Dakota Beacon

Thursday evening, October 22, 2020

Well.  I just finished watching the last debate.  I thought while my thoughts on it were still fresh in mind I would jot them down here.  

First of all, the moderator could have been worse.  I’m not saying she was good.  But she managed to avoid - with one glaring exception - interrupting Trump.  Of course there was no question of interrupting Biden.  That said, she seemed somehow to avoid asking some very important questions that Americans are keenly interested in.  It was interesting that we were all promised “opening statements” which would be given without interruption.  This did not occur.  Immediately the moderator jumped in with questions.  

One of these was the matter of police.  Trump needed to assert that police had been called off during the terrible rioting that was going on across the nation in Democrat-controlled cities.  This left innocent citizens and businesses vulnerable to violence.  Many were injured and millions of dollars were lost in businesses destroyed.  Public buildings and other public property were destroyed at taxpayers’ expense.  Many of our landmarks were destroyed or disfigured.  That means our culture was attacked.  This was entirely on the doorstep of these mayors and governors - all Democrats.  Biden and Harris condone this and cannot escape that.  They may try to walk it back but they have come down on the side of violence and rioting.  Anyone who accepts BLM is automatically fraternizing with those who would destroy our cities and ultimately our country.  No one said this, but it is true.  This should have been aired out.

The other “domestic” issue that was glaringly absent was the matter of court packing.  Virtually every Democrat we can find is in favor of court packing.  It was no surprise that it was excluded from the script for tonight.  It simply does no favors for Biden.  He has been playing hard-to-get on this issue.  It would have been in the plus column for Trump so it was not raised.  There was a recent poll showing a majority of Americans and one-third of Democrats favored confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett.  Those who would favor her confirmation and also support court packing would be few and far between.  This question was probably stricken from the script when that poll was published.  One would wish Trump had found some way to sneak that in.  

On the definite plus side, Trump did manage to get a few zingers in on the Huntergate matter.  All Biden managed was to say he was not personally involved, that it was all Russian disinformation . . . oh, and his son Hunter did not make any money in China - all of which, by 8:00 Central Time last night all of America knew was false. We know what is going on.  Or enough of what is going on to know it is not good.  And Biden says he never took money from any foreign source.  Really?  Oh, that’s right.  He took it from Hunter.

One of the big hits of the night was Trump socking it to Biden about his two-faced position(s) on fracking.  Biden blathered about developing charging stations along the interstates, etc.  He could have been asked (by a better-informed adversary) that these charging stations would require electricity and this could not be squeezed out of “renewable” energy sources.  We are eons away from this kind of solar or wind efficiency.  Other than that, Trump did manage to get on the record with the clean U.S. energy vs. Chinese or Indian energy.  It was constructive to hear how costly and impractical A.O.C.and Biden’s “Green New Deal” would be.  No one wants the consequences of this even if they kind of like the idea of no environmental impact.  It is so far not possible to have it all.  Maybe eventually.  Along the way, Biden got it in there how in his brave new world there would be “charging stations” for electric cars all along the freeways.  I always have this unanswered question:  where do they get the electricity for these charging stations?  From the “wall”?  Of course.  But think - these must take enormous amounts of electricity!  With no fracking, no coal, no nuclear, would these stations be solar powered?  Lots of luck with that.  You might have to wait a while.  There might just be a line.  We might not need those freeways, come to think of it.

Trump was very circumspect when the matter of drug addiction came up in passing.  Again, the obvious place one’s thoughts raced to would be Hunter Biden and his tragic, crippling addiction.    Let’s hope people thought of Hunter on their own here.

Trump outlined a number of ways in which he has had a positive influence on minority opportunities, including funding for black colleges.  He shot off a few comments at Biden regarding Biden's record on prison reform and other matters related to race.  

They moved on to the “cages” Obama built to contain illegal alien minors - Biden did the amazingly unthinkable - he accused Trump of building the cages, which was debunked years ago inasmuch as they were there before Trump held office because the were BUILT BY OBAMA.  But that didn’t stop Biden from going on about Trump ripping children from the arms of their loving parents, leaving them orphans for all intents and purposes.  Trump countered with some facts about the origin of the “cages”, chiefly that they were built by Obama..  The question hangs out there - what about the child trafficking?  Just abandon these kids to their traffickers?  Apparently Biden would do just that.  Trump asserted that catch and release has been a disaster, that when felons are turned loose they seldom if ever show up for hearings.  The facts will back Trump on this one, basically.  His percentage may have been off.  Trump alleged that only 1% of those show up for hearings (those not as “smart”) but the actual figure is about 10%.  So 90% of these asylum seekers never show up once they are released into the U.S.  Biden did another unbelievalbly dumb thing here.  When confronted with facts on immigration and cages, Biden instinctively threw his old friend Barack Obama under the train.  He asserted in his own defense, “I wasn’t president then.”  I wonder how that went over with his campaigner-in-chief.  I would imagine kinda chilly.

The old “racism” assertion came up again.  Surprize!  And, as always Trump rejected it.  No one challenged his claim that he was the “least racist person in this room”.  Fair enough, but he also parried the paradoxical position of the left - that he should have closed the borders to interstate flight sooner (COVID) and the simultaneous charge that he was “xenophobic”, even "racist" for doing so.  

I think that Trump resonated with those who are struggling to survive with the shutdowns, people who have lost employment and businesses, with his remarks that we need to “open up”.  His stark description of once “vibrant” New York now being a ghost town with the departure of many thousands was compelling.  This is true.  Moving companies have been unable to keep up.  Biden dismissed this without basis.  Even if we aren’t New Yorkers, it’s an icon.  Everyone who has ever seen movies knows what New York is supposed to look like.  And now we see empty streets and closed bistros and stores. This is the handiwork of the Andrew Cuomo-Bill de Blasio tagteam.  We are constantly told not to believe our lyin’ eyes.  On everything.  Here’s just another.

This was not supposed to be about foreign policy (too bad, that) but Biden tried to attack Trump on his relationships with leaders such as Kim Jong Un, whom he labeled a “thug”.  Interesting, when the official thug of a major world power, Xi Jin Ping, is prominently photographed raising his glass in a friendly toast with major political influencer Biden.  That looked suspiciously friendly.  Or maybe the guy who has bolted people into their own flats, is aggressively pursuing organ harvesting for money and persecuting anyone who speaks up, perpetrating genocide, violating Hong Kong’s agreement and breaking the peace throughout East Asia is not a “thug”.  Trump might have said something about that but he let it go.  Kind of too bad.  Oh, well.  We all know that Biden gets along with the Chinese so well and he truly believes a “rising China will help everyone”.

We could go on, line-by-line but why?  We’ve heard all of it before.  Mainly because the debate commission and the moderators try so hard to stay away from things like foreign policy, which, while a vital consideration, tends to make Biden look really bad.  So most of this was rehash.  This debate was mainly about perception of these candidates.  How did they handle themselves?  How would they handle themselves as President.  We already know pretty much how Trump will do it.  So far, despite pandemics and failed, baseless impeachment attempts, it hasn’t been too bad.  We can guess about Biden but really, why bother?  Everyone is in on the joke that he would be sworn in and then turn it all over to Kamala, one of the worst and most disliked of all politicians on the far left.  She might or might not let him stay in office nominally, just so they can all get a cut of the Hunter proceeds (which will proceed, you can bet, if he were elected).  

My own impression was of a confident, reasonably well prepared Trump, obviously showing no effects of his recent bout with COVID and an irritable, inaccurate (or outright lying), fragile old man well past whatever his best days were, making up a lot of stuff and denying truth that was plain to see before us all.  Sometimes he was vague and cloudy.  His waving around the little mask didn’t impress anyone.  It was sort of lame.  He didn’t land any real blows.  Trump seemed self-contained, assertive and accurate in the main in his statements.  It doesn’t matter, after all, if 90% or 99% of catch and release aliens don’t show up for hearings, does it?  The point is that the program has been a disaster. The essence of what Trump said is all true.  Truth is still on his side.  I would have to say Biden didn’t look good, even if he did manage to stand up for 90 minutes, although there was that Cinderella moment when he anxiously consulted his watch.  It was getting to be bedtime or lidtime or whatever.  Trump came off looking poised and confident, in command of the facts and with a good case to make.  

It is unfortunate that we have allowed early voting.  It is important to Americans to vote on election day unless for some reason they cannot (that’s what absentee ballots are supposed to be for) because then we are all voting on the same thing.  If some people voted a month ago they voted with a lot less information and a different perspective than those who vote on November 3.  It is not a great idea.  We need to return to one election day plus individually solicited absentee ballots.  Tonight’s debate gave a slightly clearer impression of just whom we are voting on.  Trump won.  Easily.

Comment:  (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (who do you think won?)