US Presidential Debate Turns Petty

 Volume 2, Issue No. 22

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . .

 Our latest as of Wednesday, September 30, 2020 

~ Like everyone else, I patiently waited for the debate to air on social media between presidential contenders Donald Trump and Joe Biden. And when it finally began last night (Tuesday, September 29, 2020) in Cleveland, Ohio, I was mortified to see a sitting US president quickly transformed himself into an attack dog, bullying his challenger into submission by drowning out his voice, and beclouding the life-and-death issues that are relevant to their discussion. The debate had been turned into a petty squabble, very much like that engaged in by fishwives.

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DONALD TRUMP V. JOE BIDEN

The Fishwives' Squabble in the US

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

“If I associate with chickens, I will learn to scratch at the ground and squabble over crumbs. If I associate with eagles, I will learn to soar to great heights".  - Andy Andrews 

TORONTO - I didn't know, neither did I expect, that two old men, both septuagenarians, would behave like fishwives in a noisy confrontation over their egos.

Well, that's what happened in the 90-minute debate turned squabble between US President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former vice president Joe Biden, on Tuesday night (September 29, 2020) in Cleveland, Ohio.

Trump, the Republican nominee, was the domineering bully who injected his ridiculous claims in a clear attempt to hush Biden over and over again to the objection of journalist Chris Wallace, the moderator.

I see it as the full personification of Trump the chief executive, Trump the smart-ass, Trump the wily businessman, Trump the entertainer, Trump the tax evader, Trump the racist SOB, Trump the arrogant white supremacist, Trump the dubious billionaire.

Trump's performance on the debate stage is worthy of an R rating if only for his verbal assaults and irreverent behaviour that sets a bad example for kids under 17 who may be watching at that moment. That's not how an adult, let alone a president, comports himself.

He drowns out the soft-spoken Biden who at times appeared fearsome by Trump's belligerence. Trump's usual tactic, amplified on television broadcasts and social media, will find good use in the war zones of Afghanistan, Iraq, or Syria.

Having watched most, if not all of his press conferences, Trump merely repeated in this debate his old refrain about the coronavirus, the contradiction in his personal views with science to control the pandemic, the mail-in ballotting, the taxes he had avoided paying, the links with Russia, etc.

I thought I miss the scholarly and gentlemanly discourse Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had with their political opponents during their time. I held on to what they said about contemporaneous issues because every word stated had meanings one immediately understood.

In this Trump-Biden debate, I got off growing angry at the effrontery of Trump to lie and lie incessantly without regard to the science, to the proven facts, and to the accepted norms of conduct.

I don't blame Biden for backing off a little bit and smiling in mockery of the most powerful man on earth. He had the wisdom to let Trump destroy himself before the world.

Trump's attempts to score points against Biden is backfiring because of his recklessness and blatant disregard for the rules. He's supposed to be, as he repeatedly claimed, the "law and order" president. But what I saw live on TV was total disorder by what appears to be an outlaw.

An "outlaw" Trump may be, as evidenced by his misuse and abuse of the powers of the presidency, his continued defiance of his own regulations, his unrestrained appointments of friends and backers to sensitive positions in government, his penchant for lies, and his lame excuses for using hyperbole to mask his lapses.

As a student of politics, I think I've had enough of who should be president. I don't see the need to watch the next two episodes of the Trump-Biden debate on October 15 in Miami, Florida, and on October 22 in Nashville, Tennessee. Trump has unraveled himself. Biden appeared presidential.

Rather than waste more time listening and watching two grown-ups act like fishmongers, I'd just wait for California Senator Kamala Harris make meat of Vice President Mike Pence during their vice presidential debate on October 7 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Having lived in California for almost two decades, I understand how Sen. Harris, a woman of color I can identify with, could wear out her opponent on the strength of her experience with crimes and criminality as a former California attorney general, prosecutor, and district attorney of San Francisco. She's simply tough, California tough, eh! (Copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved).