Are you as nervous as we are about the show tonight? Yeah, sure, of course Hillary’s much smarter than Donald, and in a real debate she could obviously clean his clock. But this election isn’t really about politics as much as it is about reality television, and voters don’t care about policy and facts as much as they care about style and drama, so Hillary might actually lose by being the most qualified politician onstage.
But if you can bring yourself to watch tonight, here are a few things to keep an eye out for, starting with:
1. Clinton’s experience
She’s been doing debates her entire adult life, and even got to hone her skills against a single opponent (Bernie) in this election cycle. Trump, in contrast, has mostly only debated recently, and in a group — which means he could sit back from time to time if he didn’t have anything to contribute. Next thing to watch for:
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2. Special guests
The Clinton campaign arranged for advisor Marc Cuban to sit in the audience, and Trump countered by inviting Bill Clinton accuser Gennifer Flowers. Who knows what he could make out of that — maybe he’ll invite her up on stage.
3. Lies
And Trump could bring up all kinds of lies. There’s the claim that Hillary’s health is failing — there’s no real evidence of that but it’s a good story. Or he might blame her for the birther movement that was really all his doing. Or he could accuse her foundation of wrongdoing, when it’s really his foundation that’s a big scam. Whatever he says, he’s unlikely to be fact-checked by moderators. They don’t fact-check The Bachelor, why should they fact-check this reality show?
4. Instant & omnipresent commentary
But really, the biggest thing to watch in the debate isn’t even going to be a part of the debate, and that’s social media. The best reactions and analysis will be happening in real time, so you can just open up your Twitter feed and watch that. You don’t even have to see the ugly sausage-making at all.
Bob LaBlah
Rest assured, no matter what happens tonight neither one of them are going to condemn this particular group who owns NYC. They know better than to speak out against “them”.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/man-convicted-brutal-beating-gay-man-bail-article-1.2806971
NateOcean
Seriously, I expect Trump to just start flinging poo around the stage and audience. That’s what Orangutans do.
Kieran
@Bob LaBlah: Too bad the attacker wasn’t a Trump supporter. It would be on every news outlet across America.
joeyty
I just learned that 1/3 of voters haven’t made up their minds and are waiting to see this debate to decide.
joeyty
@Bob LaBlah: Those inbreeds don’t own NYC by any means, believe me, but they certainly do have a good share of political power.
joeyty
(Hillary will lie too and say she doesn’t know Bill is running around with fat bubbly white trash girls).
Bob LaBlah
@joeyty: Doesn’t Bill look sickly these days of late? I swear it pains me to watch and listen to him on television.
Alistair Wiseman
@Bob LaBlah:
“…this particular group who owns NYC.”
That is a rather anti-Semitic thing to say.
Alistair Wiseman
Gennifer Flowers was not invited to tonights debate and is not attending as a guest of Donald Trump. Get the story right, Queerty.
joeyty
@Bob LaBlah: All of a sudden he looks very unhealthy, yes. Which I’m sorry to see (even if I don’t want him becoming First Husband).
Alistair Wiseman
@joeyty:
Yes, I noticed that as well. And I voted for him twice back when was a Democrat.
Alistair Wiseman
Its already happened. The link below shows a sign posted outside the debate hall about trigger warnings. They don’t want little, precious Leftist snowflakes running for their safe spaces. Sad. 🙁
http://www.mrctv.org/blog/hofstra-university-provides-trigger-warning-presidential-debate
joeyty
@Alistair Wiseman: “trigger warnings” lol
DMRX
@Alistair Wiseman: Read the article, moron. The sign was moved from a different event. It was (a very poor) joke.
Kangol
Well, Hillary Clinton cleaned Donald Trump’s clock about 1,000 times tonight. He lied, he rambled, he screamed at her. He was utterly unprepared to be on stage tonight and totally unprepared to be President, now or ever.
Bob LaBlah
@Kangol: For me, theres just one problem: Yes, she looked good only because Mr. Obnoxious can make a buzzing beehive sound intelligent when compared to his public speaking skills (he sure succeeded in doing just that tonight). Hillary also looked old and simple physically tired. She almost made Bob Dole of 1996 (against Bill Clinton) look like Fla Flav.
She should have started more stir about his taxes. He has to reveal who he owes and their lies the root as to why he is not going to release those taxes. The monied people of NYC (for argument sake I won’t go no further than saying Wall Street and its controllers) won’t loan him a dime so he went to the Russians. All that money he claims to have made was nearly ALL owed out to others. And their mainly Russians. I tell you, this is a mess we have here folks.
joeyty
People see what they want to see. I thought both did equally ….well…or bad. I still prefer him, but I’ll hope for the best if she wins.
Kangol
@Bob LaBlah: It is a mess. I actually expected him to do much better. Much better. But it’s clear he doesn’t have a clue about many basic issues. When you are born on third base and a lifelong bully, and you are surrounded by yes-men and adoring women, you may get the idea that you can do and say anything, and people will go along with it. That you can just phone it in, as he does figuratively and literally all the time, and that’s going to be enough.
Look, Trump’s fans will love him no matter what. I don’t think he helped himself, though, by that poor performance. Clinton was calm, knowledgeable, often funny, and unflappable. She had the higher bar to surmount, and she did. He had a low bar to step over and he tripped.
And they’re both old. She’s 68 and he’s 70. I’m not a misogynist, so I don’t judge her visually more harshly than him. He looked awful and sounded worse. He really should not have gone after her stamina, since he seemed to give out at the end. And again: what was up with all that sniffling?
Bob LaBlah
@Kangol: “what was up with all that sniffling?”
The man is seventy years old but he was also a young man during the disc era starting in 1975 and ended around 1981 or so. He AINT no different than a lot of other people (such as myself) who were asked many times “do you have allergies because I notice you sniffling a lot” but we DARE not say why. A lot of his outburst really lead me to believe the man is still “partying”. That substance from Colombia effected a helluva lot of people and rich boy here aint no exception to the rule.
Many of the things you saw in The Wolf of Wall Street are true. A lot of those guys are still higher than a kite and handling your money. As long as they do good no one (bosses) complain.
ErikO
@Alistair Wiseman: No it’s not, they really are extremely insular and some of them do practice inbreeding. They’re also extremely strict that they would even consider my adherent Orthodox Jewish friends to not be actually Jews.