isolation. School shootings . Good times. "