Long time DKos member, who has been dormant for years. I was so disgusted by politics back in 2008-9 and how President Obama, our first black president, was treated that I stopped paying attention. Earlier this year everything changed for me when Trump was nominated as the GOP candidate for president. I have been energized to help out with the Hillary campaign, because I believe in her and in her message. I also believe Trump is an existential catastrophe facing our country. That said, I have been lurking on this board since Trump’s nomination, and have just now reactivated my account. So would you let me share a few thoughts?
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1) The media has had enough. After today’s charade after which CNN’s John King announced “we got punked,” they realize, as the fourth estate, they are stronger than the man holding the microphone, because they are the microphone. Without that apparatus, Trump is just a raving madman who's lips move with no sound coming out of them. The stories will be critical and eviscerating. However, there might be a real possibility that this will be too little too late. With the Trump's consistent storyline over the past few months of how the election process is rigged, stronger criticism by the media of Trump might be viewed by the electorate as unfair and biased. And thus continues the downfall and influence of the media as we know it.
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2) There was a tremendous push to get Libertarian and Green party candidates on the debate stage. With the announcement today by the election commission that Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee, and the Libertarian nominee, Gary Johnson, do not meet the 15% threshold for participating in the debates, the voters who were trying to get him to reach 15% and were partly responsible for Clinton's drop in the polls, will now hopefully move back to Clinton. There should still be concern from the Clinton camp, however, because Trump has garnered some real momentum. These voters are the young, dissatisfied Bernie voters, NeverTrumpers and Republicans who do not want to choose between "2 evils." We need them to come home because the choice is a binary one.
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3) The ideas of "grading on a curve" or "normalizing" Trump were prevalent themes this week from Obama circles. I think these themes need to be amped up to the max leading up to the debates. Clinton's performance will be what it is, but Trump will be given a stellar "grade" if he manages to put 2 coherent thoughts together. And so, he needs to be judged on the same level as his opponent. If he is allowed to be "graded on a curve" Clinton will be perceived as having lost the debate. And we all know perception is reality.
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Thank you for reading. And it's great to be back.
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SQ