A Second Debate?

A second debate? Really? A hot shower wasn’t enough to wash the first one off.

Apparently, if you give President Trump enough rope, he will hang himself. But that debacle tore at the fabric of America, and it cannot be good to do that again, no matter what. So, on balance, I say absolutely not. No more debates unless the president consents to wearing a shock collar and allows the moderator to kill Trump’s microphone when he breaks the rules. A president who flaunts decency and democracy to salve his own insecurities isn’t likely to get fitted for that collar.

In any event, that was not a debate. If it fairly represented the Trump team’s strategy—interrupt, make unsupported claims, issue a call to arms for his white supremacist followers to “stand-by” and be ready to be “poll watchers,” then they never intended to have a debate that aired both sides of the pressing matters that confront us.

Much as he was unable to engage in meaningful discussion of the pandemic, climate change, the economy or any other serious issue, the president chose not to meaningfully discuss a unique election, one driven by the safety demands of a virulent disease, but instead chose to fear-monger, and incite his followers to violence before the votes can be counted. Is it necessary to mention again that there is no historical data to suggest mail-in voting is lousy with fraud? I guess so. This Trump tactic is a continuing public attempt to sew confusion and doubt; an attempt never before made by a president in the history of our country.

Why would we risk another debate? What do you say to a president who won’t denounce white supremacy? It is easier than falling off a log, but he just couldn’t do it. Those are his people, and for better, but mostly worse, he won’t sacrifice a single vote in the name of decency. Why would we give him another opportunity to incite violence both at the polls and in the aftermath of an election whose results will not be known on election night? Why would you give this man another opportunity to promote voter intimidation, which by the way, is against the law? After he suggested a few weeks ago that North Carolinians should vote twice, also against the law, why in the world would we give him another audience of 100 million people? (Although, it’s hard to imagine that many people subjecting themselves to second round of elective root canal surgery.)

On the one hand, perhaps it would be self-destructive and shine yet another light on exactly who he is, but on the other hand if you don’t know by now, I doubt that another debate and more of that behavior is going to change your mind. Anyway, inasmuch as nothing sticks to him—no episode is ever a bridge too far—it is silly to think that any new revelation will create an “aha!” moment for voters who are on the fence.

That debates change minds or knock undecideds off the fence is a dubious assumption. The humorist David Sedaris has an insightful read on this year’s undecideds. He says, “Imagine a flight attendant coming down the aisle taking dinner orders. He says, ‘Madame, I have chicken, or a plate of broken glass covered in dog-do.’ The undecided voter says, ‘Tell me, how is the chicken prepared?’”

Edward Panetta led the University of Georgia’s Debate Team for thirty-three years: “The televised argument between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was not a debate. In a debate, each side is afforded equal time and the exchanges are rule-governed. People take turns speaking.

“As the Moderator, Chris Wallace, pointed out, Donald Trump was the primary instigator of repeated interruptions during the debate. This violated the rules set by the Commission on Presidential Debates and resulted in an imbalance of speaking time.

“When one assesses the evening, there are a number of reasons why Joe Biden could be considered the ‘winner.’ I say this against the backdrop that the loser tonight was American democracy.”

Trump’s refusal to counsel his minions to remain calm and allow the vote-counting process to unfold peacefully is unprecedented in American history. The peaceful transfer of power is the hallmark of American democracy. In blatant disregard for his FBI director, Christopher Wray, and his Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, who both went before Congress last week and said white supremacy groups are the greatest domestic terror threat, he told the Proud Boys, a terrorist organization, to “stand by.” No dog whistle that. As presidential historian Jon Meacham said, “[Donald Trump] declared war on democracy…Joe Biden is not on the ballot, we are.” And so we are.

A second debate will make two too many.