Jun.26

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Dem 51

   

GOP 49

It's Debate Week! (Part III)

This week's presidential debate continues to be a subject of much interest. Here's the news from yesterday:

• Whither CNN?: The AP's David Bauder has an interesting piece pointing out that the debate is not only very important to the candidates, it's also very important to CNN. They've had a bunch of inner turmoil in the past couple of years, and have slipped well behind Fox and MSNBC in the ratings. This, writes Bauder, might be the last chance to right the ship.
  
  We pass this piece along in case it is of interest but, truth be told, we think that ship has sailed, and CNN will never again be close to what it was during its glory days of the 1980s and 1990s. The success of the two alternatives makes clear that viewers mostly want to watch opinion-driven material that agrees with their perspective. What they do not want is bothsidesism, which is basically CNN's mantra. If the network wants to reboot, and fire all the Van Joneses and Scott Jenningses, and go with all journalists, all the time, then maybe they might reclaim some turf. But otherwise, they're stuck in permanent third-banana status.
  
  
• Trump Debate Prep: Apparently, the people around Trump are not allowed to call it "prep," because that implies that he's not 100% ready at all times. Since he is the greatest, most skillful, most prepared debater the world has ever seen, we can't have that, obviously.
  
  That said, the former president has had six sessions with his key campaign advisers, and with special guests who have specific expertise (e.g., Sen. J.D. Vance, R-OH, and "heartland issues"; Kellyanne Conway and... abortion, etc.). Normally, debate prep involves having the candidate absorb a lot of information (briefing papers and the like) and then seeing how well they can think on their feet by pitting them against someone playing the role of their opponent. For example, Joe Biden's faux Trump is Bob Bauer, who is Biden's personal attorney, and who has also performed a faux Bernie Sanders and a faux Al Gore for Biden in the past.
  
  Trump is not prepping in this way, presumably because it's more than he can handle. Instead, his prep team is trying to program him to respond properly to the questions they think will be asked. He's not going to be able to memorize long, pre-written scripts, so the focus is on outlines—e.g., "If you are asked about [X], don't forget to mention [A], [B] and [C].
  
  According to The New York Times' Maggie Haberman, Trump also has an awareness that his attacks on Hunter Biden rebounded to Joe Biden's advantage. So, the former president might try to approach that subject delicately. Or, in the heat of the moment, particularly if he is angry about his own criminal issues being raised, he might not. You never know.
  
  In any event, it all speaks to someone who is taking the debates seriously, and not someone who is going to bow out at the last moment. If Trump is persuaded of the importance of discipline, and he can actually stick to that for 90 minutes, he may do well.
  
  
• It's a Conspiracy!: At this point, the Trumpers' two most popular debate conspiracy theories, each of them designed to denigrate Joe Biden's performance in advance, are that the moderators are in the bag for the President, and that the President is going to use stimulants in order to overcome his senility. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) came up with an inventive new take on the latter. He claims that Biden is not going to be hopped up on Adderall or cocaine or meth or whatever, but instead that he'll be "jacked up" on... Mountain Dew.
  
  Does Burlison, or any other Republican, really want to go there? The active substance in Mountain Dew is caffeine. And caffeine is not only legal, it's the most widely used drug in the world by a country mile. If it came out that, before the debate, Biden drank a couple of cups of coffee or had a can of Mountain Dew or pounded a Red Bull, would that really work against him? We are inclined to think it would make him more relatable, since some enormous part of the American population does the same thing on a regular (often daily) basis to help them get through some tough part of THEIR day. That said, if we were advising Biden, we would actually advise against Mountain Dew because the amount of caffeine in one of those is enough to cause jitters.
  
  
• It's a Conspiracy... Again!: We swear, you could be hired for $1 million a month to sit in a room and come up with conspiracy theories favorable to Donald Trump, and you still wouldn't come up with this one. Yesterday, Judge Juan Merchan loosened the gag order on Trump, and radio talker/Trump toady Hugh Hewitt immediately glommed onto the apparent dark designs at play. Apparently, by freeing Trump to say things he could not previously get away with saying, and just 48 hours before the debate, Merchan is trying to screw up the former president's debate prep. Hewitt went so far as to describe Merchan as "the third moderator" of the debate. You just can't make these things up. Well, unless you're Hugh Hewitt.
  
  
• Spin Class: Speaking of conspiratorial thinking, the right-wing media's spin operation is already operating at full capacity. Here's a sampling of headlines:
  
  
  • The Daily Wire: CNN's Debate Moderators: Don't Expect Fairness
  • American Greatness: The Presidential Debate Should Expose a Fragile Biden
  • Outkick: CNN Releases Statement Downplaying Obvious Anti-Trump Bias of Debate Moderators
  • The Daily Caller: The First Presidential Debate Is Obviously Rigged, And Poll Shows Americans Know It
  • Breitbart: Critics Question if CNN Can Host Fair, Unbiased Presidential Debate
  • The Federalist: Trump's Biggest Debate Opponents Are The Media, Not Biden
  • RedState: Media Is Prepped to Give Joe Biden His Participation Trophy for Walking Unassisted Into CNN Debate
  
  
• The Sporting Life: Yesterday, we wrote: "As the NBA and NHL finals are over, there are no major sporting events remaining this week—just regular-season baseball and women's basketball."
  
  We wrote that having looked at the sporting calendar, and having decided that the events we did not mention were not in serious competition with the presidential debates. Nonetheless, we received many e-mails commenting on our narrow-mindedness and our chauvinism toward American pastimes. Very well; here is an exhaustive list of the sporting events that will be contested on Thursday, in addition to MLB and the WNBA:
  
  
  • BWF Badminton World Tour (U.S. Open)
  • Canadian Premier League Soccer
  • Copa América (group stage)
  • European Cadet Judo Championships
  • European Cadet Wrestling Championship
  • European Canoe Sprint Junior and U23 Championships
  • European Junior Boxing Championships
  • FIBA Basketball European Championship for Small Countries
  • FIH Field Hockey Women's Pro League
  • FIVB Volleyball Men's Nations League Finals
  • Grand Chess Tour
  • ICC Cricket Men's T20 World Cup
  • IFSC Climbing World Cup
  • LPGA Tour Dow Championship
  • Modern Pentathlon Junior World Championships
  • OFC Football Nations Cup
  • PGA Tour Rocket Mortgage Classic
  • World Surf League
  • World Snooker Tour Championship League 3
  • World Table Tennis Series
  • World Tennis Association Bad Homburg Open
  • World Tennis Association Rothesay International
  • World Women's Junior Handball Championship
  
  If any reader was having trouble choosing between the debate and the World Snooker Tour Championships, don't worry, we'll have a link to a full video of the debate on Friday. Fortunately, the Trampoline World Cup does not start until this weekend, so there's no conflict there.

That's the latest. Expect a mega-item on this subject tomorrow. (Z)