A rarity happens next week: a presidential debate before either party’s convention. Trump probably should not have agreed to the unusual CNN debate this early. If Biden melts down or freezes up, Dems have time to replace him before they’re set to nominate him in Chicago. I would have waited, but where there is a camera and a national audience, you will have a Trump.
Trump should want to run against Biden, and more specifically his record, rather than against a player to be named later. Holding the debate this early might be a bad decision. A fresh candidate could beat Trump. Biden probably cannot.
CNN, not known for its honesty and fairness (it famously gave Donna Brazile the debate questions for Hillary ahead of time) keeps changing the rules to favor Biden at the Atlanta debate. All of Biden’s requests, like CNN being able to mute the candidates (read: Trump), and no audience, have been granted. Both are unprecedented.
At least having no audience there will make Biden feel at home, just like at one of his campaign rallies.
Biden also made sure that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is polling at 15 percent, was not included. George Floyd got more oxygen in Minneapolis than the Biden campaign is giving RFK Jr. in Atlanta. Biden, who famously has not provided Secret Service protection to the vulnerable Kennedy, did offer to book him a room at the Lorraine Motel.
Biden probably had one request denied, namely that a team of Visiting Angels be in the wings to show him off stage.
Given that Biden became oddly lucid during his State of the Union address, Trump did have one poignant request: that both he and Biden be drug tested before the debate. I disagree, because if they make those two aged men tinkle in a bottle before the event, the debate would be delayed for an hour just to get measurable levels.
One could argue these two geezers should just argue in the balcony seats at The Muppet Theater instead. Dana Bash and Jake Tapper will moderate with the mute button. If nothing else, their efforts will serve to remind us that kindergarten teachers are woefully underpaid.
It is funny how political bedfellows change. For the last presidential debate, Trump was famously prepared by Chris Christie. He is no longer on Trump’s side. Back then, he was a good guy to have on your side, unless you were in a canoe.
CNN will provide Trump an unfiltered national audience, but the reality is that most of them have already made up their minds. This election will be decided by about 500,000 swing voters in six or seven swing states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and maybe Georgia. The debate, if it sways any votes, will focus on the issues that those voters care about.
While Biden was having his Hollywood libs raise money for him in LA, Trump was cutting into Biden’s core support at a black church in Detroit. Biden’s rapidly falling poll numbers among African Americans have alarmed the Dems. That is no surprise. Here is Donald Trump with thirty-four felony convictions, a mug shot, more charges pending, a probation officer, a gold toilet at his mansion and three different baby mamas. He was welcomed in Detroit like a prodigal son.
The issues should be well defined. Trump wins on the issues that matter: the border, crime, inflation and wars of choice engulfing us. Not having an answer for any of that, Biden will run on abortion. And he will head-fake us with fashionable liberal worries like global warming, trans rights and whatever “Trump is a threat to democracy” means.
The much-bellowed “threat to democracy,” as best as I can understand it, is the lie the left propagates that Trump aspires to be some kind of Roman emperor. Too bad the name “Orange Julius” is already trademarked.
Replacing Joe is tricky, since Kamala Harris is a disaster. Rumors were that Dem operatives contemplated replacing Joe with Hillary at the convention, but Kamala heard about it and said, “Over my dead body” — which got Hillary thinking.
Ron Hart is a libertarian op-ed humorist, an award-winning author, and a frequent guest on TV and radio. He can be contacted at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.
