By Thomas Anderson
What hurt me more than anything watching last night’s debate between Trump and Biden was seeing Biden look as if he was mentally lost like he was in an alien environment where a mean orange man was screaming on a live TV audience set without an audience as two talking heads politely asked-like attendants in a mental ward- for responses to questions about mundane watered down political talking points. I thought, “What kind of psycho circus setup is this?”, as Biden initially walked out toward the podium. It was like he was walking on a plank surrounded by piranha-filled waters. When he finally made it to the podium it seemed as if he was holding on for dear life throughout the ordeal of the orange man screaming surrounded by bright lights on an empty live TV audience set- the two attendants calmly but with a stern undertone demanding responses to mundane nothing questions. Biden’s performance was so bad in this surreal environment that the event sometimes seemed to border on elder abuse. The Biden team didn’t prepare their elder statesman candidate for the almost sterile machine-filled TV set environment in which a man like Trump lived a life thriving, under the bright lights.
There’s a huge difference between a TV show host and an elder statesman as last night’s debate environment exposed, in spades. Biden’s team didn’t prepare their elder statesman candidate for this difference in ability due to the CNN setup on last night’s stage. Biden was essentially walking into a buzzsaw, and it showed, as Trump easily ran circles around Biden in an environment tailor-made for Trump the TV host. Biden’s team armed him with stats and percentages preparing him to trap his debate opponent, Trump, in a net of fact-checks and gotcha moments. While Trump entered the stage like a ringmaster ready to tame the two attendants, Tapper and Bash, while putting on a show for the world. Trump was literally living his MAGA moment like he was back in the 80s talking to Johnny Carson about nonsense. Biden got one good jab in on employment and economic activity stats and it was all downhill from there. Biden’s debate prep team failed to prepare him for the toughest debate of his political career setting up the next debate as one of the most significant in our lifetimes.
If there’s anything team Biden should take away from last night the only way to win the election after that performance is to start preparing for the next debate, which is scheduled for September 10th, today. They can’t wait, the stakes are too high and their candidate has to show improvement every day between now and September 10th on his ability to debate a TV show host who’s got their guy’s number. Presidential debates are like a really good NBA playoff series where things like momentum and rhythm matter more than checking off a box on a key stat on the gameplan worksheet coming into a game. The Biden debate prep team needs to build momentum and a rhythm going into the September 10th debate because that’s more important than Biden remembering some stats during Camp David prep the weekend before.
It’s summertime in America so even though Biden is dealing with the twin dragons of China and Russia he’s got to find a way to build a rhythm, or positive summertime vibe momentum leading into September 10th. If you look at the debate last night Biden phased between two looks: when he wasn’t looking lost within the swirling world of mental fact checks he had a scowl on his face. The negative vibes emanating off of him from his facial expressions alone would lose him nine debates out of ten anytime throughout his entire political career. Leave the fact-checking to the people, team Biden, and allow your candidate to be candid, honest, positive, and forthright in every response going forward. That regime should start today and team Biden should be working night and day on getting him in that mindset of positive, forthright, honest communication with the American people. We don’t need stats or proof of what Biden tells us, we’ve got ChatGpt, Grok, and a host of talking head influencers to prove or disprove what he says.
The world would benefit right now from a forthright, honest, positive elder statesman even if the challenges we’re facing are daunting and seem impossible to overcome. It’s summertime in America, let’s enjoy and look out for each other while praying we receive the leadership we deserve: positive, forthright, diligent, and honest. That’s the momentum and vibe Biden needs heading into September 10th, and it’s just what the doctor ordered for a nation in transition and under duress.