Biden-Trump: Round One

Why so much outrage about Tuesday’s debate? Was someone expecting a sensible discourse on policy? Really? Moderator Chris Wallace expressed his own surprise. “I never dreamt it would go off the tracks the way it did.” How could he have forgotten all the staking and name-calling in the Clinton/Trump debates?

No matter what the format, no matter what the rules, Trump will insult, badger and bully. That’s what he does. (“Don’t ever use that word smart with me. Don’t ever use that word.”) His strategy is clear: put a phrase on repeat – “far left radicals”, ” three and a half million dollars”, “Antifa” – like an angry Alzheimer’s patient.

In other words, it isn’t hard for Biden to beat Trump with words. All he has to do is shake his head at Trump and deliver a zinger or two. Not “clown” or “shut up”, but “Behave, Donald” or “Your wall is a swamp.” Trump’s racist rants will do the rest.

The Trump-Clinton Reality TV Mini-Series

The talking heads stare back, beleaguered, telling us of the ugliness, how unpresidential it has become. The Trump-Clinton Reality TV Mini-SeriesThey count down the days in feigned exhaustion. Only 29 days until another president will be elected, and more importantly, when the spin cycle can begin anew and the next batch of ne’er-do-wells can be stoned.The Trump-Clinton Reality TV Mini-SeriesThe talking heads say everything they can think of and they say it again and again – emails, rapists, locker room talk –  except about how their ratings are only as good as the race is bad, that the crummier they make it, the more Viagra they sell. The Trump-Clinton Reality TV Mini-SeriesAnd so that’s what we do. We consume this reality TV, hoping that next season, in just four short years, the chosen one might appear and take care of us forever.The Trump-Clinton Reality TV Mini-Series

Writing and The Mighty Mo

To write, you need momentum, you need to keep moving ahead, anything to avoid sitting like a lump, clicking from one stupid thing to another. Writing and The Mighty MoI promise that I will stop after the next image. Writing and The Mighty MoJust one more website. Writing and The Mighty MoOne more. Writing and The Mighty MoBut I keep doing it…like a child. Writing and The Mighty MoAbsolutely nothing in my head. Writing and The Mighty MoUntil finally I decide to blog on that very thing, my inertia. And do it. Writing and The Mighty MoAnd then get back to actually writing again, a character suddenly stepping in.

I stay focused, and then…lose my step, damn it, and think of what I might be missing. And open the browser again.Writing and The Mighty MoThat’s a cute fucking dog. Can’t deny that.