I was just reading the transcript of the 2024 presidential debate, because, frankly, even though I viewed it live, I couldn’t believe what I heard. What a fiasco. Biden looked weak and ineffectual. Trump looked energetically insane. And what the hell did that exchange about who was a better golfer have to do with choosing the leader of the free world? This is really starting to feel like the fall of Rome.
If you wish to watch the debate itself, you can view it here.
Biden spent weeks preparing for the event. He’s a career politician, and for some crazy reason he thought this debate would follow the Marquess of Queensberry rules. He boned up on his facts and his statistics as a good debater should. I have no idea why. He’s dealt with Trump before. Perhaps, like me, he may have struggled to believe that the insanity that is Trumplandia could possibly be real. In the end, he came down with a cold just in time for the whole world to see, and seemed flabbergasted by the audacity of his opponent.
In contrast, Trump bragged about not bothering to prepare. And why would he? He knew he could lie and deflect extemporaneously, with zero effort on his part, which is just how he likes it. Inflict maximum damage with minimum exertion.
I wish someone had sat down with Biden and told him that it’s good that he had his facts and statistics straight, but he wasn’t going to face a debater. He’d be sharing the stage with a narcissistic bully. And the only way to defeat a bully is by calling them on their shit until they can’t defend their foolishness any longer.
Biden should have challenged the man, on stage, to commit to providing documented proof of every claim that Trump made during the debate, and then offer to reciprocate in kind. And then Biden would be able to crow, far and wide, from now until the election, when Trump did not honor that commitment. Trump would have melted like the wicked witch of the west.
What follows are actual quotes that Trump said, which can be found in the transcript. And after each one, I’ll provide an example of the way Biden could have responded, and also the way he should have summed things up in the end.
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Actual Trump: We got a lot of credit for the economy, a lot of credit for the military, and no wars and so many other things. Everything was rocking good.
Fantasy Biden: I will be happy to compare a graph of the economy during your presidency with one from mine any day, along with your record high deficit figures, and I will provide that same information with all the other documentation we’ll be putting out after this debate. And no wars, did you say? What about Afghanistan and the Iraqi Conflict? I realize that you had limited involvement, due to lack of knowledge of world affairs, sir, but everybody’s heard of these campaigns. I’m sure the active duty military, the veterans and the gold star families will be disgusted that you seem to have forgotten about the fact that they put their lives on the line.
Actual Trump: (Referring to COVID) more people died under his administration, even though we had largely fixed it. More people died under his administration than our administration.
Fantasy Biden: Again, show the American people the receipts. Provide those death statistics. I will. And by the way, more Republicans died of COVID than Democrats, because those Republicans listened to you rather than trusting science. You should be ashamed of yourself for politicizing a public health issue.
Actual Trump: I’d love to ask him, and will, why he allowed millions of people to come in here from prisons, jails and mental institutions to come into our country and destroy our country.
Fantasy Biden: Excuse me? Let’s provide the actual immigration figures, and the number of people that came from prisons, jails and mental institutions, if those figures even exist. You are trying to whip up fear in America, based on your lies, because you know that’s the only way you have a chance to win this election.
Actual Trump: 51 years ago, you had Roe v. Wade, and everybody wanted to get it back to the states, everybody, without exception. Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, everybody wanted it back. Religious leaders, every legal scholar, throughout the world, the most respected, wanted it brought back to the states. I did that.
Fantasy Biden: Let’s see this survey of every legal scholar in the world. I’d certainly love to see it. Give the people actual, factual statistics from credible sources. The Supreme Court, which is corrupted by your appointees, did no one a favor by overturning Roe. I’ll provide actual statistics about America’s attitudes toward abortion from credible sources. You speak only in opinions. You are unfamiliar with facts.
Actual Trump: The problem they have is they’re radical, because they will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth – after birth. If you look at the former governor of Virginia, he was willing to do this. He said, we’ll put the baby aside and we’ll determine what we do with the baby. Meaning, we’ll kill the baby.
Fantasy Biden: Please explain how you can abort a baby after birth, first of all. Please give us documentation that that has ever happened due to any legislation, in any state, ever, in the history of this country. Virginians are laughing at you right now. You’re so incapable of telling the truth that your lies are becoming too absurd to even contemplate.
Actual Trump: We have a border that’s the most dangerous place anywhere in the world – considered the most dangerous place anywhere in the world. And he opened it up, and these killers are coming into our country, and they are raping and killing women.
Fantasy Biden: First, there is no data anywhere that states that our border is the most dangerous place in the world. More dangerous than North Korea? More dangerous than any place where war is ongoing? You are trying to scare people, sir, and I hope that the people see through you like I do. Also, statistics show that immigrants are actually more law abiding than American citizens, because they want to stay in this great country. You say people are getting raped and murdered willy nilly at the border every day. Granted, when it happens it’s horrific and a tragedy, but it’s extremely rare. Prove me wrong. Show me the police reports. Having said that, though, we do have some serious immigration challenges in this country, and we had a comprehensive plan to deal with these issues, but Republicans blocked it. Your way of dealing with it was ripping children out of the arms of their parents and putting them in cages. Many of them still haven’t been reunited. What did you do about that? Nothing. In fact, you were proud of it. America should set an example for the rest of the world. What you did, sir, was a disgrace.
Actual Trump: But they’re voting and it’s bringing it back to the vote of the people, which is what everybody wanted, including the founders, if they knew about this issue, which frankly they didn’t, but they would have – everybody want it brought back.
Fantasy Biden: If everybody wanted to bring the abortion issue back to the states, why has there been such a public outcry since Roe was overturned? And by the way, there is data that shows that abortion was commonplace in the 1700’s and 1800’s in this country. I can provide that documentation. The founders didn’t see fit to discuss abortion in the constitution because it didn’t occur to them that anyone but the people in that situation should make decisions about it. And I agree.
Actual Trump: So that means he can take the life of the baby in the ninth month and even after birth, because some states, Democrat-run, take it after birth. Again, the governor – former governor of Virginia: put the baby down, then we decide what to do with it. So he’s in – he’s willing to, as we say, rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month and kill the baby. Nobody wants that to happen.
Fantasy Biden: For once, I agree with Trump. Nobody wants that to happen. And I can’t envision a single circumstance in which it would, unless death was imminent and certain, and that’s the decision for a doctor and the woman involved, not a politician. Again, you are trying to make people afraid with your lies. Killing babies. What on God’s green earth are you talking about?? Show us the proof.
Actual Trump: He decided to open up our border, open up our country to people that are from prisons, people that are from mental institutions, insane asylum, terrorists. We have the largest number of terrorists coming into our country right now. All terrorists, all over the world – not just in South America, all over the world. They come from the Middle East, everywhere. All over the world, they’re pouring in….He’s the one that killed people with the bad border, including hundreds of thousands of people dying, and also killing our citizens when they come in.
Fantasy Biden: Wow, hundreds of thousands of people died at the border and it didn’t make the news? That’s interesting. Please, would all these hundreds of thousands of families who have lost loved ones contact the press so that we have this data? It won’t happen on that grand scale because he’s lying, and trying to scare the public. Where are you getting this data, Mr. Trump? Please show the people how you’ve come up with this insane accusation. For too long people have been mistaking your hyperbole with fact. Show us facts.
Actual Trump: First of all, our veterans and our soldiers can’t stand this guy. They can’t stand him. They think he’s the worst commander in chief, if that’s what you call him, that we’ve ever had. They can’t stand him. So let’s get that straight. And they like me more than just about any of them. And that’s based on every single bit of information.
Fantasy Biden: So, you’ve talked to every single soldier? How? You couldn’t even be bothered to visit their military graves, let alone the soldiers who risk their lives for our freedom every single day. Show us all these “bits of information” that you claim your conclusions are based on, and then we’ll talk.
Actual Trump: I will have that war settled between Putin and Zelenskyy as president-elect before I take office on January 20th. I’ll have that war settled.
Fantasy Biden: Now, this statement I find particularly fascinating. If he’s so capable of settling this war, why wait until he’s in office? Save lives now. That would be so impressive that everyone would vote for you! Do it now. But he’s not doing that because he’s not able to, and if he were able, this is proof positive that he’s not acting out of compassion. He’s lying to try to give people the impression that he’s some kind of a magician who can fix all the world’s ills. But the truth is, he doesn’t care about anyone but himself. Wave your magic wand and stop the war now, Trump, and you’ll even get my vote.
Actual Trump: On January 6th, we were respected all over the world.
Fantasy Biden: On January 6th, the world looked on in horror at what you had done, as well they should have. Nations heaved sighs of relief when you left.
Actual Trump: (In an attempt to deny his responsibility for January 6th, he first blames Pelosi, and then her says the following.): When you look at all of the – they took over big chunks of Seattle. I was all set to bring in the National Guard. They heard that, they saw them coming and they left immediately.
Now this is me, Barb the Blogger: I have to interject here. Protests in Seattle only took up about 3 city blocks. Again he’s making mountains out of molehills. And those protests wouldn’t have been violent if Trump hadn’t whipped the White Supremacists into a frenzy.
Actual Trump: And what he has done to the black population is horrible, including the fact that for 10 years he called them super predators.
Fantasy Biden: This is not the first time you’ve made that false accusation, so it has been researched and debunked. I never called anyone a super predator, and you know it.
Actual Trump: So, I want absolutely immaculate clean water and I want absolutely clean air, and we had it….I had the best environmental numbers ever.
Fantasy Biden: This from the man who chipped away at the Environmental Protection Agency continuously, throughout his 4 years in office. In actual fact, your environmental numbers were abysmal. You don’t care about the environment. All you care about is lining your own pockets. Produce this evidence that you had such wonderful environmental numbers. Show us. Who told you that? You need better advisors, man.
Actual Trump: But Social Security, he’s destroying it. Because millions of people are pouring into our country, and they’re putting them on to Social Security
Fantasy Biden: It’s easy to prove that’s a lie, because illegal immigrants have never been allowed to have social security, and there have never been any plans by anyone to change that. Once again, you’re trying to make Americans afraid, and you’re doing it with your lies. You have to lie because you can’t come up with any legitimate fear-worthy examples.
Actual Trump: They’re – what they’re doing to the V.A., to our veterans, is unbelievable. Our veterans are living in the street and these people are living in luxury hotels.
Fantasy Biden: Name one luxury hotel that is housing illegal immigrants. Then we can ask the manager if it’s true. You can’t do that, because you’re lying about it. Name one hotel. Right now.
Actual Trump: To finish up, we now have the largest deficit in the history of our country under this guy, we have the largest deficit with China. He gets paid by China. He’s a Manchurian candidate. He gets money from China. So I think he’s afraid to deal with him or something.
Fantasy Biden: It will be quite simple to provide the deficit statistics, and they will prove that his deficit was the highest this country has ever had. And what money are you talking about? Show us the proof. Your words are not enough. Evidence. Provide evidence.
Actual Trump: He ended remain in Mexico, he ended catch and release. I made it catch and release in Mexico, not catch and release here. We had so many things that we had done, hard negotiations with Mexico, and I got it all for nothing. It’s just like when you have a hostage, we always pay $6 billion for a – every time we sees hostage. Now we have a hostage. A Wall Street Journal reporter, I think a good guy, and he’s over there because Putin is laughing at this guy, probably asking for billions of dollars for the reporter.
Fantasy Biden: The moderator asked you about what you would do to get addicts the treatment they need, and you talk about immigrants at our border and a hostage in Russia. Why can’t you answer that question?
Actual Trump: I will have him out very quickly, as soon as I take office, before I take office. I said by literally as soon as I win the election, I will have that reporter out.
Fantasy Biden: I say it again. Why wait, if you actually care. Why wait to end a war and get a hostage released if you are so capable of doing so? Because you don’t care. You just want to make yourself look capable, when in the end, it’s all smoke and mirrors, isn’t it? If it isn’t, then end the war. Get the hostage released. Everyone would love you.
Actual Trump: We had two cases where we paid $6 billion for five people. I got 58 people out and I paid essentially nothing.
Fantasy Biden: Give me a list of those 58 people. And they can’t be people that you got through prisoner exchange, either, because releasing a prisoner to an enemy state is not “nothing.”
Actual Trump: I took two tests, cognitive tests. I aced them, both of them, as you know.
Fantasy Biden: The only reason a doctor would ask you to take cognitive tests is if he had serious concerns about your cognition. People don’t take cognitive tests just for fun. Every American knows that.
Actual Trump: All he does is make our country unsafe by allowing millions and millions of people to pour in.
Fantasy Biden: In actual fact, the number of immigrant releases and returns in your administration and mine are all but identical. And that’s allowing for the fact that you had a sharp increase in releases and returns during the 2020 election year, because you wanted to look good so people would be willing to reelect you. But the vast majority of Americans chose not to reelect you, and that’s not something you were willing to accept, so you incited violence and fomented divisions in this country that should never have been there in the first place. Children have tantrums when they don’t get what they want. You, by contrast, cause destruction, injury and death.
Fantasy Biden’s Summary: I think this country is still great, and that is not of your making, sir. I see our boundless potential and our determination, our strength and our courage. I see that most of us want the best for this country. Do we have issues? Of course we do. Immigration is of great concern. But to claim that we are being flooded by a wave of murderers and rapists is absurd. We should be proud that so many people want to live in this country. That’s not going to go away, due to climate change and the desperate poverty and therefore increased violence in Third World countries. You’d be trying to come here, too, under those circumstances. But if immigrants can’t legally be here, they shouldn’t be here. But if they can, and they add to our diversity and innovation and work ethic, then we will benefit from that, as we have for centuries. Of course there will be exceptions to that rule, but the idea that we should all be cowering in a corner somewhere is an illusion of your making. I suspect that those Americans living in constant fear are getting rather sick of that, and eventually they’ll realize that it’s you and your cronies who are making them feel that way with your blustering and lies, and I hope the people will vote against you accordingly.
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Well, Dear Reader, I feel cleansed, because I know all these things to be true. I just wish Biden would say them loudly and clearly enough to where they won’t be smothered in Trump’s bombastic obfuscation. Having said all that, I’m afraid I’m going to develop an ulcer between now and the day when we get the election results.
Please vote. Please.
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