Name:   MartiniMan - Subject:   Summary of main observations from debate Date:   10/23/2020 8:56:29 AM (updated 10/23/2020 9:01:04 AM)

Some highlights from last night from my admittedly biased viewpoint.

1.  I thought Kristen Welker was determined not to be Chris Wallace II.  While I think she definitely tried more often to change the subject when Trump was landing big blows, she was more balanced than Wallace.  So Chris Wallace was the big loser last night because her conduct exposed him for the biased approach he took.

2. Biden was his own worst enemy.  On more than one occasion she tried to save him from the corruption and he went back to it. In fact, he opened it up almost from the get go.  He obviously understands this issue is hurting him with undecided voters but he actually did more harm than good last night.  And opening it up to let Trump say "Russia, Russia. Russia" was a huge unforced error.  It was like he hadn't noticed the whole Russia collusion hoax.

3. His closing statement about going away from oil by 2025 was another massive unforced error.  Add to that his challenge to have Trump prove he said he would ban fracking was beyond belief.  There are literally dozens of examples of him saying that, not to mention Kamala Harris, not to mention his campaign website........  But more to the point, the economies of Pennsylvania, New Mexico and some other purple states would be decimated by a ban on fracking or moving away from oil in 5 years.  We all know it can't be done without destroying our economy but he will be controlled by leftists that will not care.  But this statement alone is going to hurt him badly in many key battleground states.

4.  He literally lost on many issues that he could have scored points.  The Chinese virus being the main lost opportunity.  He allowed Trump to correctly point out that his plan basically plagiarizes what has already been done.  On immigration how in the world could he have let this get to the kids in cages?  Welker thought she was serving up a gotcha on that one and Trump decimated Biden with the question, "Who built the cages, Joe?"  He left him speechless with that one......if someone in Trump world came up with that line they deserve a huge raise.

5.  Biden lacks the energy or mental acuity for the job.  Think about it, he has been in hiding for 4 days to prepare for the debate and he literally ran out of gas after about 45 minutes and really struggled for the last half.  Meanwhile Trump was still going strong despite having been on the road doing rallies for the last four days and is back on the road today for more of the same.  

6.  Was very disappointed the issue of ACB, SCOTUS and court packing never came up.  I suspect Trump may not have cared because most people may not understand how packing SCOTUS will destroy the country.  But it is important and Biden is following the failed footsteps of FDR with appointing a commission.  This is exactly what FDR tried but he grew impatient and forced the issue only to lose.

7.  Biden threw Obama under the bus on immigration while Obama is on the road trying to save him.  I can only imagine how this went over in Obama world.....not well I can assure you.  Trying to take credit when it is helpful and blaming Obama when it is expedient is not going to help with black voters.  Nor is the entire discussion of race where Trump highlighted all the things he has done while pointing out that Biden called them super predators and sent hundreds of thousands of young black men to prison as a result of the 94 crime bill that he actually wrote.

I have no idea how important debates are in the final equation.  But if they matter it will only be to the benefit of Trump.