I must admit I was surprised by Trump's debate performance last night. I was certain he would come out acting presidential and such. After all, as Trump has previously noted, he could shoot someone in broad daylight and not lose any of his core support. The folks he needed to court last night were the moderate Republican voters who question his fitness to be Commander-in-Chief; and by Trumpian standards, he initially appeared to be toning things down a bit in order to appear more presidential.
But then things quickly started to go off the rails for Donald. He was so bad at times that he appeared to be performing a spoof on how not to appear during a debate.
One of the more interesting reactions to all this belonged to NBC's Chuck Todd. He complained that neither candidate actually talked much about substance and instead focused on themselves. But like it or not, presidential debates are not remembered for their substance, at least not since they started televising them.
Just look at the things we remember from previous debates. Have you ever heard anybody say something like, "you know, I'll never forget the excellent point Al Gore made about Social Security in one of the 2000 debates."? Of course not. What folks remember about the 2000 debates was that Al Gore sighed. Nobody remembers a thing George H.W. Bush said during any of the 1992 debates -- all anyone remembers is that Poppy Bush looked at his watch. Any points Richard Nixon made during the 1960 Debate against Kennedy were overshadowed by how much Nixon was sweating.
When judged on the appearance standard alone, Trump's performance last night was an unmitigated catastrophe, especially when you consider that Trump is an established television personality who should be aware that appearance is everything. Indeed, he conducted a clinic on how not to appear during a debate.
Forget about all the times he rudely interrupted Hillary. That was just a small part of the big, ugly portrait Trump was painting of himself. As Howard Dean noted, it looked like Donald had just done a line or two of cocaine moments before walking onto the stage, given all the sniffling, snorting, and water drinking he did last night. I thought that when Trump wasn't speaking, he was making motions and facial expressions that looked a lot like South Park's version of Saddam Hussein. And when he was speaking, he was profoundly incoherent, particularly during the second half of the debate.
But let's not allow Trump's crappiness to overshadow Hillary's strong performance, particularly given that she was largely responsible for Donald's meltdown. HRC had a toughest job of all. The only thing Trump had to do is appear minimally presidential. Hillary, on the other hand, had to needle Trump just enough to set him off but at the same time not appear too overbearing. Well, Mission Fucking Accomplished. And her response to Trump's answer on Birtherism was one for the ages.
How much will all this affect poll numbers? Well, 70 to 80 million people watched Hillary kick Trump's ass last night, so my feeling is that the polls will respond by not fluctuating like they've been doing of late and instead settle down to where Hillary maintains a five-point lead nationally and a comfortable lead in enough swing states to drastically limit Trump's pathways to an Electoral College victory. In other words, it ain't over yet, folks, but it just might be the beginning of the end.
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