President Joe Biden and former president donald trump will face off in a debate on Thursday night for the first time since the 2020 election.
I’m scared of that.
In fact, I’d rather gouge my eyes out with a tetanus-filled piece of barbed wire buried in my backyard since the Battle of São Jacinto than listen to these guys for five whole minutes. I’d rather be forced to listen to Biden mumble “student loan forgiveness program” or Trump mumble “You know, taxes, they’re the worst” a million times in a row on a loudspeaker in a hot sauna for days before I watch them fight on live television for two hours.
Let’s be real: none of them really know what they’re talking about. Both need notes, teleprompters and dozens of advisors to make any sense.
Maybe it’s not fair to politicians – or to us – to expect our presidential candidates to be charismatic and genuine, confident but humble, a genius but an everyman. But times are tough and public expectations are high. As they should be. (Cry more, as the children say.)
After all, Biden and Trump are candidates for the job of guiding the world’s largest economy, leading the nation whose foreign policy sets the agenda for much of the world and commanding the most powerful military in history.
It is not a job for the weak or the feeble-minded. It’s the most demanding job in America, and it should require both men and women to exceed the highest standards we can set. But would you choose Biden to run Tesla? Or Trump to run Apple? If you hesitated to answer, then you are on the right track.
However, presidential debates are treated like a game, to determine who is the worst at being terrible while also looking great. We were deceived and we know it, and so do the guys who are deceiving us.
Biden has a regrettable record as president
Biden is often incoherent and a disjointed mess — except when he talks about his student loan forgiveness program, designed to bribe Gen Z voters who don’t want to pay off their college loans like normal people.
He praised a great economy, although fueled inflation with your Build Back Better program and other lavish initiatives that added trillions of debt. Wages may be higher than they were four years ago, but that doesn’t matter much to ordinary people when essentials like groceries, gas and rent cost so much more.
Biden appears weak to our enemies and has no problem with increasing your taxes. Even for a Democrat, he may not be the best candidate to represent his party.
I’m a Republican woman. Progressives are wrong about what I believe.
Trump is a criminal who believes he is above the law
Trump, of course, is no better.
He is a narcissistic buffoon who is at once arrogant but insecure, a thin-skinned bully, a “leader” who complains on social media all day. He claims to be the winner of the 2020 election, but none of his claims hold up in the courts or in the real world, where facts still matter. He is running for commander in chief, but he repeatedly insults the men and women who sacrifice themselves to defend our nation.
Think about military families: As a convicted felon, Trump is unfit to lead the US military as commander in chief
A convicted criminal, he also considers himself above the law.
And now we have to watch these guys blab on television as if they are qualified and competent enough to lead this country. As if, from more than 336 million Americans, There are no better leaders we could have given our support to.
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I love politics and I love our democratic republic. We choose; we decided. Such a new idea. So inspiring and empowering: A republic, if we can keep it! I have never loved a concept more, and I will always consider the Founding Fathers’ ideas to be hopeful and brilliant.
But we, the people, are not always right. And neither do our leaders.
Now, one week away from our 248th Independence Day, we have chosen two of the most pathetic politicians on the planet to represent us.
I have to watch the debate because of my job. Thursday night, as I roll my eyes and send sarcastic messages to my family and friends, I wonder: Who are these guys? How did they get here? And what does it say about us that one of them will lead our 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 Trackand receive it in your inbox.
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This article originally appeared in USA TODAY: How bad will the Trump vs. Trump debate be? Biden? Let me count the ways
