Before the debate began, word was leaking out of the Trump camp that Donald wasn’t prepared. That he hadn’t studied the issues. That he hadn’t spent enough time practicing. That he simply wasn’t ready.
It seemed like the perfect spin for a campaign that was trying to lower already low expectations.
It wasn’t spin. Within twenty minutes of the debate’s start, Donald Trump was already on his way to sputtering meltdown.
Donald Trump made Sarah Palin look like Einstein mixed with Gandhi. Everyone who worked to set the bar for Trump at some subterranean depth … didn’t work hard enough. There was no bar low enough for Donald Trump.
Hillary Clinton was polished, prepared, and no one could say she needed to “smile more.” Donald Trump’s flailing, all over the board responses made Clinton’s only problem holding back her glee.
Trump was put into the position of defending his use of bankruptcy laws. Which he did. And when Clinton pushed him over the people he had stiffed, Trump went on to defend not paying workers.
He was forced to defend his birtherism. Which he did. And did. And did some more. Even when the question was about decreasing racial tensions. Plus he piled on stop and frisk, giving a muddled misstatement on why it wasn’t unconstitutional.
He flapped his arms in an attempt to defend giving a massive tax break to the wealthy, but lost the thread in the middle of the reply and ended up talking about… something. Not even Trump is sure what.
He was backed into defending his temperament … while screaming.
Trump couldn’t control himself. Not only was the split screen not a friend to Donald Trump’s eye-rolls and grimaces, he produced constant interruptions ranging from groans, snorts, and sniffs, to shouts and interruptions. A four-year-old throwing a fit in Macy’s would have been embarrassed.
And It was also clear that Mr. Stamina’s mainspring was windddinnnnggg down after about thirty minutes. Deprived of a raging audience ready to reaffirm his every word, Trump’s energy dropped into the red.
The result was that Hillary Clinton got to go through her economic plan. Got to spell out her plan on defense. Got to put forward proposals, while Trump replied with grunts and rambling. Trump’s level of incoherence reached such a level that you have to reach into Lovecraftian terms. Gibbering? Foetid? Maybe both,
At one point Hillary Clinton actually found herself talking past Donald Trump, to reassure America’s allies that the nation is still trustworthy, still sane, despite what could be seen on the other end of the stage.
By the time he coasted into a combination of talking about Iran and Rosie O’Donnell, even people that knew what Donald Trump was talking about couldn’t tell what he was saying. It was simply drivel.
It was the worst performance by a candidate. Not the worst performance by a presidential candidate. I’m throwing in Congress, state offices, and third grade hall monitor. It was that bad.
Bonus: Donald Trump’s new “proof” that he was against the war in Iraq was that he had secret conversations with Sean Hannity saying he was against the war. And that if someone will just call Sean, he will totally support Trump.
People thought the were going to see something historic tonight. They did. Because Donald Trump is history.