“Sh—tshow” was the word seemingly on everyone’s lips immediately following Tuesday’s debate.
And there’s no better way to sum up the first time Donald Trump and Joe Biden shared a stage this election cycle, other than calling it a sh—tshow.
We’re in the middle of a pandemic. COVID-19 has killed more than 200,000 Americans. Meanwhile, unrest has swept the country for months, in wake of social injustice and the murders of Black Americans by the hands of the police.
But instead of giving those issues — issues Americans care deeply about — the proper attention they deserve, Trump chose instead to be divisive, to throw insults at Biden’s alma mater, his son and our intelligence if he thinks those tactics could distract us from the reality we’re all living right now.
Which is exactly like Biden said Tuesday — we’re sicker, poorer and angrier.
Angry at the underlying faults in our society and angry at Trump’s complete lack of leadership. As insane as it is for a sitting president to not denounce white supremacy, it’s not all a surprise with Trump. There wasn’t a single part of his performance Tuesday night that was a surprise.
It was discouraging to watch, and maybe that’s exactly what Trump wants.
Maybe he wants to remind you that despite what you saw and have seen, there will be millions of Republican voters casting their ballots for him anyway, that he has nominated another pick to the Supreme Court who could be the deciding factor in stripping away existing rights, that he has white supremacists on his side and that it is a very real possibility that you might have to endure another four years of what you just watched.
He wants to suppress your voice and to doubt the system.
Maybe one of Biden’s more important moments in those 90 minutes was when he reminded Americans that, in fact, our votes do count.
“The fact is, I will accept [the results] and he will too, and you know why? Once the winner is declared after all the ballots are counted, all the votes are counted, that’ll be the end of it,” Biden said. “That will be the end of it.”
