Unknowns following the 2024 presidential debate prompt the questioning of each candidate
By Chris Honoré
The Prologue:
At campaign rallies, in sit down interviews, during an unexpected four-year term defined by a lethal “should we try injecting bleach?” pandemic, two impeachments, a preference for dictators, followed by a mendacious reaction to his 2020 loss of the White House made manifest in “The Big Lie/Stop the Steal,” and his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, which was breathtakingly revealed on Jan. 6 when he incited an armed, violent mob to take over the Capitol while conspiring to stop the peaceful democratic transfer of power, we have come to know Donald Trump, and his chilling MAGA base (that now includes the Republican Party).
And not to forget his two courts have found against him — one (in a civil case) for sexual assault, followed by a 34-count felony conviction for the payment of “hush money,” as it is called, to a porn star.
In other words, when we hear commentators, columnists, and elected officials say that Trump represents an existential threat to our democracy, they are not being hyperbolic, but reminding us that the stakes for the 2024 election are breathtakingly high. That’s the context going forward.
The Debate:
And so I, along with some 50 million Americans, watched the first of two scheduled presidential debates, not with trepidation but with anticipation. I fully expected that the Joe Biden who took his place on the CNN dais would be the same man who stood before Congress and gave a vigorous, challenging State of the Union address. I gave little notice to Donald Trump as he emerged stage left, wearing his signature red tie. After the moderators made their introductory remarks, the questioning began. I don’t recall if Biden took the first question, but I will never forget his opening response. His voice was soft, raspy, the words bumping into one another, his tone one of hesitancy, absent of strength and conviction.
I remember silently urging him to clear his throat, to reach under the podium and, while Trump spoke, take a sip of water. Every question Trump was asked was an opportunity for rebuttal, every lie that Trump told (The New York Times counted 41 false or misleading statements) begged to be called out and challenged.
Time after time, Trump was asked a direct question which was ignored, absent any comment by the moderators. Did he not advocate a mass roundup of undocumented migrants, some having lived in the U.S. for decades, to be detained in camps while they awaited deportation? Never answered. Would he accept the final outcome of the 2024 election regardless of the outcome? His response: only if it’s fair. Embedded in that equivocation is that he will be the final arbiter.
The debate continued, and at times the President seemed adrift, and my concern increased. Was it Joe’s responsibility to fact-check Trump, pointing out that Trump’s answers revealed a bleak, dystopian view of America, reminiscent of his “American Carnage” inaugural day speech? I waited. Biden’s term in office has been extraordinary, his accomplishments a stunning contrast to Trump’s four years of chaos and mendacity. “Come on Joe. You got this. This is your moment,” I said to myself. “The guy’s an empty suit.” And still I waited. “Maybe in his closing statement,” I thought, feeling suddenly unmoored.
The country needed a hard-hit fly ball into the cheap seats. Okay, a triple would work. Then steal home. But not to be.
The Epilogue:
Of course, shortly after the President and the candidate left the stage, another painful debate ensued among the Democrats. Imagine a stone dropped in the middle of a placid pond, sending concentric ripples in all directions, increasing in size and velocity. And so this new debate grew in intensity, concluding in a throat clenching staccato of questions or statements: Is Joe too old? Was his performance a one-off? Did he merely have a bad night? Can he prevail in the presidency for four more years? The concern has become seismic.
Donald Trump simply cannot win the presidency. He must not return to the White House. Perhaps he can last four more years, but our democracy won’t. As I write this, two weeks have passed, and this unprecedented stress test for the Democrats continues. With a mixture of regret and urgency, the number of elected Democrats calling for President Biden to step down grows.
Time is of the essence, we’re told. And there’s this: the media, ignoring Trump and his disturbing Truth Social screeds, continues to microscopically report on Joe Biden’s every extemporaneously spoken word, while pointing to his reliance on the teleprompter. To the media’s massive discredit, there has been no mention, in print or on screen, that the President has, since childhood, struggled with a formative stutter. I wonder if he favors the teleprompter because it allows him to avoid hesitating while searching for an elusive word. And is it not possible that a childhood stutter can impact adult speech in such a way that one’s hurried or seemingly uncertain syntax can be misinterpreted as some form of cognitive decline?
Granted, with Trump it’s not volume or articulation; instead, it’s his reckless, chilling content, his unhinged word salads, followed by paragraphs of authoritarian non sequiturs. Is his unabashed, reflexive lying, his unrelenting need for fevered retribution not pathological? Isn’t this a question Republicans should be asking? How this stunning, unprecedented moment will resolve is yet unknown. What is known is that Donald Trump must not win the 2024 election.
Still, I continue to believe that on Joe Biden’s worst day (e.g. the recent debate), he is far superior to Donald Trump who could not have stood on the post-NATO dais taking questions from the press that required an extraordinary depth of understanding, experience, and knowledge. And I hope voters know that while President Biden was meeting with NATO leaders, Trump was hosting an authoritarian ally
of Putin.
Email Ashland resident Chris Honoré at [email protected].
