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By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
It’s dangerous when vile qualities come along.
Between the pass and the rage point
The great opponent. William Shakespeare, HamletAct 5, Scene 2
time“The debate begins Tuesday at 9pm EDT and is expected to last 90 minutes.”
place“The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia will be at the center of the race for the White House on Tuesday when it hosts the first and only presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.” And it’s ridiculous that there will only be one debate. The losing side will no doubt want a rematch, but the winning side will not allow it. (1)
rule“ABC’s rules, first communicated to the campaigns last month, are largely similar to the format of the presidential debate between Trump and President Joe Biden on CNN in June, during which both candidates’ microphones were muted while the other was speaking – a rule the Biden campaign had insisted on but which Harris’ campaign had sought to change since becoming the presidential nominee. The network’s rules also state that there will be no spectators, candidates will not be allowed to take notes, staff will not be allowed to visit during the two commercial breaks and candidates will not be able to ask each other questions.” and“ABC said only the moderator would be allowed to ask questions. Each candidate would be allotted two minutes to answer each question, two minutes for a rebuttal, and one minute for a follow-up, clarification or response.” It’s funny how the mic rules now favor Trump, despite the Biden campaign’s insistence.
Interestingly, both candidates share similar weaknesses. Kamala is a wordsmith (let’s be honest, “Exhausted by the department” is not English) and Trump, what I call a “jazz-like riff” (and what some pundits, perhaps biasedly, call “TangencyBut Trump’s lifting has the staying power to keep it up for an easy 90 minutes. I’m not so sure about Kamala’s.
Before the Biden-Trump debate, I wrote:
What I’m noticing is that Biden is slipping gears andAh, humanity!Trump’s ” ” moment, then both debaters trade blow-by-blow, ZOMG Spectacle!! — How the candidates will appeal, or be coaxed or enticed to appeal, to the few persuadable voters in the battleground states (and from that appeal will likely reverse course in the future of the race) Moneyball Recent Clips; This is a particularly good one“People who run teams are thinking about buying players. The goal isn’t to buy players, the goal is to buy wins. And to buy wins, you’ve got to buy runs.” Those few voters you can persuade are runs.
Of course, Biden actually did A major gear shift occurred so the ensuing discussion seemed rather pointless and I never ended up seeing what I said I would look out for. Who knows what will happen this time!
But if I had to imagine what might be called a defining moment — if Trump were to achieve both a win against Clinton and a win against Biden, eliminating the latter from the race — I see two possibilities.
First, Kamala. If Kamala submits a highly crafted and confident statement for the prosecution, with lots of “felon” language, Trump will need to shoot it down hard (recently, A spokesman for Bragg believes Bragg’s lawsuit is bogus. This is where Fani can help, but he’ll need some moderator help to get this done early.
The second is Trump. As you know, Trump is a genius at sensing other people’s weaknesses. He has not yet demonstrated that talent with Kamala. My opinion on this matter is that Trump’s spokesman Alvarez Recently said Some have argued that “the American people know who Trump is, but don’t know who Kamala Harris is,” but I would like to go further. Kamala She doesn’t know who she is. Being Indian, black, mixed race, a person of color is great. Not great to be a chameleon from first to second to third depending on the campaign. There’s also Kamala’s policy shift from 2019 to today. Surely Medicare for All and fracking are big enough issues to warrant a well-thought-out position for over 3 years? And then there’s the plagiarism issue. If Kamala really knows where she stands, why on earth would she be so mad? Plagiarize Biden’s policies? And then there’s this whole really authentic collard greens and spice thing. What’s this all about? I don’t know how to turn this into debate fodder, but if I had to pick one weakness for Kamala, this would be it.
Oh, and despite all efforts to stabilize things, instability is a central feature of this election, so the debate will be just as volatile as the last one was.
PS I’m curious Melania Trump releases video of assassination attempt on President Trump It will be a topic of discussion. It should be interesting!
Note
(1) For more information about the National Constitution Center, Wikipedia:
The National Constitution Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the study of the United States Constitution. Located on Independence Mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Center is an interactive museum that serves as a national town hall and hosts government leaders, journalists, scholars, and celebrities to participate in constitutional events and public debates, including presidential debates.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place on September 17, 2000, the 213th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution.
To be honest, I find this whole idea a bit unsettling. If the Constitution really was a living document, would there be a museum dedicated to it? My sense of unease is compounded by another detail.
Until it closed in December 2019, the Newseum, a journalism-themed museum in Washington, DC, featured a four-story-tall stone slab inscribed with the text of the First Amendment as part of its exterior design. Freedom Forum, the nonprofit that founded the museum, announced in March 2021 that it would dismantle the slab and donate it to the National Constitution Center, where it would be displayed in the center’s second-floor atrium.
So the first thing to be removed was the First Amendment…
