Who will win Monday night’s debate? That’s a question that doesn’t necessarily have only one answer, even in a debate with only two participants. As we’ve seen in past debates, the pundits and the viewers often disagree about who won—something important to remember when the debate ends and the talking heads begin confidently pronouncing a winner. The expectations game is particularly complicated in this debate because the bar is set so incredibly low for Donald Trump. But Hillary Clinton is prepared for a Trump who’s not an overtly blithering idiot or unhinged ranter:
“I imagine that the person who will show up is the same person who showed up the Commander-in-Chief Forum that NBC did a few weeks ago -- that person was relatively disciplined,” said Palmieri, a veteran Democratic aide and messaging manager who most recently served in Barack Obama’s White House and is in charge, more or less, of rendering Clinton just likeable enough to get elected president of the United States.
“He's sort of stabilized after, you know, he went through his little death spiral after our convention,” she added during a conversation for this week’s episode of POLITICO’s “Off Message” podcast 48 hours before the verbal combat was to begin. “He seems to have been able to rein himself in a little more, but that shouldn't be the bar. Just because he's able to get through a debate without becoming unhinged doesn't mean, wow, Donald Trump had a great debate.”
For many in the media, though, a Donald Trump as composed and articulate as we expect of a high school debater (or for that matter, a waiter in a restaurant) will be seen as a win. And that judgment may well come in the first 30 minutes, with nothing that happens thereafter mattering very much. One rehearsed line delivered early on could outweigh a flurry of lies and erratic behavior.
Let’s hold the candidates to the same standard: Do they understand the issues? Can they remain calm in the face of a challenge? At base, can they be president? That shouldn’t be asking too much.
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