Falsehoods Unchallenged Only Fester and Grow
https://thefogbow.com/forum/
I’m worried about Biden’s debate with Trump this week
Trump has convinced many Americans that stridency is a sign of strength while truth and humility signal weakness
Jun 26, 2024
Robert Reich
I just turned 78, and frankly I’m scared about what might come down Thursday evening when the oldest candidates ever to compete in a presidential race debate each other.
I’m less worried that Joe Biden will suffer a mental lapse or physically stumble than I am that Biden will look weak and Donald Trump appear strong.
One of Trump’s most successful ploys has been to frame the upcoming election as a contest between strength and weakness, and to convince many Americans that stridency and pugnacity are signs of strength while truth and humility signal weakness.
In 1960, when I watched John F Kennedy square off against Richard Nixon, character and temperament were the most important variables.
According to the legend, most people who listened to the debate on radio called the first debate a draw or thought Nixon had won, but Kennedy won handily among television viewers.
Television hurt Nixon, and not just because of Nixon’s paler complexion. Kennedy stared directly into the camera when he answered each question. But Nixon looked off to the side to address the various reporters who asked questions, which came across as shifting his gaze to avoid eye contact with the public – a move that seemed to show evasiveness, the character flaw that had earned Nixon the moniker “Tricky Dick”.
I last watched a tape of the Kennedy-Nixon television debate in 1992, when sitting beside Bill Clinton, who used it to prepare for his debate with George HW Bush and Ross Perot. Clinton wanted to emulate Kennedy’s character – his confidence, humor and optimism.
Perot’s whiny indignation turned viewers off. George HW seemed over the hill. Clinton was effusive and charming, and connected with viewers.
Which brings me back to character. Over 78 years, I’ve met or observed a small number of people in American public life whom I’d characterize as vile. Senator Joseph McCarthy, Governor George Wallace, and Speaker Newt Gingrich come immediately to mind, along with Rush Limbaugh and Roger Ailes.
What made them vile to me was their cynical opportunism – the eagerness with which they exploited people’s fears to gain power or notoriety, or both. All had the character of barnyard bullies.
Donald Trump is the vilest by far.
Trump’s loathsomeness extends to every aspect of his being – his continuous stream of lies, the eagerness with which he seeks to turn Americans against each other, his scapegoating of immigrants, his demeaning of women and the disabled.
And Trump’s utter disrespect for the office of the presidency – for the laws of the land, for the United States constitution, for the senators and members of Congress and staff and police whose lives he intentionally endangered on January 6, 2021, and for hundreds of thousands of election workers whose lives he directly or indirectly threatened with his baseless claims of election fraud.
Character will not be debated on Thursday night, but I hope Americans who have not yet made up their minds or who are wavering in their support of Joe Biden will pay attention to it. Character is – must be – on the 2024 ballot.
I remember debating Arizona’s former Republican governor Jan Brewer before the 2016 election. I asked her whether she thought Trump had the character and temperament to be president. When Brewer temporized, I asked again. Finally she said yes. Her answer may have been the most dishonest thing anyone said during that election season – other than Trump’s own rapacious lies.
A few days ago, I was talking with a young conservative who admitted that Trump was an “odious thug”, in his words, but argued that America and the world had become such a mess that we need an odious thug as president.
“Think of Putin, Xi, Kim, Ali Khamenei, Netanyahu – they’re all odious thugs,” he said. “We need our own odious thug to stand up to them.”
I demurred, saying that direct confrontation could lead to more bloodshed, even nuclear war.
He continued: “We need an odious thug to shake up Washington, stir up all the ossified bureaucracies now destroying America, do all the things no one has had the balls to do.”
When I looked skeptical, he charged: “We need someone to take control!”
As soon as he uttered those last words, he and I both knew the conversation was over. He had spilled the beans. He was impatient with the messiness and slowness of democracy. He wanted a dictator.
I’m not sure how many Americans attracted to Trump feel this way. It’s consistent with the strength-versus-weakness framework Trump is deploying.
Trump may be loathsome, they tell themselves, but at least he’s strong, and we need strength over weakness.
I was born 78 years ago. At that time, the world had just experienced what can occur when a loathsome person who exudes “strength” takes over a major nation and threatens the world. A number of my distant relatives died fighting Nazis or perished in Nazi concentration camps.
I can’t help but wonder if the young conservative I spoke with would feel differently were he 78.
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His newest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com
E.g.: P&E: Will Biden Be Given a Stimulant for the Debate?northland10 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2024 2:11 pm It is tempting to respond, "Why should Biden waste his time doing what Trump supporters are demanding? You're not going to vote for him anyway."
Robert being "worried" about the Democratic Candidate and pointing out all the faults of the Democratic Candidate and griping on and on about the Democratic Candidate is his default stance. They used to call it concern trolling, now its Concern Turnip kissing. And the sad thing is that he moght not even realise he is de facto supporting Bloatfield.
Hillary Clinton: waste of Biden’s debate time to rebut Trump ‘nonsense’
Former secretary of state, who has debated both men, says Trump ‘starts with nonsense and digresses into blather’
Edward Helmore
Tue 25 Jun 2024 17.23 CEST
Hillary Clinton has said it would be a “waste of time” for Joe Biden to attempt to refute Donald Trump’s contentions in Thursday’s presidential debate because “it’s nearly impossible to identify what his arguments even are”.
The former secretary of state wrote in a New York Times opinion piece that Trump “starts with nonsense and then digresses into blather”.
“This has gotten only worse in the years since we debated,” she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/art ... den-debate
If the campaign got the rights to the artwork and sold that tie, I might by it. It is a cool-looking tie, even without the backstory.
Collin Rugg @CollinRugg wrote: NEW: CNN shows how their new microphones will work for the debate tomorrow, a move that is likely designed to help assist 81-year-old Joe Biden.
The 'high tech' microphones have green lights which will tell Biden and Trump whether their mic is on or not.
If the light is off but the candidate tries to talk, the sound of their voice won't make it to the viewers watching on TV.
This is hilarious and pathetic at the same time.
Oh ya, thanks Rugg. Its a move can can only be designed to assist Biden, not the other guy.a move that is likely designed to help assist 81-year-old Joe Biden.
Daniel Dale @ddale8 wrote: Hello old pals! It’s been a delightful many months of not-tweeting, really couldn’t recommend more highly, but I’ll be tweeting some fact checks during the debate.
I’ll also be on CNN TV post-debate, and our team will have a detailed running fact check on the CNN site and app.
CYSFY (Corrected your Strine for you.)Suranis wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2024 10:51 pmOh ya, thanks Rugg. Its a move can can only be designed to assist Biden, not the other guy.a move that is likely designed to help assist 81-year-old Joe Biden.
Fuck sake, the guy has only been talking into microphones for longer than you have been alive, you stupid Bloody Cant. (I slipped into Australian there to spare the delicate Americans.)
Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson wrote: For the debate tonight, not only for the spin before and after, but for every Trump utterance on stage, remember the Rules of MAGA:
Every accusation is a confession.
Every denial is a full confession of guilt.
Every claim of evil is projection.
Every boast of strength is an admission of failure.
Every fact is subject to Trump’s sole interpretation.
Every law is a conspiracy against Trump.
Every anecdote is pure fiction.
Every casual cruelty and crazed conspiracy leads deeper into more cruelty and conspiracy.
Every word is a lie, every lie is a promise of betrayal.
Every person or group Trump claims to stand for, he loathes.
Finally, Everything Trump Touches Dies.
Liam Nissan™ @theliamnissan wrote: Tonight Joe Biden should start off the debate by thanking Donald Trump's probation officer for allowing him to attend
Jason Kint @jason_kint wrote: wow, this is a good capture. 2016, 2020, 2024 - same, exact playbook. no doubt he'll run the same one ahead of the results, too. brace.Aaron Fritschner @Fritschner wrote: Somewhere Donald Trump is wondering to himself how many times he can get away with doing these exact same stupid bits before a debate. He doesn't even change it up a little bit, just counts on mass amnesia, which always seems to work out
It looks like he's actually going to appear for the debate. I'm stunned. 
