Honest Joe vs. Dishonest Abe

Trump speaks, Biden and America cringes.

Donald Trump says 2.2 million people were going to die. That only 210,000 have is thus a great success.

It’s a lie. A rather vile lie, since it traduces human lives. I know, Trump is not responsible for 210,000 deaths—many would have died had the country taken adequate action against COVID-19. But the death toll could have and should have been much lower, and the spike can be lowered now, with effective, science-based action that this president can’t wrap his head around.

It was a night of lies from Donald Trump. The final presidential debate of 2020 is over, and I have to admit I am relieved.

Trump did score some points. His contention that Biden’s environmental plan spell economic disaster is going to be the point pounded on again and again in attack ads for the next 12 days. Not that it’s true. As is much of what Trump said tonight, it’s a lie.

A lie delivered coldly and calmly by a president who dismisses severed families as the fault of coyotes, COVID-19 as the fault of China and economic meltdown as—well, I’m not sure who he is blaming. Trump claimed the economy would be a disaster if Biden is elected, but who the heck was president this year when the recession kicked in?

Typical Trump. "Don’t elect him or the chaos I have caused will continue." "Elect me so that I can put out the fire that I lit in the first place."

Sigh.

Some keys in tonight’s debate:

• Biden nailed Trump on his tax returns. Trump tries to paint Biden as corrupt, but one of Trump's consistent patterns is to project his own flaws onto his foes. I don’t think Joe is pure like the October snow—but on the corruption meter, Trump has pretty much everyone trumped, yet he says Biden is corrupt. And Biden is the one who has released his tax returns, not Trump. Tell me again how Trump is more honest?

• Trump made anybody with a brain sick to their stomach with his Lincoln lines. No, Trump, you are not the “least racist” person in the room. As Biden said, his dog whistles are fog horns. In one breath, you’re the least racist, in the next, your saying immigrants who show up for hearings have low IQs. You’re blaming China, coyotes and claiming not to be racist.

• COVID-19 should be the nail in the coffin for this president. Just consider this exchange: “People are learning to die with it,” Biden on the pandemic. “I take full responsibility. It’s not my fault.” Actual comeback quote from Trump.

I do think that Trump did better tonight than the first debate, although he set a rather low bar to lumber over. Trump was still spouting insults, lies and trite campaign lines.

Biden speaks during debate.

Trump needed to change the dynamics of the election tonight. I do not think he did. I think Biden held his own, which I hope is all he had to do. And what was that about pillows and sheets? Earth to Trump: What?

Image by Gage Skidmore from wikimedia commons. Kristen Welker of NBC in Arizona in 2018.

Kristen Welker of NBC News did pretty well, I thought. She had been insulted by Trump before the debate, but was praised by him during the debate. Despite that, I think the use of the enforced time limits was good. There was some cross shouting, but not the chaos of the first debate. Her questions were decent and she stayed calm.

Well, that phase of the campaign is over. Five-thirty-eight is starting to write about a possible blue wave that could take the Senate, keep the House and win the presidency. Trump’s fantasy about taking the House rang very hollow, and I don’t think Trump built much of a flood wall against the coming blue wave.