SAY IT TO MY FACE
The final debate of 2016 between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was on October 19th. The final debate of 2020 between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was on October 22nd. But when Kamala Harris challenged Trump to a second debate on October 23rd, Trump’s response was that it’s too late. People have already started voting, he says, so it’s too late, he says.
So, just in case you were wondering, there’s a hard and fast deadline for a presidential debate. That’s 22 October. Debating on the day is fine. One day later and it’s too late. Thus quoth Donald Trump.
And another thing, Donald Trump tells us that the real reason any candidate immediately challenges the other candidate to a debate is because that candidate lost the debate. It’s what prizefighters do when they lose, Trump says. They challenge their opponent to another fight. They’re eager to get back in the ring so they can finally score a win.
Yet what did Donald Trump do after winning (by default) his final debate with Joe Biden? He challenged Biden to another debate. So is Trump thus admitting he lost that debate? I guess the Trump rule didn’t apply that time, yes?
The old adage that if you’re a liar you’d better have a good memory is proven once more. But wait a minute, I guess the man who once claimed he has one of the “greatest memories of all time” forgot that? Or maybe he never knew it in the first place?
I hope you’re sitting down for this when I tell you, brothers and sisters, but I think the convicted felon Donald Trump is lying. The truth of the matter is he doesn’t want to debate Kamala Harris because he’s afraid of her. In fact he’s scared shitless. Trump can’t handle getting his ass kicked by a woman of colour and he’s not the kind of guy who gets back on the horse after a bad fall. That’s the preserve of the brave, and Donald Trump is an abject coward.
The curious thing is Trump has nothing to lose by debating Harris a second time and much to gain. Were I a devil’s advocate I would suggest he do just that and get very well prepared for a second debate. But that would involve work and Trump is work-averse. In fact, Trump isn’t just a coward, he’s also lazy. We know that from his “presidency,” where he spent as much time as he could playing golf and holding rallies, the two things he actually enjoyed doing while in office. The tedious bits, the bits that involved reading and attending security briefings bored him, so he never did the former and stopped doing the latter.
Trump prefers to tell lies about Kamala Harris behind her back in softball interviews and at rallies filled to the rafters with the drooling cretins who support him. That way there’s no one to fact check him when he falsely asserts that Harris was appointed “border czar” and allowed migrants to cross the border and commit violent crimes. Or when he says she is “mentally disabled.” If these things are true then she should be easy to defeat in a debate, yes?
During the prime time Alabama-Georgia football game, a game Trump watched in person, Kamala Harris ran an ad comparing Trump to losers who “whine and waffle and take their ball home.” And he also lies. The ad concludes with Kamala saying to a crowd of cheering supporters, “Well Donald, I do hope you’ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage. If you’ve got something to say, SAY IT TO MY FACE.” And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.