US presidential debate: Pile driver to square off with blancmange
Donald Trump and Joe Biden have everything to play for in the heavyweight champion of the US presidential debate in Cleveland.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden have everything to play for in the heavyweight champion of the US presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio. Maybe 80 million people, maybe more, will watch this match of the ages — the pile driver and the blancmange.
Trump is the most destructive political campaigner in modern history. But so far, Biden has kept away from him, mostly hidden in his basement.
Americans are unhappy with Trump’s leadership in response to Covid, distressed at the economic hits they’ve taken because of the virus and half of them at least don’t like him personally.
Biden therefore has been campaigning on only one policy — he’s not Trump.
The polls put Biden still more than 6 per cent ahead, but could they be as wrong as last time?
There is nothing harder to deliver in politics than a pre-telegraphed knockout blow. Because Trump has for months been drawing attention to how slow Biden is mentally, he has perversely bestowed on him the inestimable gift of low expectations. If Biden remains upright and does not say anything downright crazy he probably survives the debate OK.
Mind you, Biden continues to make the most astonishing gaffes, even when reading from a teleprompter. He misread his cue the other day and declared that he first entered the Senate 180 years ago, and did not even immediately correct himself. On another occasion he said he got his start at a black college in Delaware. But he never attended there as a student and didn’t visit as a speaker until he’d been in politics for decades.
But the US media is polarised. Most of it is anti-Trump, a small part of it pro-Trump. As a result, Biden’s verbal gaffes don’t get much attention. But if he makes a big gaffe during this debate, and Trump is quick enough to pull him up on it, that could be one of those rare debate moments that actually influences an election.
Trump will try to link Biden to the radical left and to attack him personally in a way which flusters and disorients him.
Biden knows very well to expect just this and should have a couple of dozen or so stock sentences seared into his brain. If he keeps calm and pivots to attacking Trump on Covid management, and plans to cut health insurance benefits in Obamacare, he can probably get through OK.
But Trump will certainly not die wondering what might have been if only he’d tried a bit harder, been a bit more aggressive, taken a slightly more outlandish or unconventional tactical approach. There are dangers in that for Trump too, if he looks too aggressive.
Although Biden remains well ahead in all the polls, a wire story detailing the two men’s respective social media presence tells you why Trump remains a chance. On Twitter, Trump has 86 million followers, Biden 9 million; on Instagram Trump has 22 million, Biden four million; and on Facebook Trump has 31 million followers, Biden three million.
Those numbers not only mean Trump can talk directly to 100 million voters, they say something about the enthusiasm gap between the candidates.
The pile driver, the blancmange; the ink jet, the sponge; the sword, the shield. Who wins?
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