President Trump did for the Tuesday debate what he has done for the political life of the country in his four years: supply as much rampaging volume, custom-busting obtrusion and outright inaccuracy as necessary to impose his will on the proceedings.
He declined to condemn white supremacy and let fly dark conspiracies about the voting process.
He mocked Joe Biden’s mask-wearing and intellectual firepower and seemed more interested in running against the caricature of his opponent than the man himself, once insisting that Mr. Biden supports defunding the police moments after the Democratic nominee made clear he did not.
And with inveterate interruption and well-practiced grievance, the president complained incessantly about the unfairness of it all, ensuring that the conversation — even on a subject as universally experienced as the coronavirus pandemic — turned back to his personal feelings and treatment at nearly every opportunity.
“Many of your Democrat governors said President Trump did a phenomenal job,” Mr. Trump offered in one exchange, sprinkling his typical first-person praise with a bit of third-person.
“‘President Trump did a phenomenal job,’” he repeated. “We did.”
He ticked through promises and boasts that strained credulity: about the velocity of vaccine availability, the lives he purportedly saved, the safety of his rallies, flashing more passion on the subject of Mr. Biden’s academic record than a virus that has killed more than 200,000 Americans on his watch.
Mr. Biden steered through an uneven rebuttal, recalling the president’s sunny projections of a largely virus-free Easter before settling on his thesis for the night.
“If you believe for a moment what he’s telling you in light of all the lies he’s told you about the whole issue relating to Covid,” Mr. Biden said, “he still hasn’t even acknowledged that he knew this was happening.”
On some level, this has long been the basic tension at the core of Mr. Trump’s quest to keep his job:
Which undecided Americans — to the extent that there are very many — can be swayed by a president whose personal behavior and threadbare credibility have already disappointed wide swaths of voters he needs?
Re-elections often reduce to this premise. The incumbent is dependable, or he isn’t. He has earned the deference to keep at it for four more years, or he hasn’t.
"course" - Google News
September 30, 2020 at 06:40PM
https://ift.tt/2EM2uR0
Of course, the debate was always going to be about Trump. - The New York Times
"course" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35q9ps5
https://ift.tt/35rCFi1
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Of course, the debate was always going to be about Trump. - The New York Times"
Post a Comment