Because I was driving the Texas countryside last night, I listened to the debate on the radio the old-fashioned way. With no visual input to distract from the conversation, it was clear that Donald Trump won. It didn’t even sound close. Hillary droned on and stumbled because she doesn’t do well unscripted. The Donald embraced the suck, went on offense, and relished the opportunity to come out swinging.
Here is what I heard, synthesized:
Hillary — “I have plans. Go check my website.”
Donald — “You’re all talk. You’ve had years and done nothing or made things worse.”
To her credit, Hillary Clinton does have plans, none of which sensible people agree with. She’s got a whole website full of plans! After the last eight years, it sounds positively terrifying.
Donald doesn’t sound like he has many plans or the plans he does have sound loosey-goosey too-good-to-be-true super awesome fabulous plans, you-won’t-believe-how-good-they-are plans.
Listening to his word salad, I had an epiphany: Democrats are getting a taste of their own toxic say-anything medicine. Debating a Democrat is a nightmare because they say things they don’t mean, mean things they don’t say, and will say anything to get elected.
Good luck debating a Democrat. They’re all Id. It’s how they feel. It’s not fair. It’s going be hopeful and changey. Just give them more power. We have to pass the legislation to see what’s in it, but it will be super great, believe me! Sound familiar?
Donald Trump is not the first presidential overweening narcissist novice candidate to sell the spectacular.
How does a rational person debate that garbage talk? It’s impossible. Grown ups discuss ideas and policies that support those ideas. Overgrown children throw tantrums, whine about how unfair it is, and promise that government will take care of everything for you and me, just you wait and see.
So last night, Hillary got to experience what it was like to have her own nonsense spewed back at her. She didn’t like it.
There is a part of me who enjoys seeing the Left trying to get their bearings and their arms around Donald Trump’s latest string of words. Like Obama, half of what Trump says could mean anything. It’s a jumble. A voter can see what he wants to see.
Here’s what sticks, though: The feeling of what Trump says. The feeling is synthesized in “screw you and your stupid plans, we’ve heard about how you’re going to stem the tides and hang the moon and create jobs and remake infrastructure and blah, blah, blah and we think you’re full of sh*t. You never do anything and you and all you smart people can shove it. You have no idea what real life is like. You’ve ruined everything. Stop telling us what to think. Stop telling us what to say. Stop shaming us. Shut the hell up.”
That feeling rings true. About 25% of the country feels satisfied with the way things have gone for the last eight years. Another 25% were just happy to have the first black man as president. For all that, between 60 and 70% of the country feels like the country has gone to hell in a hand basket. The worst part is Hillary is more of the same.
In an election cycle twenty years ago, neither of these candidates would have made it to the final round. Hillary comes off as a criminal commie apparatchik. Donald comes off as Barack Obama only whiter and with less polish. But, hey, America chose wonderboy Obama for eight years. He failed spectacularly, but the press has consistently and dutifully polished that turd the entire time.
Donald won the debate, but can he win the election? Barack Obama did. Easily. That should terrify Democrats. They’re facing something very familiar to Republicans and finding it miserable. It’s not so much fun being on the receiving end of an arrogant, bloviating juggernaut is it?
