Do We Need a Presidential Debate?

Gee, what a surprise that Donald Trump is making a big, phony deal about the upcoming debate with Kamala. After all, he needs some way to begin explaining why he will lose the debate because now he’s going up against someone who has built a career by facing down God knows how many defense attorneys in courtrooms, many of whom presented testimonies and arguments far beyond anything that Trump could offer up in a political debate.

And what makes a in-person, live debate against another individual who will have prepared herself by reviewing literally every political issue under the sun, is that Trump is so used to standing up in front of an adoring crowd and saying things that are totally removed from reality, that it’s not quite clear, at least to me, that he necessarily can make a distinction between what’s true and what’s not.

I’m sure that over the next couple of weeks we will have the usual lamentations from my liberal friends both within and without the Fake News about how Trump’s refusal to do the debate is just another example of his autocratic mentality and lack of respect for the traditions and practices of American democracy.

After all, we have been listening to political debates since Abrahan Lincoln debated Stephen Douglas in a Senate election back in 1858. And it was not uncommon for debates to take place in primary…