Close encounters of a third party

Trump’s team knows his only path to victory is to convince liberals and moderates to either stay home or vote for a third party candidate rather than Biden.

I watched last nights’ debate at a friend’s house in one of the “reddest” parts of the country - rural Wyoming. With lots of catching up to do and two (almost) 3 year olds running around, we couldn’t pay close attention the whole time, but I didn’t need to focus my attention long to see it was going to be bad. This morning we drove from the Sheridan, WY area to Devil’s Tower so I had a chance to listen to the second half of the debate that I missed (I’m a glutton for punishment).

Here are my takeaways.

Biden gave a bad performance - horrible, actually. Anyone saying otherwise is delusional. Every worry about his age was reinforced. A debate performance doesn’t dictate how good someone is or will be as president, but it matters.

There’s a sizable minority in this country that are going to vote for Trump no matter what. It’s a minority, it’s locked in, and it’s not growing. Sorry to those that like him, but you are not in the majority. A majority of Americans know Trump is a grifter, a narcissist, and a liar. Trump’s team knows this and knows his only path to victory is to convince liberals and moderates to either stay home or vote for a third party candidate rather than Biden- there’s no way they are voting for Trump. Last night helped that effort. Trump was his usual, ranting lunatic-self, spewing bullshit that is always aimed at riling up donors and sowing doubt about Biden.

But we also, performance aside, saw Biden answer every question from a perspective of policy and what he’s tried to do as president. Part of his problem was that he tried to correct or clarify his answers in an attempt to answer them honestly and accurately. Other times he just got tripped up in his own answers. His age, his speech impediment, maybe the cold he had, maybe bad or insufficient prep, and the fact that he is running the country clearly made him unprepared. Despite all that, he wasn’t trying to deceive or paint a narrative that is based in complete fantasy. Which is what Trump did the whole time. The moderators consistently had to ask him to actually answer the question. He consistently pivoted to immigration talking points because he knows that’s where Biden is vulnerable with moderate voters (even though Trump is the reason we aren’t moving toward solutions). Biden didn’t effectively push back on this topic or any of the other issues where the vast majority of Americans disagree with Trump. Education, abortion, healthcare, taxes, foreign policy, energy policy…all issues Trump is out of step on with a majority of Americans. This really should have been a slam dunk.

Then there was Trump’s closing statement which painted his fantastical, dystopian picture of America. “We are living in hell.”

Does anyone truly believe that? We have A LOT of challenges as a country, but “hell?” It’s a terrifyingly cynical thing to hear from a major party nominee - and something I doubt his supporters actually experience.

Finally, there’s the question of what’s next. I don’t honestly know if Biden should step aside and allow someone else to be nominated. Maybe he should. But for all his flaws, I think he cares deeply for our country and that is what drove him to run for president four years ago. He’s the only one that can decide whether to step aside or not and I really do hope he makes the decision he thinks is right. Continuing to run is a risk. Stepping aside for the good of his country and allowing someone less known to run is a risk. Those asserting that Biden stepping down is the only path to victory are just as brazen as anyone that tries to convince us last night wasn’t a disaster. No one knows with certainty which path is a better route to beating Trump.

But the bottom line is he is still a better president than Trump will ever be and electing Trump again would be a disaster. I’ll do everything I can to prevent that from happening no matter who the Democratic nominee is. If you are reading this and considering voting for a third party, don’t. I wish we had a system that didn’t result in two old white dudes running against each other, but it’s the system we have and there’s no question Biden is the better man and the better President. He isn’t perfect, he isn’t our savior, but he’s what we’ve got unless he decides to step aside.