October 2 2020
I admit that I am waiting for the first ’Big Debate’ tomorrow evening with a significant amount of fear and trepidation. I’m a bit worried as to how Joe Biden will contend with Donald Trump’s’ expected lies, anger, hatred, and ridicule in a debate format moderated by Trump’s ally, Fox News. Fortunately, for both sides, Mr. Chris Wallace, of Fox News, is considered (by some?) to be one of the best, most diligent, and honorable of debate moderators in today’s dysfunctional media world. I’ll be doing my best to judge the fairness, honesty, and skill of the moderator and well as those of the two contestants. It will be interesting to see and hear if Mr. Wallace will ‘call out’ Trump’s expected lies and expected (my expectation) efforts to go ‘off subject’ in the debate. If I could have just one wish to be granted in tomorrow’s debate, it would be that Joe Biden would have even a little bit of the wit and humor of Will Rodgers at hand to use against Trump. Humor, Honesty and Truth will always beat Bravado, Lies and Distortions of Reality. All three are necessary, but ’Humor’ is the key to getting under Trump’s very thin, ego covered, skin. Joe, are you listening? If you can really use that tool, you will win the debate, surely win the election, and get key billing on the November 14th, edition of Saturday Night Live! Use ‘Humor’ to humiliate Donald Trump! Go for it
!
Well, if wishes were fishes, I caught a few big ones last night but the biggest one got off the hook. Joe, unfortunately doesn’t have an ounce of Will Rodger’s ’wit’, much less his ability to use ‘humor’ to get his points across. Watching Trump be the great Himself, I kept hearing Will (Joe) saying, ”Donald, I’ve never met a man I didn’t like—until I met you!” The biggest ‘fish’ was the ‘Moderator’, Mr. Chris Wallace, who failed miserably in his efforts to ‘moderate’ Donald Trump—who acted exactly as I expected he would and exactly as I had written in the paragraph above—which, I remind you, was written before the non-debate. That’s another of the big fish I caught. For me, that mess was another strike against Fox ‘News’. I politely suggest that organization should be re-named ‘Fox-Trump Propaganda Company’. There really was no ‘news’ and there certainly was no ‘Debate’ last night. The only single ‘credit’ I could give to Mr. Wallace is that he pushed Trump hard enough to get him to admit that he would not denounce white-supremacy groups and he would welcome fascist organizations like the ‘Proud Boys’ to support his election campaign. Trump told them to “stand back and stand by!” So, should I expect fully armed kids with camouflage uniforms and AK-47’s as poll watchers? I plan to vote ‘in person’ as soon as early voting starts here in New Mexico. I don’t trust Louie DeJoy to keep the U.S. Postal Service Offices open long enough to handle mail-in ballots. One un-name literary pundit called that so called ‘debate’ program perfectly. He called it a ‘Shitshow!”
If Donald Trump won anything last night it would have been the ‘Shouting Contest’ award. But, unfortunately for the American people, it was not scheduled to be a shouting contest but was supposed to be a real debate and that didn’t happen because Donald J. Trump doesn’t really know how to, or give a dam about, having an honest debate. So, I declared Joseph R. Biden the winner on points, just because he made every effort to follow the rules and have a real debate. The biggest loser was Donald J. Trump—because he proved to be the liar, loudmouth, bully, dumb fucking idiot, and failure, I and millions of others, have found him to be. The second biggest loser was Mr. Chris Wallace along with Fox News. The third, but probably biggest loser of all, was the American electorate—which deserved to see and hear an honest, real, debate.
I made a big bet with my Daughter, Josephine, early the morning after the Shitshow, that Trump would cancel the scheduled next two presidential debates but the latest news is that they will be postponed until new rules are written by whoever is in charge of that matter. Who is in charge of ‘Shitshows’?
I have a different set of ‘expectations’ for the Vice Presidential candidate’s debate which is (was?) scheduled for next Wednesday evening, October 7th, with Susan Page of The USA Today as the moderator. I expect a real debate and I predict Kamala Harris will trounce Michael Pence. Sorry, I don’t consider the USA Today to be a real ‘news’ paper and I don’t know anything about Susan Page. Let’s sit back, wait and see what really happens.
Personally, I think the Donald J. Trump Shitshow is about over. He has done everything possible to prove himself totally incompetent as a manager of anything larger than a carnival sideshow. Funny, when I was typing that line I realized that’s just where Trump belongs—in a carnival sideshow. My sister, Jane, sent another Trump ‘outline’ yesterday and I’d like to share it with you:
According to Donald; “the election is rigged…unless I win.
“the news is fake…unless it’s flattering.
“Everything is a hoax…unless I tweet it.
“Nepotism is bad…unless it’s my family.
“I’m rich…but you can’t see my taxes.
“I’m smart…but you can’t see my grades.
“I’m successful…but my businesses fail.
“My staff is the best…until I fire them
“I’m innocent…but I stop (my) staff from testifying.
Hubris came out of the barn and over to the corral fence where I was holding a few carrots. He was very happy when he saw the carrots but he looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes and said, ”Lou, when are you going to get tired of complaining about that idiot?” I didn’t hesitate one second before I replied, “Hubris, I expect it will be on January 20, 2021, if not before.” Hubris finished chomping on the carrots and said, “It looks like it’s going to be a nice cool evening. How about you saddling me up and let’s go for our Friday evening ride on the ditch banks?” “Hubris”, I said, “Give me a few minutes while I get a few sips of Uncle Jack’s finest to clear my mind and then we’ll go for that ride.”
And, that’s what I/we did. Into the kitchen where I poured a few sips into a paper cup, packed an extra carrot or two into my back pocket, put the William Tell Overture into the disc player, turned the volume up to high for the barn speaker, out to the barn and saddled up… and then, with a hearty shout of Hi Ho Hubris, Aawaay!… we were out of the corral and on the ditch banks. So, until next week, it’s Adios Amigos—and stay safe. This Covid crap ain’t going to be over for a long time.
Lou
Copyright, October 2, 2020, Louis J. Christen