That’s News

There’s an old wisecrack in the newspaper business, variously attributed, that dog bites man—not news; man bites dog—that’s news. When New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin sharply criticizes President Trump’s behavior during the “debate”, it’s news:

America was mistreated Tuesday. A highly anticipated showdown in a closely fought presidential election in a deeply divided country had the potential to be a clarifying moment.

Instead, it was a sweaty, formless flop. Worse, it was annoying. Neither the candidates nor moderator Chris Wallace acquitted themselves well.

Joe Biden was sharp and coherent enough, though he relied heavily on notes in front of him. He didn’t exactly raise the bar of decorum with his name-calling, alternately labeling President Trump a clown, a liar and a racist. Ho hum.

Yet the bulk of the blame falls on Trump, who came with a clear plan and executed it flawlessly. Unfortunately, it was a very bad plan.

The very worst part is that next year one of these two men will be president. That this result is the best that our two political parties can produce is proof positive that there is something very wrong with our politics.

I have said in the past that I have absolutely no insight into Donald Trump’s mental processes. The only explanation I can come up with for his strategy is that he thinks that he can win the election with his base alone and the Democrats will do the work of increasing his base for him.