He couldn’t either…
And that was to prove he isn’t what everybody’s been saying he is.
In Biden’s case, that he’s senile. In Trump’s case, that he’s completely in thrall to ultra conservative anti-abortion zealots and fascist dictators, and still caught up in revising the results of 2020 above all else.
He didn’t do or say anything to prove any of that’s not true. In fact, he confirmed it and underlined it. With a Sharpie.
It’s that simple.
- He refused to commit to vetoing a national abortion ban, should it come to pass.
- He praised a fascist dictator by name, for praising him.
- And he continued to lie and say he won in 2020 for the same old reason. In a nutshell: “I won because how could I possibly have lost?”
- He also said immigrants are eating people’s cats.
Punches didn’t land: when Trump said Vice President Harris would take away Americans’ guns, she adeptly let it slip that is she owns a gun. An adtroit move that I’m sure right wing media will be all over for days. But for the moment, really pulled the rug out from under Trump and made “same old” look just old.
Is Trump finished, as Biden was at this point in the timeline? No. Because his money is not going to dry up overnight, which is ultimately why Biden had to drop out.
So what does this mean? More money for Harris for sure. Watch for record breaking donations in the next couple of days. And the endorsement by Taylor Swift isn’t going to hurt either. (She’s smart too; waited til after the debate).
Does money really matter these days with so much already on the table in terms of a continous barrage of information? Not like it used to, I don’t think. But it does matter still, I think, if one side finds something–true or not–they can grab onto and then you’re flying into the wind. So the use of money these days has more do to with the reversing the currents of sometimes unwarranted influence, of navigating feelings in a way, and less to do with traditional ads.
Finally, I want to say something about polls. Both Republicans and Democrats are very vocal this election about discrediting polls and attacking pollsters they don’t like. What a silly waste of time. Nate Silver, for instance, who was both right about Trump having as much chance of winning in 2016 as the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series (they both did), but also totally wrong that then-candidate Joe Biden had nearly no chance of winning the Massachusetts Democratic primary in 2020 to the point to which I almost didn’t vote for him, and of course he won. It’s good if polls are close. It gets people to vote.
But one thing I think this time is different. And isn’t getting much coverage. (And I may write more about at a later date). I’ve always argued, as have many others, that Trump supporters to this point have always been undercounted because some people were reluctant to publicly admit they’re supporting Trump, even to a supposedly confidential pollster. But this time around, I don’t think you have that. Trump supporters are anything but bashful. (Unless there are new shy Trump votes coming from different sources than before). We’ll see if that plays out in the numbers.