Presidential Debates? Hell No!

 

Let's get this over with quickly.

The Malignant Loser is pressing to have more and earlier debates than those proposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates, while President Biden has said any debates would depend on how the Malignant Loser behaved.  Now that an assortment of self- interested horse race news organizations have formally urged that there be debates between President Biden and the Malignant Loser, it's time to offer a few non- exhaustive thoughts:

1.  There is no world in which the disordered, lawless Malignant Loser would hold to debate rules.  It's the safest prediction ever to say it would quickly become a name- calling, substance- free firehose of lies that would only illustrate the toxic state of our politics as driven by the Malignant Loser, and provide days of breathless coverage by the puerile media about who won, who lost, and tsk-tsk what a shitfest it was.

2. The Malignant Loser, facing multiple court appearances over the summer, would like nothing better than to delay proceedings further in order to "prepare" for and participate in debates. Don't give him any excuse for more delays.

3. Contrary to the media's self- interested arguments, the stakes in the election are already more than clear, and have been ever since the day the Malignant Loser swanned down the elevator in Trump Tower.  There's no hiding the Malignant Loser's corrupt and sordid history, his increasing dementia and, most of all, the existential threat of his authoritarian plans for a second term.  His Christofascist team has already laid it out.  None of that will be further elucidated in a spectacle posing as a "debate."  It only puts the Malignant Loser on a plane on which he doesn't deserve to be -- level with a competent, democracy- defending sitting President.  

The media just needs to do its job day in and day out, a task it's rarely performed adequately.  And the Biden campaign needs to just say "no," media squealing notwithstanding.  Stay focused on the stakes, not their wished- for show.

BONUS: Here's an article from 2016 about why single candidate town halls are better than "debates." Sadly, the broken media likes debate brawls over town hall discussions because the former attracts more viewers / ad revenues.