And here we are, time for the first Presidential debate for 2024. Ugh. Yes, there are still 129 days as of this posting until the election, and yes, this is unprecedentedly early, as neither candidate has even been officially nominated as of yet. But after months of debating if they’ll actually be debating — and knowing that extended, skillful dialogue is not a perceived strength of either candidate (albeit for very different reasons), it’s interesting what people have been saying about Thursday’s primetime match up…
“As we near Thursday’s debate, Americans are fixated on whether Joe Biden will stumble on stage or Donald Trump will blow up in rage. Anything’s possible in a debate – especially when both candidates are high-wire acts,” begins RealClearPolitics contributor Ron Faucheux.
“In an age when we have become inured to the drama in presidential politics, there is still something about this week’s debate that sets the pulse racing. There has probably been no occasion in the modern era when the stakes of a presidential debate have been so high, the competition so close, or the candidates’ performances so unpredictable. The direction of the long campaign, its outcome and even the ultimate identity of one of the party’s candidates could hinge on this 90-minute encounter in Atlanta. Do I exaggerate? Perhaps,” writes The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker.
“Rarely, if ever, has one candidate in a presidential debate had so much material to use against the other,” and, “Can Biden perform? Can Trump tone himself down?” writes AP’s Steve Peoples.
“How do you run a debate between two men whose combined age is two-thirds that of the US republic? The answer is to have no audience, mute the one not talking and schedule bathroom breaks (calling them commercials). It would be an overstatement to say that next week’s clash between Joe Biden and Donald Trump will be definitive. But in a close election in which each candidate’s mental capacity is under scrutiny, it will matter a lot,” wrote the Financial Times Edward Luce.
“This week’s debate between President Biden and Donald Trump won’t produce much in the way of civil dialogue over the nation’s future. It’s more likely to resemble a demolition derby, with each contestant trying to knock the other off course. And, let’s face it, many viewers will tune in mainly for the crashes,” says Los Angeles Times columnist Doyle McManus.
“Even if people are unenthusiastic about candidates, they want to see if there’s a meltdown on stage. And there could be two types of meltdown. Trump could have an anger meltdown, and Biden could have an age meltdown,” said Bipartisan Policy Center presidential historian, Tevi Troy.
“It’s an incredible test of their cognitive competence. This is our chance to see how much they’ve declined or if they’ve declined,” said University of Arkansas political science professor Patrick Stewart.
“Donald Trump and Joe Biden come into Thursday’s presidential debate as incredibly well-known quantities defined by shared unpopularity and competing weaknesses. But their most important liabilities — for the incumbent, his decrepitude and his record on inflation; for the challenger, an unfitness distilled and confirmed by the events of Jan. 6 — feel too well known to be worth discussing further until we see what happens on the stage,” writes New York Times opinion columnist Ross Douthat.
“So, we’re going to party like it’s 2020 all over again,” writes Salon’s Heather Digby Parton.
I suppose it’s sad that we are so far removed from the primary purpose of good debate, that is “to generate effective critical thinking into primary issues in the given topic.”1 As indicated by the eloquent chorus above, the promotion of critical thinking is trivial at best. The candidates are attempting to score points, look more popular than they really are, and land socially acceptable, rhetorical knock out blows… none of which, dare I say, qualify as good and right and true.
Perhaps the commentary the Intramuralist most resonates with comes from CNN contributor Terry Szuplat, who avers that “most Americans say they want more civility in our national discourse.” In encouragement of how to get there — craving either Biden or Trump would lead us wisely (aka omit the knock out blows) — Szuplat recommends they debate the issues by utilizing the following:
- Have some humility.
- If you want to persuade, don’t condemn.
- Don’t otherize, demonize, or dehumanize.
- Don’t “fight” for your country.
- Appeal to common identities.
- And remember the values we share.
We have more in common than we do not, friends. I wish the candidates realized that, too.
Respectfully…
AR
1 University of Illinois Springfield, ION Professional eLearning Programs