The Great Debate I

I’m sure that there are pockets of people throughout our great land who are drooling over the performance of Donald Trump last night in the debate.

When I use the phrase drooling, it is not in a complimentary way. It is meant literally that the people who still support the Donald after last night’s display have to have lost all control of their bodily functions. I would presume that their mental capabilities had been destroyed long ago, or they would not have been Trump supporters in the first place.

To still support the Donald after last night conjures images from the movie “Bedlam”. Like the insane people committed to the asylum, the Donald continues to rage on despite having anything coherent to say. The inability to control his actions or to maintain any degree of civility also speaks loudly of his mental state.

He is like the crazed bull in the pasture, just waiting for his next opportunity to charge. It is not hard to imagine that the Donald would call in his Proud Boys to destroy ballot boxes or voting machines to “correct” the vote count. To the Donald, cheating is as instinctive as the bull swatting at a fly with his tail. Like the bull in the china shop, the Donald lacks the awareness, the intellect to find a way out of a tight situation until he has destroyed everything around him.

While the audience waited for Biden to have a “senior moment”, fall asleep, or fall off of the stage, Biden performed like the statesman he is. Although Biden did throw in a few pejoratives, “clown”,”liar”, “racist”, he did a remarkable job of not being baited into a spitting match with the Donald. Personally I was ready to result to fisticuffs in the first five minutes. In my primordial mind there’s a limited amount of civility and courtesy that must be shown before the Hulk comes out. Thankfully Biden is a more evolved species than I.

What did we learn from this debacle? The Donald is a man in ill health. Debate can rage as to whether his physical health or mental health is in greater decline, but there is no question he doesn’t look good. Tooting up a load of Jr’s Peruvian Marching Powder before coming on stage probably didn’t help his self control issues. Maybe it was just the Adderall that insiders say he chews like Tic Tacs. Either way, “completely out of control” is not a good look on a sitting president.

We learned that Joe Biden will not launch the nuclear arsenal the first time some leader calls him a name, or even insults his family. Some might call that weak (see second paragraph) but I prefer a leader that considers my family before committing to a policy. I also prefer a leader that tells me how he will raise the country up together, not just his personal fortunes.

The choice is very clearly defined. Four more years of going from bad to worse or the rebuilding of our democracy. Four more years of tension and chaos or four years of healing. Four more years of destroying the foundations of government or the strengthening of all of the institutions we depend on, education, health care, unbiased courts and voting.

The most repeated quote from John F. Kennedy is, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” The most important thing we can do for our country now is to vote. Find a way, make a plan, go in person if the absentee ballot fails you. Stand in line and stare down the Proud Boys sent to deny you your rights. Future generations will not forgive you if you don’t.

The first debate is in the books, and the Donald is a LOSER, bigly.