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**SEPTEMBER 30, 2020**

Kuttner on TAP

Biden: Notes for Next Time

****

Call me an outlier, but I thought Trump's alpha male strategy
seriously limited Biden's effectiveness last night. His heckling and
constant interruptions clearly rattled Biden. They undercut Biden's
ability to offer a cogent narrative, and made Biden look decent but
often weak, which was Trump's intent. Biden also missed several easy
slam dunks, of which more in a moment.

Because of Trump's sheer crassness in turning a presidential debate
into so much mud wrestling, a sport that Biden couldn't win, Trump
narrowly lost on points. But it was far from the knockout that it should
have been based on the facts.

The CNN poll after the debate

showed that most people in the sample thought Biden "won"-by about the
same margin that most people thought Hillary Clinton won her debates
with Trump.

The Biden campaign should demand that Trump's microphone be turned off
when Biden has his two minutes to speak. The two debaters should be
physically further apart, maybe separated by booths, so that Trump
cannot yell insults off-mic.

These terms only operationalize rules that Trump agreed to, but did not
abide by. If Trump won't agree to them, Biden should not debate him
again.

What I wish Biden had said:

On COVID: You put your incompetent son-in-law in charge, overruling the
professionals at CDC, and you could not even manage the relatively easy
task of getting test kits to everybody who needs one. Seven months
later, tests are still in short supply, leading to the needless spread
of infection and slowing the economic recovery.

On economic aid: Tens of millions of Americans are out of work.
Businesses are closing. State and local governments are cutting
services. Families are losing health insurance. There is legislation on
the table to extend desperately needed relief, but you and Mitch
McConnell keep blocking it.

On science: You don't believe in science. You believe in magic. We
will all pay the price in dirty air and water, worsening climate change,
horrible fires, and needless COVID deaths.

On the Court: When Obama was president and nominated a moderate to the
Supreme Court eight months before his term ended, your party would not
even give Merrick Garland a hearing, much less a vote. Now, much later
in your own term, you've moved the goalposts. This is sheer hypocrisy.

On narcissism: Everything you've said tonight, and for most of your
presidency, is about you. This isn't about you; it's about ordinary
people who are hurting. When have you displayed a shred of compassion
for the everyday heroism of parents, teachers, health workers, people
who've lost jobs?

Maybe next time, assuming Trump agrees to ground rules.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter

Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.

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Four More Years of This Jerk?

Trump does his re-election campaign no favors. BY HAROLD MEYERSON

The Debate We Had vs. the Debate We Needed

The presidency is about running the executive branch, which you
wouldn't know from the debate questions. BY ELEANOR EAGAN, MAX
MORAN & JEFF HAUSER

How a Microphone Works

And why the Commission on Presidential Debates doesn't want to
understand it BY DAVID DAYEN

Why Trump Will Lose Ohio

National Democrats began the year viewing Ohio as a red state-but this
year, it's clearly purple. BY JOHN RUSSO

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