The first presidential debate of 2016 is history. And, it was a doozy. In a sport analogy, we saw the bull being tired out. The bull was true to his nature. He raged and he spun. He glowered, snorted and sniffled. Now this is not an analogy that will hold up, but it may.
Superficially, the first phase of a bull fight involves the matador’s surrogates taunting and annoying the bull to weaken his stamina. Hillary, as the bull weakener was sublime. She goaded him. She positioned him to be himself. She endured his interruptions and bullying. She weakened him.
Now, my thoughts about what transpired and what to look for on tonight.
Takeaways
The Moderator: A-/B+
I was slow to appreciate the superb professionalism of the moderator. At first, I fumed as he failed to rein in 140Characters. Neither candidate ever respected his efforts to enforce time limits. And here’s the stunner. Nor, should they. Truly, do we want a presidential candidate who is meek enough to stop speaking because a talking head says to? The moderator attaches a time limit to his questions to comply with the networks’ schedules. Two minutes? Bah!! It might require four minutes to answer the question adequately.. For the most, the moderator stayed out of the way and allowed the candidates to be themselves. That was his greatest service to the American people. Hillary would have been pilloried for that preening smile that dominated the last 20-30 minutes of the debate except for her opponent. 140Characters took the blue ribbon for worst presidential debate ever.
- He is not Ivy League smart. Sure, he went to the Univ. of Pennsylvania Wharton School but he was a legacy student. For the overwhelming part, legacy equals white privilege. What this means is that for now he is not smart enough to manage the information overload that must feel like quicksand. The intellectual divide between the two candidates is huge.
The most tone-deaf statement ever
Supposedly, Marie Antoinette said “Let them eat cake.” She lost her head.
“That makes me smart” was heard by approximately 80 million viewer.
Simply put, 140Characters declared he didn’t pay taxes. Subsequent media investigation revealed that the brilliant businessman had lost $916 million dollars in a single year. And that loss continues to shelter his income. Over $600 million in taxes, last year, with most of it taxed at 39.6% and he paid no taxes. Yes, it makes him smart and amazingly tone-deaf to the common American. But, if there is a year to be tone-deaf, this is it.
Contractors supposedly performed in a sub-par fashion, and, he unilaterally decided how much was to be withheld from the final invoice. An authoritarian disgrace. Now, their taxes pay for his Secret Service protection — another smart freebie.
Lookaheads
Smugness Must Disappear
For someone with a middle-class background, Hillary has an unenviable sense of entitlement. Half of 140Characters’ supporters are “deplorables” but how are they identified? Evidently, Hillary has forgotten about the alt- righters. If Hillary can’t be bothered to remember them, why should the electorate? Disrespecting all 140Characters’s supporters makes it hard to wean one from his camp.
Beat his brains out with facts and forego the self-congratulatory smiles as you attempt to g0ad him into a blow-out. The deeper he gets into the debate, the more the intellectual overload will tell. His intellectual deficiencies will continue to tell.
Hillary Must Resist Goading
She wheeled him in with slight cuts. Tonight, the cuts will be deeper and more blood will flow. If she makes him angry, it will gush. Picadora Hillary will continue the inhumane (if we had any evidence he was human) treatment. So Picadora Hillary, prepare to allow Matadora Hillary to finish the job.
