“Will you shut up man?”
The pundits and analysts have all gone out on a limb trying to guess what will happen on Thursday, June 27th, the first presidential candidates’ debate. I will not predict whether Trump will show up or not. That remains to be seen. Anything can happen.
As for winning or losing, Trump has been trying to control the outcome because he cannot win using actual arguments. First, he tried to misrepresent President Biden as sleepy and slow, lowering expectations. But that backfired on him with Biden’s State of the Union address when he came out swinging. Now Trump has been falsely claiming that Biden will have a strong performance because his handlers will shoot him up with stimulants, so it’s not Trump’s fault if he loses.
But my instincts tell me that Biden’s performance will be intuitive and compassionate. Biden will be tuned into Trump’s behavior, and he will respond accordingly. If Trump is aggressive and abusive, Biden will have powerful replies, like the debate on September 29, 2020, when he brilliantly improved, “Will you shut up man?”
So, for example, if Trump comes out making bombastic false statements about inflation or the economy, Biden will have any number of zingers ready. Or say Trump brings up immigration, Biden will be armed with a response. Let’s say that Trump argues that the indictments against him are Biden abusing the system to rig the election, and I hope he does. Biden would have the most amazing retort about how Trump stole the 2016 election, which was proven by a jury that found him guilty on 34 counts of election interference.
On the other hand, Biden will be cued into to Trump’s behavior and adjust compassionately for any signs of serious cognitive issues. Say Trump starts claiming the debate is rigged by CNN and that the rules are unfair. Biden could turn to Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and ask them point blank, “Are you trying to rig this debate in my favor?” When they reply, no, Biden would turn back to Trump and say, “See? there’s no reason to be paranoid. No one is trying to hurt you, Donald.”
Or say Trump displays more signs of dementia that we’ve seen during his latest rallies, and he starts babbling on about bizarre hypotheticals like being killed by electric boats and sharks. Biden will turn to Trump with sincere concern and ask him, “Are you all right, Donald?” He might tell Trump he doesn’t need to go through with this and that everyone would understand if he went home to lie down and seek the care he needs.
In any case, Biden has the upper hand. He will play it to perfection.
Chicago native Lorraine Evanoff earned her degree in French from DePaul University then became a Certified Financial Manager. She worked as a finance exec in film production for seven years in Paris, then in Silicon Valley during the dot-com era, and later for various Hollywood production companies, notably as CFO of National Lampoon. She is currently living in Los Angeles with her husband.