90 minute debate in six parts, Trump will fail because bluster and bull aren't a October Surprise

The toast is not yet burnt. Trump will need to win all three events. Won’t happen because all Trump has are bizarre lies and falsehoods.

One week from today, President Trump and former VP Biden will meet on the debate stage for the first time.

Rachel @Maddow, @NicolleDWallace, @JoyAnnReid and Brian Williams anchor @MSNBC’s special coverage starting at 8 p.m. ET.https://t.co/oioqKEok1b— MSNBC Public Relations (@MSNBCPR) September 22, 2020

The first presidential debate is one week from tonight. Here are the topics they'll discuss: https://t.co/Ynf8AagF0P

— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) September 22, 2020

-The Trump and Biden Records

The president on violent protesters: “Cans of tuna fish. They go out and buy tuna fish and soup. You know that, right?…Because they throw it. It's the perfect weight, tuna fish, they can really rip it, right? And that hits you. No, it's true. Bumble Bee brand tuna.”— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 23, 2020

“Our country.” Very subtle. Almost makes you forget the subject of the president's criticism is an American citizen and a duly elected federal lawmaker. https://t.co/rIkOmeSvZR

— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) September 23, 2020

Once you die, you're a “nobody” to Donald Trump even if you're his brother. Robert Trump died 5 weeks ago and (a) we still don't know a cause of death; and (b) Donald has never mentioned him again. It's like a miracle–he just disappeared.

— Nell Scovell (@NellSco) September 23, 2020

-The Supreme Court

Another bitter Supreme Court confirmation fight could further erode public confidence in government. Supreme Court confirmations have always been political — senators are thinking about their reelection campaign when they vote for or against a justice. But confirming a justice in October of an election year would prove to the public that power is the only factor that matters.

More importantly, confirming a conservative justice in October of an election year (or worse, the lame-duck sessions) would strengthen the case advocated by progressive court-packers. Their argument is obvious: Republicans blocked Merrick Garland (an Obama nominee) in 2016 because they said he was nominated too close to the election, then proceeded to confirm Neil M. Gorsuch in 2017. Then, they hypocritically installed another conservative just weeks before the 2020 election, completely contradicting their own stated principles. To the progressives, the only fair move would be to add new justices to the court to correct what they see as an artificial imbalance.

The court-packers might not succeed initially: Biden has been noncommittal on the issue lately, and he has historically opposed adding new justices. But if Republicans push another judge through before the election is over, we’d teeter closer to a dystopic dynamic where the parties take turns adding new justices to the court, each time diminishing what little nonpartisan credibility the court still retains.

None of this will stop Trump from nominating a new judge. Team Trump could try to flip the short-term numbers with a popular nominee. And if the past four years are any indication, he doesn’t seem to care about the long-term consequences of any of his actions. The best hope is for the Senate to act wisely and delay the inevitable clash until after this election. But asking the Senate to show deliberation and self-control, especially in a year when everything has gone wrong, might be asking for the unlikeliest of miracles.

www.washingtonpost.com/…

x

Trump’s Supreme Court pick would be a risk — for himself and the country, @databyler writes https://t.co/0bhJmDOdaE

— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) September 22, 2020

-Covid-19

x

Asked why he hasn't said anything about the 200,000 Americans who have died due to the coronavirus, Trump turns away from the reporter, without answering, and says, “Anybody else?”

— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) September 22, 2020

x

Opinion: The hidden reason Trump’s “October surprise” will likely fail https://t.co/pvFIuc60Mq

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 22, 2020

his “October surprise” strategy of dangling a possible vaccine before or just after the election will almost certainly fail.

The public debate over Trump’s vaccine strategy has typically focused on his efforts to corrupt the vaccine approval process and the ways this will backfire by making it less likely that voters will believe him if he does go through with such an announcement.

All these complexities will also have to be communicated to a public that’s already deeply skeptical of Trump’s intentions on this front. Indeed, the very fact that he continues treating the vaccine like a pending cure-all miracle itself betrays the traits that will likely lead countless Americans not to trust him to handle this rollout.

“He’s always just trying to make the sale,” Konyndyk told me, citing Trump’s real estate past. “He’s not about solving a complex problem. He just wants to get you to sign on the dotted line.”

Finally, as economic historian Adam Tooze points out, the development of a vaccine will raise a host of global challenges in terms of coordinating intra-governmental and multinational pharmaceutical cooperation, and distributing it in poor and developing countries. The United States should play an active role. But Trump is snubbing the World Health Organization, which suggests more leadership abdication ahead.

Trump continues to undermine the possibilities of international cooperation. He continues to mock the mask-wearing and social distancing we’ll need to keep going even after we get a vaccine.

He has long told the states (which must be equipped for its rollout) to fend for themselves in getting medical equipment. He has screamed at governors in ALL-CAPS TWEETS to reopen their states despite public health needs.

www.washingtonpost.com/…

-The Economy

Let’s take a short walk & reminisce on a few of the many failings of Donald J Trump and remind folks exactly why he’s the wrong person to lead us out of this recession… #TrumpSlump #TrumpIsAFailure pic.twitter.com/BtUwfBuMv7— 𝕋𝕚𝕡𝕤𝕪_𝕋𝕖𝕩𝕒𝕟 #Bluenami2020 (@Tipsy_in_Texas) September 22, 2020

Double-dip recession? https://t.co/lPHnLDXwKR

— USA TODAY Money (@USATODAYmoney) September 22, 2020

-Race and Violence in our Cities

Law-lessness & dis-order: The core of Trump's hellacious hypocrisy || By Robert S. Becker https://t.co/p9UYQ52pgT

— SafetyPin-Daily (@SafetyPinDaily) September 22, 2020

“Race and violence in our cities” will be a debate topic, a framing so shameless even John Burge would cringe. https://t.co/IBbzE3t8mF

— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) September 22, 2020

Good lord! The MAGA rally that started in a parking lot of a mall in the suburbs and ended with a caravan to Portland that resulted in death appears to have been a Russian op. It was organized by Alek Kyzik who is still on Facebook – not his real name!https://t.co/cYnIhLQTcg

— Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) September 22, 2020

-Integrity of the Election

Rs may have stolen 4 SCOTUS seats:

1. Kerry suspected hacking in 04 (Justice Alito)
2. We never found out if vote tallies or voter data was changed in 2016 (Gorsuch & Kavanaugh)
3. In 2000, Rs blocked FL recount & wrongly purged 12k FL voters; Bush “won” by 537 votes (Roberts). https://t.co/FPV2Xv9SXE

— Jennifer Cohn ✍🏻 (@jennycohn1) September 22, 2020

Basically, Trump has now explicitly declared that he's counting on the 9th justice whom he nominates to help him suppress millions of votes. That seems newsworthy. https://t.co/ek8Qm9vuGy

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) September 22, 2020

“confirmation bias” is a thing. And yes you need to get the hell offa facebook now. https://t.co/sOraRLVDyW

— Robert Young Pelton (@RYP__) September 22, 2020

p class=”is-empty-p”>

September 22, 2020