Debate Abuse

The United States of America has PTSD this morning. Watching last evening’s broadcast - let’s agree to call it neither a debate nor presidential - was like being stuck in an elevator with a belligerent drunk for an hour and a half.

Donald Trump turned the event into a clinic on abusive behavior. Moderator Chris Wallace was quickly reduced to bargaining tactics in an attempt to manage his irascibility. “It’s okay, sir. You’ll like this next question.”

The ensuing chaos was a new low in national politics. But don’t worry. It was destined to go even lower.

My heart goes out to Joe Biden for enduring Trump’s rampage in person. But despite this difficult situation, I found Biden’s performance to be soundly disappointing. He struggled to make points clearly and was easily knocked off of his game by the president’s uninterrupted badgering.

Biden missed one easy layup after another. He could have mentioned Trump’s refusal to invoke the defense production act for testing and PPP. He didn’t. He could have thrown the Ukraine shakedown back on Trump’s face. He didn’t.

He could have countered Trump’s disproven allegations against Biden’s son by mentioning the millions in business deals that Trump’s own children have been granted by foreign actors. Opportunity missed.

Biden might have mentioned the recently-reported revelation that Trump personally, not his businesses, is in debt for $421 million to God knows whom with payments coming due imminently.

There were plenty of missed opportunities, but in the end, they probably don’t matter. Very little of last night’s carnival of chaos will matter, because one moment near the end of the debate is what most observers will remember. 

“Stand back and stand by!”

When asked by Wallace if he would denounce violent white supremacist groups on live television, President Donald John Trump instead chose to shout out a battle cry for race war. If you were waiting for the bottom of the Trump presidency to arrive, wait no longer.

It was an ugly, chaotic evening, but most of the details will fade from memory. Most of it, but not Trump’s dog whistle to domestic terrorists. That one brazen utterance will live on in infamy as one of the most chilling and despicable moments in the history of electoral politics.