In recent days, Trump and his surrogates have condemned the debate’s format — apparently indifferent to the fact that his own team negotiated the terms of the event....Meanwhile, Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, used an appearance on CNN, which will conduct the debate, in order to put the cable channel on trial:
As for the possibility that his Democratic opponent might be able to “put two sentences together,” Trump appears eager to pre-emptively delegitimize Biden’s debate performance, too....
“I say he’ll come out all jacked up, right?” Trump said on Saturday, referring to the incumbent, after telling supporters that Biden will get “a shot in the ass” shortly before the debate. The former president added soon after, “Whatever happened to all that cocaine that was missing a month ago from the White House?”
He’s also getting plenty of backup from the usual suspects: The Republican National Committee, among others, has asserted as fact that the incumbent president is “on an intense doping regimen,” and assorted right-wing members of Congress have called on Biden to take a drug test....
Last month, Republican Rep. Greg Murphy of North Carolina went so far as to tell Fox Business that he had secret knowledge about Biden’s reliance on illicit substances, which he refused to divulge on the air.
Leavitt was speaking with CNN’s Kasie Hunt when she began criticizing the network, which will host the first Biden-Trump presidential debate on Thursday, June 27.Hunt ended the interview:
Leavitt praised her boss for “knowingly going into a hostile environment on this very network, on CNN, with debate moderators who have made their opinions about him very well known over the past eight years.”
... The CNN host tried to turn the subject back to what Leavitt expected from Joe Biden’s debate performance, but the conservative spokeswoman couldn’t resist going in on [Jake] Tapper, who has become a regular target of Trump’s allies ever since being tapped to moderate the upcoming debate.
“Well, first of all, it would take someone five minutes for someone to google ‘Jake Tapper Donald Trump’ to see that Jake Tapper has consistently—” Leavitt began, before Hunt put her hand up, interrupting her.
“Ma’am, I’m going to stop this interview if you’re going to continue to attack my colleagues,” said Hunt, but Leavitt persisted. The two continued to talk over each other, Hunt’s voice rising as she bid her guest to answer the question and stick to talking about Trump.
Kudos to @kasie for cutting off @kleavittnh from their interview after the Trump spokeswoman continued attacking Jake Tapper-an attempt by Leavitt to undermine the objectivity of the network and moderator/host ahead of Thursday's Presidential debate. Well done, Kasie Hunt! pic.twitter.com/0KKCrmo6JX
— Resolute Square (@ResoluteSquare) June 24, 2024
Why are Trump and his people doing all this? I'm sure your answer will be They know Trump is a buffoon who's going to lose badly to Biden, and they need to make excuses.
You could be right -- Biden might appear to be the clear winner of the debate. But if that happens, the mainstream media, which loathes Biden, won't acknowledge the obvious. Here's how The New York Times covered the first debate in 2020, during which Trump was rude, obnoxious, and uninformed:
President Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. appeared onstage together for the first time on Tuesday. It was not exactly a debate.In the mainstream press, even a terrible debate by Trump will be covered through a "both sides" lens, while the right-wing press will say Trump triumphed. So Trump can't really lose. Under those circumstances, why delegitimize the debate?
Shouting, interruptions and often incoherent cross talk filled the air as Mr. Trump purposefully and repeatedly heckled and blurted over his rival and the moderator alike in a 90-minute melee that showcased the president’s sense of urgency to upend a race in which polls show him trailing.
Mr. Biden labored to get his points in over Mr. Trump’s stream of interjections, turning directly to the camera for refuge from a scrum that hardly represented a contest of ideas. But Mr. Biden did not stumble, contradicting months of questions from the Trump campaign about his mental fitness, and Mr. Trump seemed to do little to bring over voters who were not already part of his base.
The impact on the race of the messy affair — given that 90 percent of voters say they are already decided — is an open question.
Because delegitimizing works. Trump and his allies are doing what they've done to the recent criminal trial in which he was found guilty of 34 felonies. As a recent Monmouth poll makes clear, much of the public agrees with Trump that the prosecution wasn't on the level, even though a majority of poll respondents believe Trump is guilty.
Just under 6 in 10 voters (57%) think it is likely that the decision to bring these charges against Trump was politically motivated. This includes 93% of Republicans and 60% of independents, but just 17% of Democrats. As a comparison, 48% of voters think the charges against Hunter Biden were politically motivated....So even though 56% of respondents think Trump is guilty or lean that way, 57% believe the trial was politically motivated. And that helps explain why the trial had no impact on presidential preference:
Trumpworld's efforts to delegitimize Trump's criminal trial has been a success. So of course Trumpers are trying to do the same for the upcoming debate.
No comments:
Post a Comment