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Preparing for a humiliating loss.....

torbee

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Trump falls into the trap he set for Biden
Some on Trump’s team are bracing for a humiliating loss at next week's debate — after Trump lowered expectations for Biden by mocking his acumen for months.

By GABBY ORR and NANCY COOK
09/23/2020 04:30 AM EDT

Donald Trump will face Joe Biden within days for the first of three presidential debates, and some of the president’s supporters are already bracing for a humiliating loss.

White House allies, Republican donors and some of Trump’s closest advisers worry that a recent, frenzied push by his top lieutenants to portray Biden as a seasoned debater — with the goal of raising expectations for the Democratic presidential nominee — is too late and too disingenuous to have an impact when the two meet on the debate stage next Tuesday.
“Eight years as vice president, three decades in the Senate, two debates as vice president and he just came through about a dozen debates in the Democratic primaries where he vanquished two dozen opponents — that’s the Joe Biden we’re expecting,” Murtaugh said.

It’s this type of expectation-setting that some of the president’s allies believe he and his campaign should have engaged in all along, an approach they’re now frustrated to see deployed so close to the Sept. 29 debate in Cleveland. The Trump campaign spent the bulk of this summer questioning whether “Sleepy Joe” is fit for office and accusing the Biden campaign of trying to circumvent the traditional debates to avoid a potentially embarrassing situation for their candidate.

“This idea of Biden not knowing how to debate is ridiculous. The more that expectations are lowered for him the worse,” said former White House press secretary Sean Spicer.


“A lot of folks are looking for a reason to declare him the victor and now they’ll be able to use Trump’s words as a way to justify their verdict that Biden won,” added Spicer, who believes Biden “will land a punch or two” against Trump but doubts either candidate’s performance will affect the race all that much.

Ed Rollins, a veteran GOP strategist who currently runs a pro-Trump super PAC, said the Trump campaign has “so diminished” Biden that he is virtually guaranteed to be perceived as the winner once he and Trump emerge from their first debate.

“Biden has clearly shown he can function, the bar is low and the expectations are so low, all he has to do is exceed those expectations,” Rollins said.


Several Trump allies pointed to Biden’s sharp debate earlier this year against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, his last remaining opponent in the Democratic primary and a skilled sparring partner, as the clearest indication that he is capable of going toe-to-toe against the president. Biden scored slightly higher than Sanders in a poll following their March debate, where the former vice president delivered a strong case against Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and a practical rebuke of Sanders’ so-called political revolution.

“We have problems we have to solve now. What’s a revolution going to do? Disrupt everything in the meantime?” asked Biden in one memorable line.
Trump has been studying his opponent’s past debate performances and working with a small team of advisers for several weeks to prepare for the trio of fall debates.
The president’s advisers expect Biden will use the current political landscape — as voters face a battered economy, global pandemic, social upheaval and a Supreme Court battle that is likely to sow further division on Capitol Hill — to build a case during each of the debates that Trump has created problems he is incapable of solving.
While they don’t expect Biden, who is prone to verbal blunders and often stumbles over his words, to maintain a strong posture for the entire 90-minute televised debate, they acknowledge that it will take only a couple of stinging soundbites and memorable zingers to surpass the bar Trump has set for him.
“The danger with [Trump’s] sustained attack against Biden’s cognitive abilities is that he’s now created a situation for himself where he has no excuse to fall back on if Biden lands a few punches and he struggles to return blows,” said a Republican close to the Trump campaign.
“I get why the president has gone after Biden for his age and gaffes — no reasonable person can ignore those things — but at some point he should have flipped the script to increase expectations heading into the debates,” this person added.

While most of the Trump aides who spoke with POLITICO for this story conceded that the president’s insistence that Biden is mentally unfit has made it easier for his opponent to do well in the first debate, they have simultaneously accused the media of predetermining the winner in next Tuesday’s debate.

“People understand that the media is dying to just declare Joe Biden the winner when instead he should be judged the same way that any presidential candidate should be judged on the debate stage,” said one adviser to the Trump campaign.

“It’s going to be a very low bar for the Washington elite to say Biden did well and because he didn’t fall down, he won. That is partly because of Trump and partly because they want to prop Biden up,” added Spicer.

Others have chalked up Biden’s recent performances — including his closing speech at the Democratic National Convention and his participation in a CNN town hall last week — as non-challenging. They point to his use of a teleprompter during the convention (something Trump also used in his own acceptance speech for the Republican nomination) or, in the case of the televised town hall in Scranton, Pa., argue that he was handed softball questions.

“Virtually every question for Joe Biden was an invitation for him to attack President Trump, while moderator Anderson Cooper offered almost no pushback, giving Biden a total pass on his lies and misrepresentations,” said the Trump campaign in a statement after Biden’s appearance on the network.

Another Trump supporter accused Biden of receiving advance notice of the questions in a bid to rationalize his performance last week. “Looks to me that Biden had an idea of what the questions would be, at least areas of questioning,” tweeted former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly during the town hall. In a subsequent tweet, O’Reilly said he had “simply tweeted an observation.”
 
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Donald is going to debate like a troll would. Just trying to score points, no adherence to any sort of overarching logical framework. He doesn't play by any rules. That's why I wouldn't want to debate someone like that, not unless I was sure I knew how to handle him.

Of course he'll "lose", but I'm not sure it matters. Hopefully Biden can ruin his trolling.
 
Donald is going to debate like a troll would. Just trying to score points, no adherence to any sort of overarching logical framework. He doesn't play by any rules. That's why I wouldn't want to debate someone like that, not unless I was sure I knew how to handle him.

Of course he'll "lose", but I'm not sure it matters. Hopefully Biden can ruin his trolling.
I don't think there's an audience of people to reassure him that he's killing, so I'm curious how that works out.
 
Donald is going to debate like a troll would. Just trying to score points, no adherence to any sort of overarching logical framework. He doesn't play by any rules. That's why I wouldn't want to debate someone like that, not unless I was sure I knew how to handle him.

Of course he'll "lose", but I'm not sure it matters. Hopefully Biden can ruin his trolling.
The way to handle him is to ignore him. If I was advising Biden, I’d instruct him to not even say his name, not look at him, not address him directly at all. Refer to him as “the current president” the way Woody Hayes called Michigan “That Team Up North.”

Trump is like a toddler - the best way to negate his tantrum-energy is to ignore it and starve it of energy.

Stay on point, calm, reasonable and presidential while the Current POTUS loses his shit like the emotionally fragile child he is.
 
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Trump's advantage is that he looks more alive than Biden and lies so quickly many will believe what he says. Unless Trump loses his composure which he hasn't done as far as I can recall, Biden will look weaker compared to him. And I am rooting for Biden.
 
Trump's advantage is that he looks more alive than Biden and lies so quickly many will believe what he says. Unless Trump loses his composure which he hasn't done as far as I can recall, Biden will look weaker compared to him. And I am rooting for Biden.
He looks more tan. Idk about more alive. I think u just racist against pale people like me and Biden.
 
Eventually Trump said he would try to put Hillary in jail and brought Bills accusers to a debate. I think he will probably say something similar about Biden being put in jail.

I also think Trumps base will think he won no matter what. One of Trumps few skills is lying unashamedly. If Trump did A he has no problem claiming Biden will do A and Trump will always do B. Fact checkers will call him on it, but his base either won't see the fact check or will
 
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Trump's advantage is that he looks more alive than Biden and lies so quickly many will believe what he says. Unless Trump loses his composure which he hasn't done as far as I can recall, Biden will look weaker compared to him. And I am rooting for Biden.
Biden looks far healthier than Trump, AINEC.

Bloated POTUS (now that’s a band name!) looks like someone who recently suffered a series of minor strokes.
 
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These debates are almost a waste of time. There just aren't very many people left to convince of anything. Anyone that is going to take the time to watch these has already made up their minds a long time ago.

I'm not saying we shouldn't have them (although it kind of sounds that way), I just wish I thought these debates would matter. I just don't think they will.
 
Trump is preparing for a "loss" because he lowered the expectations for his opponent so much the opponent may in fact be able to clear the obstacles. Let that sink in. It isnt that Joe is good its that he has been painted into the corner as a mouth breathing dunce and he is in fact capable of drawing air through his nostrils.

Also, it would be poor practices to not account for evey variable. I spent an hour on the phone with a guy yesterday worried one of his employees wasn't going to pass a test. Neither he nor I were actually worried but for us not to have a plan would have been foolish.
 
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Trump is preparing for a "loss" because he lowered the expectations for his opponent so much the opponent may in fact be able to clear the obstacles. Let that sink in. It isnt that Joe is good its that he has been painted into the corner as a mouth breathing dunce and he is in fact capable of drawing air through his nostrils.

Also, it would be poor practices to not account for evey variable. I spent an hour on the phone with a guy yesterday worried one of his employees wasn't going to pass a test. Neither he nor I were actually worried but for us not to have a plan would have been foolish.
So you expect Trump would come across as convincing without the handicap he gave Biden?
 
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Trump is preparing for a "loss" because he lowered the expectations for his opponent so much the opponent may in fact be able to clear the obstacles. Let that sink in. It isnt that Joe is good its that he has been painted into the corner as a mouth breathing dunce and he is in fact capable of drawing air through his nostrils.

Also, it would be poor practices to not account for evey variable. I spent an hour on the phone with a guy yesterday worried one of his employees wasn't going to pass a test. Neither he nor I were actually worried but for us not to have a plan would have been foolish.
Gee, who would have thought lying about your opponent incessantly for three months might backfire? More evidence Current Bloated POTUS is a dipshit. Put it on the list, which is about 2,000 pages long.
 
Gee, who would have thought lying about your opponent incessantly for three months might backfire? More evidence Current Bloated POTUS is a dipshit. Put it on the list, which is about 2,000 pages long.
Until Biden gets up there and goes full deer in the headlights and then he just gets to show that stupid ****ing smile.
 
It's interesting theory, but like others, I doubt it really matters much at all. Trumpers are not bound by reality, even when it comes to objective matters as opposed to something as subjective as these clown show debates.
 
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Did I read that Chris Wallace was going to write the questions?

That guy is a complete idiot and does interviews by asking the same question over and over. I do not think that format will work in a debate, which should be more freeform and allow for candidates to go in different directions with their answers.
 
It's interesting theory, but like others, I doubt it really matters much at all. Trumpers are not bound by reality, even when it comes to objective matters as opposed to something as subjective as these clown show debates.
It isn’t the Trumpers that matter. They are beyond redemption or hope anyway - brainwashed cultists.

It does matter for anyone who has concerns about Biden’s fitness for office. He very likely will be able to easily lay those to rest.
 
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Did I read that Chris Wallace was going to write the questions?

That guy is a complete idiot and does interviews by asking the same question over and over. I do not think that format will work in a debate, which should be more freeform and allow for candidates to go in different directions with their answers.
There is nothing I want more than for Joe biden to walk up to a blank canvas and actually have to create something people recognize. Shit, my dumbass can make a decent picture coloring between the lines.
 
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I think Chris Wallace will help Trump self destroy. All we need is to watch Trump get flustered the first time he's fact checked and it'll turn into a insult fest.
 
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It isn’t the Trumpers that matter. They are beyond redemption or hope anyway - brainwashed cultists.

It does matter for anyone who has concerns about Biden’s fitness for office. He very likely will be able to easily lay those to rest.
"Easily"

 
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It isn’t the Trumpers that matter. They are beyond redemption or hope anyway - brainwashed cultists.

It does matter for anyone who has concerns about Biden’s fitness for office. He very likely will be able to easily lay those to rest.

Maybe. It's hard for me to imagine that there are people who are worried about Biden's fitness for office relative to Trump. If Biden was running against an actual stable genius, then yeah, mental fitness might be a concern for Biden.

So if someone is concerned about Biden relative to Trump, they are likely Trumpers.
 
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I have conducted literally hundreds of interviews with politicians. This is par for the course. They have many boilerplate lines and soundbite-ready quotes. And yes, sometimes they lose track or forget them. I fail to see the relevance of this.
Its that "easily" part. Dude can't read a script, nothing is coming "easily" for him... also, hundreds? I know you had some clout but hundreds?
 
Maybe. It's hard for me to imagine that there are people who are worried about Biden's fitness for office relative to Trump. If Biden was running against an actual stable genius, then yeah, mental fitness might be a concern for Biden.

So if someone is concerned about Biden relative to Trump, they are likely Trumpers.
Never underestimate the stupidity of the American electorate
 
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no-puppet-no-puppet-youre-the-puppet-no-yourethe-puppet-52072020.png
 
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Its that "easily" part. Dude can't read a script, nothing is coming "easily" for him... also, hundreds? I know you had some clout but hundreds?
If speaking of local pols, yes. 25 years in the biz! At times I covered Scott County, Muscatine County, Johnson County and Rock Island County. Was the Davenport beat reporter for 5 years and covered every mayor and council member. Also covered Moline for 2 years, also covered every council meeting and local elections.

Chipped in on Iowa caucus coverage 3 different election cycles. Presidential candidates I’ve interviewed: Bob Dole, GWB, Alan Keyes, Obama, Biden, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, John Kerry, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a bunch more.

Ive covered statehouse races, US House and Senate races.

Stick around long enough and you see it all.

My impression of Biden from 2 separate interviews/speeches: long winded and boring, thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room, prone to verbal gaffes, affable and friendly but definitely arrogant. Very mixed bag of positives and negatives - but one thing he isn’t is dumb. He also does not lack energy at all - in fact, he’d do well to sometime talk less and listen more.

And for the record, I never felt I had “clout”. Was just doing my job.
 
Joe Biden could sleep through the entire debate and the usual suspects in the mainstream media would declare that a brilliant strategic maneuver
 
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Trump could pull down his pants, drop a deuce on the stage, and slip in it as he walked off. Trumpers would declare it the largest, best victory ever in a debate.
If Trump did drop a deuce it would be a tremendous deuce. The very best ever. A very powerful deuce.
 
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Who will be in the crowd that Team Trump invites to rile Biden? Tara Reade? Cornpop's sibling? Someone to remind him of Beau or his first wife?

And do the Democrats play the same game? E Jean Correll? Mary Trump? Stormy? Lev Parnas? Vinkman?
 
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