Picture a photo display of the two candidates, each surrounded by pictures of top staff and advisors. President Biden’s would be smiling headshots with names and job titles beneath each. Trump’s would be mug shots with labels plastered on them — “indicted,” “convicted,” or both. His lackeys took the fall instead of the boss (except for those he pardoned on his way out, of course).
Trump’s people needed only to pledge absolute loyalty to him, just as a mob boss demands. Qualifications for jobs they held mattered little, if at all. What he wanted, they gave him, or they were gone. Skirting or flouting the law was commonplace. And the law caught up with many of them for crimes he instigated. “Gang” is the only accurate term for them.
President Biden’s people have done their jobs with no credible accusations of misdeeds, despite the crazed efforts of MAGA minions in Congress, posing as people elected to serve the best interests of their constituents and the country at large. Our President relies on his administration’s expertise, dedication, and honor. “Team” is the term that suits them well.
In light of this contrast, pitting the two candidates in a debate against one another, one on one, bears no resemblance to how the presidency works, where the input of many leads to decisions that are carefully thought out, as long as it takes — no solo act, no two-minute sound bites, no evading the issues, no absence of fact-checking can be tolerated in the Oval Office. That’s where real governing goes on, not a TV show run amuck.
We can only hope that the second televised event (dare we even call it a “debate”?) is structured so issues are engaged substantively and false claims are called out immediately.
Can we hope?
Fred Reklau, Oak Park