With 100 Million People Expected To Watch, Tonight's Presidential Debate Is The Most Anticipated In History
At last, we’re here. We made it. We battled through the Lyin’ Teds and the Bernies. Through the email scandals and the allegations of racism and bigotry. Through plagiarism and pop-pneumonia.
Hillary Clinton announced she was running for president on April 12th, 2015; Trump announced on June 16th. Combined, that’s a shitload of months these two have been battling, tweeting, stumping, kissing babies, chirping babies, testifying before Congress, apologizing to entire races of people, and so on. You get what campaigning is. Through ALL this, opinion polls have them in a dead heat and the difference maker undoubtedly and unavoidably will be the presidential debates.
Tonight it begins. 1-on-1. 90 minutes. No commercial breaks. Hillary has been grinding out traditional prep, with a former aide playing Trump in mock debates and media outlets going on and on about how many binders of information she has spread across her kitchen.
Trump has been doing what he always does — winging it. CNN writes, “Trump is approaching the showdown with characteristic bravado — ignoring the kind of secluded debate retreats most candidates favor. He hasn’t, for example, practiced debating a stand-in for Clinton.”
By all accounts this is leading us EXACTLY where we want it to lead — Hillary trying to play a polished up, well-prepared, orthodox debate game against an off-the-cuff, free wheeling, drag-you-into-the-muck Donald Trump. Ideally the spectacle winds up somewhere in the middle with fireworks everywhere. Seems inevitable, as deep down they’re both pretty mucky. I mean Hillary threatened to have Trump troller Mark Cuban flown in to sit front row, only for Trump to respond with threatening to bring in Gennifer Flowers, one of Slick Willy’s girls.
The moderator is NBC’s Lester Holt. And the pressure is HIGH. When Matt Lauer got universally shit on for not “fact-checking” Trump during the Commander In Chief Forum a few weeks ago, it destined the debate moderators for intense scrutiny. Do they fact-check, or is that not their job?
Candy Crowley famously (or infamously) fact-checked a Romney claim during the 2012 debates. The move was predictably praised by one side and deeply ridiculed by the other. It was a gaff made extra memorable by Crowley’s interjection, and it undoubtedly hurt Romney in the tight race.
DEBATE BIAS: Candy Crowley destroyed her 27-year career at @CNN in 30 seconds. Will @AndersonCooper repeat her mistake? @AC360 #Trump2016 pic.twitter.com/ORF3UYMzKC
— ViveLaFrance (@vivelafra) September 25, 2016
While policy and facts are important in debates, they alone don’t get you the win. The theater of it is huge and both will try to show off some personality. In 2000, Al Gore was touted as perhaps the most well-prepared debater ever. And he delivered, absolutely nailing informative, fact-supported, articulate, and concise policy-based answers. But he came off like a robot, while George W Bush earned mountains of credit for simply proving he could hold his own while maintaining the image of the likable, charismatic candidate.
Perhaps the most known American presidential debate moment was Ronald Reagan’s quip about age in 1984. Running for reelection, Reagan had stumbled in the first debate and questions had arisen about his ability to wholly do his job as the oldest president ever.
He went on to win 49 of 50 states, damn near naked-lapping Walter Mondale.
The challenge for Hillary will be to appear likable and trustworthy. The challenge for Trump will be to fill 90 minutes with substantive, detailed policy.
The show starts at 9 eastern and goes until 10:30. No bathroom breaks. No commercial breaks. Just a straight shot. Must-watch television. We will be covering the event live from Barstool HQ, so get your technology ready because god knows ours probably won’t be. What a night it could be.