• worldwidewave@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Old man doesn’t want to face someone nearly 20 years younger than him. Who’s too old to do the job now, Don?

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    4 months ago

    Of course he’s afraid to debate Kamala. She’s a prosecutor and he’s a convicted felon.

    • IllNess@infosec.pub
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      4 months ago

      Don’t turn off the mics on this debate. Ignore the host. Let Dementia Donnie gas himself out. Let Harris interrogate him of his crimes and put it in public. I wanna see how long he can kee on screaming at the mic for two hours.

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          4 months ago

          The thing is he doesn’t to admit to anything. People are going to vote for him no matter what but a small logical percentage could be swayed away from him.

          Catching him in lies and even maybe using that against him in the future.

          But really I just want to see his burnt orange face turn red.

      • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        I also recall she landed some really good body shots on Biden in the '20 primaries. They were pretty obviously scripted, but they still hit hard. It’s practically the only thing I remember about her primary run.

      • Mirshe@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Pretty much this. Since most presidential debates have abandoned fact-checking for this and the previous election, he’s free to lie, and nobody but the other candidate can call her on it.

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      FWIW, simply being a successful prosecutor doesn’t make someone competent. Harris is competent, but that’s not the reason why she was successful as a prosecutor. Prosecutors have the entire weight of the state behind them, which leads to most people taking plea deals. Even bad prosecutors end up putting tons of people in jail.

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    Ultimately, it’s his call.

    This is checks calendar 2024. Candidates don’t need to debate, they all have to agree to it. If Trump doesn’t want to debate, then it’s not going to happen unless they basically give into his demands, because ignoring debates no longer looks bad (which is insane, but here we are).

    • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)@badatbeing.social
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      It’s not that he needs to do the debate, but he did the first because it fed his ego of being a strong man. So, him having to back out of the debate without having a scapegoat will eat at his ego of a strong man. So this word salad he spews setting the stage to duck the debate is as about rationalizing it to his ego far more than any real campaign reasoning. Trump does everything for Trump, and this whole campaign is largely about getting in the White House so he can stay out of the big house (prison).

      Edit victim of autocorrect

        • ripcord@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Is it?

          I get that she was a prosecutor, but I’m simultaneously hearing people make this claim and at the same time say they haven’t seen her debate much, or she was unremarkable.

          Guess I just don’t want to get my hopes too high. We really need someone quick-witted and who can bat the bullshit down.

          • CoggyMcFee@lemmy.world
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            I agree, it’s not like she can cross-examine Trump in a debate. She can say her piece during her allotted time (hopefully uninterrupted depending on the format), and Trump can ignore all of it, make up whatever he wants, and speak just as much as her, without any requirement to respond to anything she says.

            So while her skills are certainly relevant, I don’t think the debate is necessarily the situation where I would say it’s her specialty. (Doesn’t mean she won’t do great, and I hope she does, but debating with Trump is definitely a “wrestling with a pig” kind of situation most of the time.)

      • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        Yeah, seems likely that other republicans knew Biden’s condition was worse than the campaign was letting on and Trump was banking on that for the debate (and election in general).

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          Well listening to all the conspiracies coming from the Right prior to the debate they expected the Biden we saw at the State of the Union. And afterwards they accused him of being on performance enhancing drugs (because he could make whole logical sentences that Trump is struggling with these days).

          Trump had a plan of just spewing a bunch of shit and calling Joe names, full stop. He got lucky that Joe made that easier for him, although he still made more sense than Trump. The Right has been running on the following since Trump announced:

          1. The immigrants that our economy depends on are out to replace white people/kill and rape white women/bring crime.

          2. Joe is old/sleepy (and sometimes responsible for things Trump did).

          3. Bury any mention of Project 2025 because nobody but elite Christofascists will benefit from it, and thus wildly unpopular even with the right.

          4. Keep Trump out of jail.

          Edit ugh spell check

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            4 months ago

            I dunno, I remember that days before the debate, there was an article that was talk about how the republicans were painting themselves into a corner with all of their Biden has Dementia rhetoric because they were setting the bar so low that if “Biden finished the debate with a pulse, he would have won by their metrics”. It’s probably the old case of double talk, really. Biden was simultaneously both a roided out giga brain secret Stalin and a feeble confused old man prepared to die at literally any second.

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      4 months ago

      It still very much looks bad. You come across as spineless, especially if you’re not way ahead in the polls.

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      I think debates don’t really matter anymore because what these people say and do is reported on constantly all day every day. That wasn’t how it used to be.

        • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          You know that the debate response had nothing to do with the debate topics or responses. Any other press conference that day would have likely had the same response. It wasn’t what he was saying that was the problem.

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            True, but until then, the Biden campaign had done a pretty decent job of keeping a lid on his condition. The debate made it impossible to hide any longer. They just had to YOLO him out there and pray it wouldn’t be a fucking disaster.

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            4 months ago

            Any other press conference that day would have likely had the same response.

            He’s done a decent number press conferences before and since that debate and has seemed perfectly capable during all of them, but the big difference is the debate is a 90 minute event in the evening when Sundowners hits hard, and most if not all of those press conferences have been around mid-day when he’s reportedly most lucid. Anyone who’s cared for or been around aging individuals with dementia can tell from the debate that he has dementia and its progressed pretty far

            • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              That’s my point. The debate itself had nothing to do with the issue.

              That just happened to be the event where it became more apparent to many people. It could have been any press conference or other speaking event instead.

              • eltrain123@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                That IS the issue in American politics. As much as you believe people should be in tune with what is going on, politically speaking… they aren’t. Middle America gets sound bites and moves on. A lot of misinformation hits with them because they aren’t paying attention to how messed up politics actually is.

                Things like presidential debates are worth tuning in to because it’s a single event (or 3) where you can get a condensed amount of information from the candidates. Most people don’t saturate their lives with politics. Things are changing because of social media, but that’s not necessarily for the better. Most people just want to live without the weight of the world on their shoulders all the time.

        • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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          4 months ago

          Debates don’t matter and that is a prime example. Trump gave no coherent answers while Biden was able to answer all but 2 questions. Yet the response was as if biden answered 0 questions and Trump intellectually ran circles around him.

          • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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            They do matter because a debate can show a lot more than just answers. For example, I think for a lot of folks, the lowest point was when they started arguing about fucking golf. It showed pretty much everyone that these guys are both just utterly divorced from the real problems facing Americans. Most everyone I know IRL was just disgusted with both candidates by that moment. That nobody cared Trump lied isn’t a surprise. It’d be like being surprised that the sun rose in the east. It’s what Trump does, he’s a bullshit artist and everyone knows it, even the people who vote for him. That debate didn’t really change anyone’s evaluation of Trump. What was a surprise was Joe coming on the stage and just being an unintelligible mess. He did kind of get it together in the back half, but by then, the damage was done. That debate did change plenty of people’s evaluation of Biden, myself included.

            • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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              4 months ago

              the lowest point was when they started arguing about golf. It showed everyone that these guys are both utterly divorced from the real problems facing Americans.

              You mean the short back and forth at the end of the 1 hour 30min debate where Joe Biden had clearly outlined the issues facing Americans, what he has already done and what he plans to solve them. Oh yeah a little back and forth of Joe insulting trump definitely invalidates his entire debate because it exposes that he is rich enough to play golf?? Did you just learn in that moment that Joe Biden was an elite class white boomer?

              When I read stuff like this I wonder if you watched the debate or you only saw a clip with some republican opinion posted above it.

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                I watched the whole thing, facepalming the whole way through because it was the most disastrously bad debate performance I’d ever seen, and I’ve been watching since Kerry/Bush. Look you don’t have to defend Joe’s honor anymore, he already backed out. And yeah, it was basically like watching the candidates argue over who had a better sports car or greener lawn; it didn’t invalidate anything as much as show just how disconnected both of them are from our concerns.

                • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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                  4 months ago

                  He wasn’t a charismatic superstar but I genuinely don’t understand how you could watch the whole debate and think Biden looked worse or that both were equally bad. I believe you when you say you watched the entire debate. I just struggle to understand how any sentient person comes to that conclusion. Trump was making the most insanely obvious fake claims and rewriting history to fit whatever narrative he decided to ramble on. While Biden was responding to every question with thought out answers and relevant policy to address the issue.

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        4 months ago

        That’s not necessarily represenative of how they act in person, spontaneously.

        I go in assuming all social media is basically a lie.

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            4 months ago

            I don’t lol.

            I do read lemmy some now though, and a ton of sources for stuff are (unfortunately) on X

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              4 months ago

              You can absolutely be in the loop on important stuff without going to Twitter.

              Stop supporting that shitstain and that Nazi haven by going there.

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                I’m just saying a lot of real news has to cite Twitter as a source, because it is a source.

                No one likes it.

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        4 months ago

        Also the format of the debates is pretty terrible. Giving only 2 minutes to answer on complex social and geopolitical topics only lends itself to trying to make the best sound-bite. I would love to see them experiment with longer form responses (even if that means fewer questions each debate), as well as things like cutaways for adding context and fact-checking.

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          4 months ago

          I would like the debate moderators to be less cowardly and I would like the fact checking. There should be a buzzer when a candidate tells a blatant lie.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    They should have changes, indeed. Like, before each new topic round, they should show short clips with fact checking the last debates’ statements on that topic.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Many people are saying that not only is dementia donnie afraid to debate a girl, but that he’s also just too old and should just drop out.

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    4 months ago

    Dementia Don, the racist rapist with 34 felonies is scared to death to debate her. He’s just too old, he can’t even complete a coherent sentence. He really should drop out before she embarrasses him and his cult of morons.

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      Why would he be afraid? She is not particularly smart, and she is very off putting. I think any extra time of her speaking would be a positive for his campaign.

      • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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        • Degree in PolSci and Econ
        • Head of econ soc, debate team, AKA sorority
        • Doctorate of Jurisprudence
        • president of NLBSA
        • Passed the bar
        • Immediately made Deputy DA
        • chief of Career Criminal Division
        • elected to SF DA as the underdog of 3 candidates, ran unopposed for second term
        • First woman, African American and South Asian American Attorney General
        • Won a legal challenge against a coalition of the five largest mortgage lenders for better rates
        • Brokered privacy policy with FAANG+HP+Blackberry
        • Elected to Senate, committees on Budget, Homeland Security, Fed Spending, Emergency Management, Intelligence, Judiciary, Constitutional Rights, Privacy in Tech
        • Chosen as VP pick
        • Co authored withdrawal from Afghanistan
        • Negotiations with France over nuclear submarines
        • Thurgood Marshall Award
        • Newsweeks 20 most powerful women in 2005
        • Time100 three times, twice before becoming VP
        • bipartisan justice award
        • Two honorary doctorates
        • two books + a children’s book

        • not as smart as Trump

        Hmm, yeah, sure.

        • kelseybcool@lemmy.world
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          I know that wasn’t necessarily meant for me but I didn’t know all that, so thanks for putting the list together!

          • Random Dent@lemmy.ml
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            4 months ago

            She’s also from a very gifted family in general. Both her parents had PhDs, her mother was a researcher who’s credited with making significant advancements in understanding breast cancer, her father was a professor of economics at Stanford and her sister is a lawyer and political analyst.

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            If a university beleives you have contributed a significant level of research / furthered a field of study to a certain point, then they can offer an honorary doctorate. Its like saying you’ve done the equivalent of a PhD thesis but didn’t do the PhD student part.

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          I never said anything about trump intelligence, but I dont see her at particularly smart. Smart people would be someone like Vivek or Elizebeth Warren, Harris is not in their league so she doesnt have that advantage.

          And many of those this are not really brags…

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              Yeah that’s a troll there. Mr Ramaswamy is many things, but he’s about as smart as he is the pride of Columbus, and most of us don’t even realize he’s from here. Hell he didn’t even manage to be the shame of the city.

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                I really detest him. As an Indian guy I hate seeing conservatives extol him as a genius, when he’s actually just a billionaire grifter pandering to conservatives.

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              The one that is uncontroversially an abysmal failure would be “Co authored withdrawal from Afghanistan”. That is incredible someone would even want to mention it.

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                  Of course I could do better, give a map to a toddler and they could have done better. Think about it this way, which would you chose to try to defend, an airport in a city of 4.5 million (semi-hostile) people, or at an AFB that they put billions of dollars into 1 hour north surrounded by desert?

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        4 months ago

        Sure, but Donald Trump is even less smart and even more off-putting. Any extra time of him speaking would be a positive for her campaign.

        Yet that doesn’t seem to detract from the reality that Trump resonates with a significant proportion of voters. I am certainly seeing genuine enthusiasm for Harris as well. Neither of these points have too much to do with how they would perform in a debate against each other on grounds of argument. Certainly respective optics will matter, but I feel like Trump’s optics have already shed the folks he’s going to lose, with very few hesitant conservatives remaining and many fanatics who will vote for him no matter which lines he crosses

        • CableMonster@lemmy.ml
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          Sorry man but you are eating up the propaganda. Trump is legitimately funny and has charisma enough to be one of the most famous people in the world for decades. The reason people say trump is so bad and dumb and repelling is because it is propaganda.

          • undergroundoverground@lemmy.world
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            He’s infamous. That’s not the same as famous. He’s infamous for being wold class at being slimy, racist and immoral but, despite this, still managing to have a cult of brain dead sycophants who worship his every action.

            The reason people say trump is bad and repelling is Trumps own actions and words. The difference is that those people that find him to be exactly that haven’t been groomed into rejecting the evidence of their eyes and ears.

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              He is now, but he was top tier famous for decades before politics. If you were actually intereseted in what is happening not just the propaganda, almost everything bad they say about trump is a direct lie or misleading. You just need to read past the headline to see its propaganda. Litearlly just dive down on any story.

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                So, just to be clear, its everyone else in the world who’s wrong and susceptible to propaganda and your little cult whos correct?

                Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you’ve been groomed into knee-jerk dismissing anything bad anyone ever says about trump as propaganda, before you’ve even had a chance to consciously think about it. However, that’s not the same as your wild and baseless dismissals being the right thing to do. It just means that you have been conditioned to ignore the evidence of your eyes and ears.

                What makes you immune to this “propaganda” that all those who fall for it lack? Which bad bits are true then, if its only “nearly all of it” that’s wrong.

                • CableMonster@lemmy.ml
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                  I am not going to vote for trump, but no, everyone is susceptible to it, and some are more susceptible. The MAGA people also believe propaganda but its different types, they come from an experience of the government fucking them over for decades and want someone they believe will fight back.

                  I am more immune to propaganda based on being an former engineer that just looks at data to make my beliefs. The trick there is to actually look at correct data and not be influenced by headlines or misleading information. The big problem is that your group believes that the media will tell you the truth and will not lie to you. For example look back a month or so ago when they were all claiming Biden was “sharp” when that was obviously a lie to anyone who was skeptical. Anyone that was impartial could see that he wasnt fully functional anymore back in 2020.

          • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Trump is legitimately funny

            To laugh at.

            People confuse his cruelty as humor. Show me a clip of Trump being funny that is not at someone else’s expense.

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        Wow this AI generated comment is pretty awful. You better improve fast or they’re gonna send you to Chasiv Yar!

  • ArugulaZ@lemmy.zip
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    He probably is afraid. He doesn’t get a rich people handicap, though. He can’t just pencil in any score like he does when he cheats at golf. As for reimbursement, L to the O to the L on that one. Maybe the GOP should “reimburse” all the people who died from COVID because they listened to Trump’s dumb advice about taking aquarium cleaner to cure it.

    Wasn’t that the problem with the first debate? CNN made it as cushy as possible for Trump while putting Biden at a disadvantage. They didn’t fact check all of Trump’s lies, because why should a news channel report facts?

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      Yeah, I’m pretty sure an unscrupulously fair moderator who can cut microphones and calls out any and all inaccuracies would end Trump. Of course, that would then look unfair, and we can’t have that.

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    Somebody send hima a pacifier and a rattle so he can throw a classic tantrum like the baby bitch he is

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    When he is asking for changes its more than claims. People don’t do things for no reason and fear is the only valid reason.