signalmankenneth
Verified User
Friends,
I’m 78 today, and I’m scared sh*tless about what might come down Thursday evening when the oldest candidates ever to compete in a presidential race debate each other.
I’m less worried that Biden will suffer a mental lapse or physically stumble than I am that Biden will look weak and Trump appear strong.
One of Trump’s most successful ploys has been to frame the upcoming election as a contest between strength and weakness, and to convince many Americans that stridency and pugnacity are signs of strength while truth and humility signal weakness.
In 1960, when I watched John F. Kennedy square off against Richard Nixon, character and temperament were the most important variables.
Most people who listened to the debate on radio called the first debate a draw or thought Nixon had won, but Kennedy won handily among television viewers. It wasn’t because of Nixon’s paler complexion. Kennedy stared directly into the camera when he answered each question. Nixon, on the other hand, looked off to the side to address the various reporters, which came across as shifting his gaze to avoid eye contact with the public — a move that seemed to show evasiveness, the character flaw that had earned Nixon the moniker “Tricky Dick.”
I last watched a tape of the Kennedy-Nixon television debate in 1992, when sitting beside Bill Clinton, who used it to prepare for his debate with George H. W. Bush and Ross Perot. Clinton wanted to emulate Kennedy’s character — his confidence, humor, and optimism. (In the end, Perot’s whiney indignation turned viewers off. George H. W. seemed over the hill. Clinton won the debate by default.)
Which brings me back to character. Over 78 years, I’ve met and observed a small number of people in American public life whom I’d characterize as vile. Senator Joseph McCarthy, Governor George Wallace, and Speaker Newt Gingrich come immediately to mind, along with Rush Limbaugh and Roger Ailes. What made them vile to me was their cynical opportunism — the eagerness with which they exploited people’s fears to gain power or notoriety, or both. All had the character of barnyard bullies.
Donald Trump is the vilest by far. His loathsomeness extends to every aspect of his being — his continuous stream of lies, the eagerness with which he seeks to turn Americans against each other, his scapegoating of immigrants, his demeaning of women and the disabled. And his utter disrespect for the office of the presidency, for the laws of the land, for the United States Constitution, for the senators and members of congress and staff and police whose lives he intentionally endangered on January 6, 2021, and for hundreds of thousands of election workers whose lives he directly or indirectly threatened with his baseless claims of election fraud.
Character will not be debated Thursday night but I hope Americans who have not yet made up their minds or who are wavering in their support of Joe Biden will pay attention to it. Character is — must be — on the 2024 ballot.
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-reich/110760/why-i-m-scared-shitless-about-thursday
I’m 78 today, and I’m scared sh*tless about what might come down Thursday evening when the oldest candidates ever to compete in a presidential race debate each other.
I’m less worried that Biden will suffer a mental lapse or physically stumble than I am that Biden will look weak and Trump appear strong.
One of Trump’s most successful ploys has been to frame the upcoming election as a contest between strength and weakness, and to convince many Americans that stridency and pugnacity are signs of strength while truth and humility signal weakness.
In 1960, when I watched John F. Kennedy square off against Richard Nixon, character and temperament were the most important variables.
Most people who listened to the debate on radio called the first debate a draw or thought Nixon had won, but Kennedy won handily among television viewers. It wasn’t because of Nixon’s paler complexion. Kennedy stared directly into the camera when he answered each question. Nixon, on the other hand, looked off to the side to address the various reporters, which came across as shifting his gaze to avoid eye contact with the public — a move that seemed to show evasiveness, the character flaw that had earned Nixon the moniker “Tricky Dick.”
I last watched a tape of the Kennedy-Nixon television debate in 1992, when sitting beside Bill Clinton, who used it to prepare for his debate with George H. W. Bush and Ross Perot. Clinton wanted to emulate Kennedy’s character — his confidence, humor, and optimism. (In the end, Perot’s whiney indignation turned viewers off. George H. W. seemed over the hill. Clinton won the debate by default.)
Which brings me back to character. Over 78 years, I’ve met and observed a small number of people in American public life whom I’d characterize as vile. Senator Joseph McCarthy, Governor George Wallace, and Speaker Newt Gingrich come immediately to mind, along with Rush Limbaugh and Roger Ailes. What made them vile to me was their cynical opportunism — the eagerness with which they exploited people’s fears to gain power or notoriety, or both. All had the character of barnyard bullies.
Donald Trump is the vilest by far. His loathsomeness extends to every aspect of his being — his continuous stream of lies, the eagerness with which he seeks to turn Americans against each other, his scapegoating of immigrants, his demeaning of women and the disabled. And his utter disrespect for the office of the presidency, for the laws of the land, for the United States Constitution, for the senators and members of congress and staff and police whose lives he intentionally endangered on January 6, 2021, and for hundreds of thousands of election workers whose lives he directly or indirectly threatened with his baseless claims of election fraud.
Character will not be debated Thursday night but I hope Americans who have not yet made up their minds or who are wavering in their support of Joe Biden will pay attention to it. Character is — must be — on the 2024 ballot.
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-reich/110760/why-i-m-scared-shitless-about-thursday
