Panic attack

There are a lot of Democrats freaking out this morning. Last night's first Presidential debate didn't go as they had hoped. The President didn't show great vigor and acumen. And Orange Caligula didn't crash and burn.

It wasn't pretty, I agree. Biden was somewhat ill (I hope somebody gives him a Covid test), and his opponent was amped up on extra doses of whatever gets him through every day, steady high. Donnie lied his ass off the entire hour. He said more false things than true. But the CNN bobbleheads moderating the shindig allowed the lies to hover in the air like balloons filled with passed gas. The begrudging fact-checking came an hour or two later, when nobody cared, when some of the country was no longer awake.

Beelzebub's felony convictions didn't come up even in the first half-hour. I think it took them 45 minutes to get to that.

The rest of the media were just as bad. For months they've been dead set on both-sidesing and normalizing Trump's filth. Last night, they were jumping in within minutes of the opening to start bleating that the President should retire and let there be an open convention. 

The New York Times has been particuarly bad in this regard, and they were at it again last night. Nick Kristof, the fake Oregonian, was on Twitter the whole hour talking about what a bad performance the President was giving. Is it just my take, or is Kristof a bit of a horse's ass? Given his last few years, I would have thought he'd lay off politics for a while and write about some other topic on which he has declared himself an expert.

But the worst was MSNBC. So very desperate. They had Andrea Mitchell, of all people, tweeting away that Biden is too old for the job. I wonder if she herself could tell you what day it was, if it weren't in big block letters on a teleprompter. Then out came the middle-aged bozos, Chuck Todd, Katy Tur, they're all terrible, and they're probably nattering away even now.

Will last night significantly affect the election outcome? Are enough of the undecided voters paying attention yet, and if they are, do debate shows matter to them? And do they all agree that the creepy guy won?

The Democratic Party spin doctors are out in force today, of course. Even if Biden lost the debate, you should still vote for him! You're not voting for a person, you're voting for an administration! And what about the Supreme Court?

Man, the red lights start flashing when I hear that kind of line. It's how they sold Hillary Clinton, or didn't, in 2016. Which is how we got President Rapey in the first place. If the "Her Turn" debacle taught us anything, it's that the DNC brain trust will run the party right into a buzz saw once they have decided that they have their candidate, and that it's your job to like that candidate. Back then, they lost to "But her e-mails!" This time, it may well be "But he's too old!"

It doesn't have to be true to beat you.

I doubt that the President will drop out, unless something happens that totally disables him. He thinks he's going to win, first of all. And besides, withdrawing from the race might get people to thinking that maybe he should resign from the White House right now, when I'm sure he's got plenty he still wants to do there.

But just for the sake of water cooler discussion, what's the Plan B? Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket? I haven't seen her poll numbers, but I'd bet they aren't so great. Gretchen Whitmer? Gavin Newsom? J.B. Pritzker? Amy Klobuchar? Cory Booker? Has anybody more than 500 miles away ever heard of any of these people?

For seven years, I have prayed every day for God to free America from the curse of Trump. If God's up there, she hasn't heard my plea, or she doesn't want to grant my wish. At least, not so far.

So get ready for the existential dread to really get going again. The next few months are going to be darker than ever.