Monday, September 26, 2016

Trump Vs. Clinton: What To Expect At Tonight's Debate

 File:Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during United States presidential election 2016.jpg
(photo courtesy of WikiCommons, Flickr and Gage Skidmore)


It's definitely on tonight, and while we can't predict exactly how it will go, here are some things I'm pretty sure you can take for granted:

You'll frequently be under the impression Trump is debating 'moderator' Lester Holt rather than Mrs. Clinton.

Matt Lauer was the moderator of the Commander in Chief forum and Lester Holt had to have noticed the gang stomping Matt Lauer got from his peers as well as his employer simply for asking Mrs. Clinton a few questions about her e-mail scandal. It didn't matter that this was something obviously relevant in a forum on national security. Not only did he make her look bad, but he actually had a semblance of fairness when questioning Donald Trump.

And. We. Can't. Have. That.

Rest assured that Lester Holt isn't going to make the same mistake Matt Lauer did. He will be aggressive and partisan towards Trump and give Mrs. Clinton softballs if he knows what's good for him. In fact, Lester Holt is already chest thumping and bragging to his colleagues that he's going to do just that.

No matter how this comes out, Hillary Clinton will be extolled as the Winner by the media afterwards.

Donald Trump, you see, will actually be going three on one here against Mrs. Clinton, the media and the moderator. Unless it's a major blowout, they will call it for Clinton and manipulate the polls to do their best to 'prove' she won.

Expect a fair amount of attempts to insult Trump and get him to lose his cool. 'Nuff said.


Expect the debate rules to be broken if it favors Mrs. Clinton regardless of the rules. If she has one of her infamous coughing fits, expect Lester Holt to go to a station break or commercial, Expect him to allow her to filibuster and not answer questions whenever its remotely possible without being challenged. Expect her to be allowed to try to talk over Trump without being restrained by the 'moderator.'

And expect the exact opposite treatment for Donald Trump.

And unless there's a major gotcha moment, expect this debate to have little impact on the election.

I could be wrong about that last one, but we'll see.

No comments: