The smell of desperation
Desperation is never pretty. When the desperate person is not very bright, it becomes downright ugly. Such is the state of “president” Donald Trump in his pathetic bid to retain control of the White House. Trump, at the last minute, decided to hold a town hall to compete with the own hall Joe Biden scheduled immediately after the October 15 debate was canceled because of Trump’s refusal to debate virtually. Trump’s goal was to “get better ratings” than Joe Biden. Trump’s “dueling town halls” was a flop. That comes as no surprise.
Savannah Guthrie put Trump on the “hot seat” for the first 15 minutes prior to opening the floor to questions, in contrast to George Stephanopoulos, who immediately allowed voters to ask questions. Both moderators pushed back on the candidates, attempting to force them to admit where they stand on certain issues. In Biden’s case, the question of “packing” the Supreme Court was in Stephanopoulos’s mind. Biden never outright responded, saying instead, “It depends.” Guthrie went for the jugular, asking Trump about QAnon, which he denied knowing anything about (virtual eye roll). When Guthrie asked Trump about his unwillingness to disavow white supremacy, he became visibly angered and said, “Here we go again.” Had he answered properly the first time, the issue would have gone away, but Trump does not get that, just like he gets little of everything else.
Trump has spent his life bulldozing and bullshitting, and that tactic is not working. He reports to us, and we are not buying it. His henchman Rudy Giuliani tried smearing Joe Biden (again) with tall tales from Ukraine, and the New York Post published them. According to WaPo, Trump’s White House was warned back in 2019 that Giuliani was being used by “Russian assets” to feed disinformation directly to Trump. Giuliani, the world’s worst henchman, ran with what he was fed. Giuliani and the Post should be embarrassed, and Trump — who will adopt virtually any conspiracy theory — looks even more pathetic and inept than usual.
Reports have also surfaced that Trump is using taxpayer dollars to fund his campaign because he milked donations to prop up his failing businesses. From adding letters with his signature to food boxes to drug discount cards for seniors containing his branding, Trump reeks of desperation. The money he is using to do these things is our money, as he certainly has never paid taxes himself. Politico reported that Trump commandeered $300 million in tax dollars for advertisements to “cure COVID despair.” Trump is COVID despair, and the cure is to send him packing in November.
Our choice is, once again, clear. We can elect a man who looks and acts presidential and displays genuine empathy for Americans’ plights, or we can reelect a self-centered, do-nothing blowhard who is pocketing as much of our tax dollars as he can, even though he has never paid anything into the coffers—a crook and a conman who has done absolutely nothing for the American people.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years