I watched it. It wasn’t a debate. Two candidates stood at podiums before Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, CNN’s moderators. It had been decided that Bash and Tapper would not fact-check, thus allowing either debater to lie, exaggerate, and deny factually based scenarios. Trump lied and made outrageous allegations throughout the night. Neither Bash nor Tapper called out Trump’s lies.

Lies and More Lies

Here are a few of Trump’s lies

• Trump attempted to blame Nancy Pelosi for the violence on Jan. 6 by not calling in help from the National Guard.
• On the issue of reproductive rights and freedoms, Trump claimed onstage that Democrats want to “kill the baby.”
• Trump said he is responsible for bringing the cost of insulin down for seniors.
• Trump claimed his statements about Charlottesville Nazis were a “hoax.” They weren’t a hoax. Trump said there good people on each side.
• Trump said he had the best environmental record. He had the worst EPA administrators in years. The first was forced to resign, and the second was a former coal company lawyer.  
• Trump said Biden called Black people “super predators”.
• Trump claimed he had the “greatest economy in the history of our country.”
• Trump said Biden is a criminal. The only criminal on the stage was Trump, with 34 felonies,

Trump lied all night and denied, denied, denied. He is good at lying, and because of this, people who watched and maybe had forgotten will get a refresher course on what he’s like. He denied he had anything to do with the attack on the Capitol and blamed the lack of action against invaders on Nancy Pelosi. He denied he even knew porn star, Stormy Daniels. He said that Biden was corrupt and blamed Biden for deaths due to COVID because they died in 2021. Trump’s chief science advisor noted that most of the deaths could have been prevented if Trump had acted as his scientists had advised. 

Trump got away with murder just as he did on January 6.

Biden is the president and will be again

I liked that Joe Biden called out Trump and said he was a whiner. Trump is a criminal, rapist, and fraudster. He was considered by experts to be one of the worst presidents in American history. The only legislation he passed was a tax cut for the wealthy and corporations. The tax cut meant a massive increase in the national debt. Remember, he filed for bankruptcy six times. Some included Trump’s Taj Mahal, two Atlantic City casinos, and Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts. He’ll bankrupt the county. He cares nothing about democracy and only himself.

According to sources close to Biden, he had a cold. At first, I thought it was painful to watch. Others have reported the same. But as the night went on, I thought Biden stood his ground. You’ve got to keep in mind that the other guy is a serial liar. Every time Trump spoke, he lied and exaggerated. And the moderators just sat there like bumps on a log. However, on one occasion, Dana Bash tried to get Trump to say if he would accept the election result no matter who won. And of course he won’t. But in all reality these two let Trump run rampart. The big story should be about them and how they failed and didn’t respect their own profession

Today, Biden was in North Carolina. He was strong, robust, and eager to shout out that he speaks the truth and knows the difference between right and wrong.

Who do you want for president?

There is no question in my mind that Joe Biden should be re-elected president in the November election. It’s true that newspapers and other media have reported that there are calls for Joe Biden to step down. He won’t and he shouldn’t. Here are few thoughts by some very important women who write daily about politics.

Diane Ravitch wrote today that Biden has been a great president, and she will support him all the way to victory. Diane is a prolific blogger, author and supporterof public education.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat said creeping authoritarianism has turned political culture, like a debate, into a stage for propaganda. She is the leading author, professor, and spokesperson on the perils of autocracy that Trump and MAGA will bring to the United States. We saw two elderly men, like me, on stage. One is a criminal with ties to autocrats around the world who want to destroy our democracy. The other man, President Joe Biden, is the most vital voice for democracy, here and abroad. Who do you want to be the next president? A convict or decent man? A propagandist or a truth-teller?

Heather Cox Richardson, an American historian, author, and educator, is also author of a Letters from an American. If you are not subscribing, follow the link to do so. These letters are amazing. In her letter about the debate, she calls out the media and pundits (talking heads) for not calling out Trump for who he, and focusing on one bad night that Joe Biden had performing for them. She puts it this way:

At the end of the evening, pundits were calling not for Trump—a man liable for sexual assault and business fraud, convicted of 34 felonies, under three other indictments, who lied pathologically—to step down, but for Biden to step down…because he looked and sounded old. At 81, Biden is indeed old, but that does not distinguish him much from Trump, who is 78 and whose inability to answer a question should raise concerns about his mental acuity…Of far more lasting importance than this one night is the clear evidence that stage performance has trumped substance in political coverage in our era. Nine years after Trump launched his first campaign, the media continues to let him call the shots. 

Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, June 27, 2024.

Finally, I want to add a few sentences from a letter I received yesterday from Stewart Brewster, who founded the Innovative Division of Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, and is a prolific editor and writer. I was fortunate to have one of my books, Science Experiences, published by Stewart. He wrote:

First, who ever came up with the idea of having this run for 90 minutes was out of their mind.  Few viewers will last that long.  Was that someone’s hidden strategy designed to hurt Biden?  Why didn’t they each  have access to  a glass of water?  Again part of the hidden agenda.

The entire episode was painful. I hope this is the last presidential debate. As someone said last night, if you haven’t made up your mind about who to vote for, you’re a moron.