The Biden/Trump Debate

So, Biden/Trump debate, eh?

My Debate Strategy

Look, I didn’t watch it.

I took a long, hot bath and went to bed.

I’ve had it up to here with Trump’s lies, dishonesty, sociopathy, narcissism, and neo-Nazism. Biden wasn’t my first choice last time around, either (nor my second, but he’s what the system produced). And he’s been a reasonably effective president, especially given a Congress full of authoritarian idiots.

But I just can’t bring myself to marinate in the word salad that is the inevitable result of even good presidential debates, and this was in no way a good one. It’s always a gamble, and I see no point in gambling of almost any sort, let alone on important things like this.

People spend their lives getting good at facts or good at words. I’m one of the former, having spent my life in various mathematical and logical or math/logic-adjacent pursuits. But for no particularly obvious reason, it’s always the Word People that take power. I have almost no interest in what they say, but an intense interest in what they will do. Debates are a worthless emotional rollercoaster in that regard.

Also: Trump lies repeatedly, the way real people breathe.

• A debate happens in real time, where he can’t be fact-checked, so his words are worthless. (Sort of like today’s generation of AIs, a fountain of BS.)
• When lying fast over and over is a winning strategy, then the game is wrong and you shouldn’t be playing it.

The news this morning informs me Biden stumbled a bit. Trump started strong, but degenerated in to the usual shouty nonsense.

Fine. Whatever.

The choice is still clear:

• Biden, while old, is still sharp, still understands the operation of government, and still surrounds himself with competent people and has a humane agenda.
• Trump, while old, is still an incomprehensible and incompetent sociopathic neo-Nazi who surrounds himself with what appear to be competent sociopathic neo-Nazis.

This is not a hard choice. Vote for Biden. Vote for Democrats up and down the ticket.

When we have a Democratic presidency and Congress, we can start repairing the damage. The most severe damage is recent, but W did his share, and a lot goes all the way back to Reagan that we need to fix.

That’s the only way to get reasonable economic policy, lots of green energy, coastal desalination plants, high speed rail, huge expansions of housing and mass transit, unionization, gun control, voting rights, civil rights, Roe v Wade encoded in law, something like Glass-Steagall, progressive taxation to fund Social Security and Medicare… and all the things that used to mean American democracy.

You want American democracy back? Vote for Democrats, up and down the ticket.

The Weekend Conclusion

The only bright spot (well, dim spot of light in the darkness?) is that Trump is due to be sentenced in 2 weeks.

Our adaptation of Cato the Elder is never more apt than now: Ceterum censeo, Trump incarcerandam esse, i.e., “I also think Trump must be incarcerated.”

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Notes & References

Nope.