President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will face off in their first debate since the 2020 election on Thursday night.
I’m scared.
In fact, I’d rather gouge my eyeballs out with a piece of tetanus-infested barbed wire I’ve had buried in my backyard since the Battle of San Jacinto than listen to these guys for five minutes, or listen to Biden tweet “Student Loan Forgiveness” or Trump tweet “Taxes Suck” a million times over a loudspeaker in a hot sauna for days before watching them fight on live TV for two hours.
Let’s be realistic: Neither of them really knows what they’re talking about, and both of them need notes, teleprompters, and dozens of aides to make any sense at all.
Perhaps it is unfair to politicians, and to us, to expect a presidential candidate to be charismatic yet sincere, confident yet humble, a genius yet down-to-earth. But times are tough, and people have high expectations. And rightly so. (As the kids say, cry more.)
After all, Biden and Trump are candidates for the jobs of leading the world’s largest economy, leading a country whose foreign policy will set the agenda for much of the world, and commanding the most powerful military in history.
This is not a job for the weak or the foolish. It is the most demanding job in America, and it requires men and women to meet the highest bar we can set for them. But would you choose Biden to run Tesla? Or Trump to run Apple? If you’re stuck for an answer, you’re on to something.
But the presidential debates are being treated like a game to see who can say the worst things and still be great at what they say. We’ve been fooled, and we know it. And the people who are fooling us know it.
Biden has a disappointing record as president
Biden often speaks incoherently and incoherently, except when he talks about a student loan forgiveness program aimed at buying off Gen Z voters who don’t want to pay off their college loans like the average person.
He has touted a booming economy even as he fueled inflation with Build Back Better and other extravagant programs and added trillions of dollars to the debt. Wages may be higher than they were four years ago, but that doesn’t matter much to ordinary people when basic goods like groceries, gasoline and rent are so much more expensive.
Biden appears weak on our enemies and has no problem raising taxes. Even as a Democrat, he cannot be the best candidate to represent his party.
I am a Republican woman.Progressives are wrong about what I believe.
Trump is a felon who believes he is above the law.
Of course, the same goes for Trump.
He is an arrogant yet insecure narcissistic buffoon, a neurotic bully, and a “leader” who complains on social media all day long. He claims to be the winner of the 2020 election, but none of his claims will hold up in a court of law or in the real world where facts still matter. He is running for the job of Commander in Chief, yet he repeatedly insults the men and women who sacrifice to protect our country.
Consider military families.As a result of his conviction, Trump is unfit to lead the U.S. military as commander in chief.
A convicted felon, he believes he is above the law.
And now we have to watch them talk nonsense on TV as if they are more than qualified and capable to lead this country, as if there are not better leaders out there amongst over 336 million Americans that we could support.
I love politics, I love our democratic republic. We choose, we decide. Such a novel idea. So inspiring and powerful. A republic, if we can just keep it! I’ve never loved a concept more, and I’ve always thought the ideas of the Founding Fathers were so hopeful and wonderful.
But we the people are not always right, and neither are our leaders.
With just a week to go until our 248th Independence Day, we have elected two of the most pathetic politicians on the planet to represent us.
I have to watch the debate for work, and on Thursday night, as I sit in dismay and text sarcastic comments to family and friends, I find myself thinking: “Who are these people? How did they get here? What does it say about us that one of them will be leading this country for the next four years?”
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four children. Sign up for her newsletter, “The Right Track,” delivered to your inbox.
