The media (which wants Trump to win) already setting the framing for the debate. Biden must be "vigorous" - i.e. avoid even a single misspeak or stumble - while the expectations for Trump are merely that he not spend the entire debate screaming incoherently.
Advisers to Biden are pushing him to show himself as a vigorous president at this week’s presidential debate, while advisers to Trump hope he will rein in his excesses.
This sort of pre-debate framing lets them take almost any outcome that doesn't involve Trump shitting himself on stage or Biden batting 1.000 on never stuttering, and spin it as a win for Trump.
Again, nothing is framed in terms of the reality of the situation or the actual stakes of the election, you just do this view-from-nowhere horse race theater criticism that somehow always gets tilted to make sure the Republican candidate's fascist views are laundered and normalized.
Yup. The experience of 2008 where the media was willing to go to truly heroic lengths to prop Palin up even beyond what the McCain campaign itself was willing to do, was like a invitation for someone like Trump. bsky.app/profile/edbu...
It can't be true that a major party presidential candidate is a drooling incompetent fascist. If that's true what on earth are we doing here reporting on it like its normal? So you resolve the cognitive dissonance by coming up with elaborate rationalizations for their behavior.
If Trump literally shits himself on stage and Biden has a perfect debate (lets say something like his great performance against Paul Ryan in 2012), the headlines will be like "Joe Biden won the debate. Why don't voters love him? Did Joe Biden win by TOO much?" bsky.app/profile/ashe...
The way the feedback loop from bad faith partisan right wing media to centrist "gotta head both sides" outlets and back again is so ingrained, the centrists don't even realize they're part of the machine anymore bsky.app/profile/pepp...
oligarchic media owners remembering how they were able to destroy the hated howard dean by blowing up a single awkward moment into an endless loop of negative coverage and they're hoping they can do the same thing to biden
He and his surrogates recognize he’s no match on a debate stage for Biden so they are already moaning about the moderators etc. He and they know he’s going to get thumped in the debate, they know he’s going to lose the election. The media though need to keep up the illusion it’s a horse race.
Pull-quote from a “mother of three” in a critical swing state, who is actually the associate chair of her county Republican Party (not revealed in the article, but appears with five seconds’ googling)
Mulligans for Republicans
"After critics question the fairness of the debate, Biden is refusing to give Trump a debate do-over. Here's why that's bad for democracy, won't swing any Trump voters, and proves Biden is too old"
"trump had masculine and vigorous vibes as he let loose on stage, biden's aged chops and reedy voice revealed the retread behind his swan song, despite avoiding major flubs."
