Will Trump-Biden be the most pointless debate in history? | GARY COSBY JR.

President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump have agreed to two debates. If there were ever a time when debates were pointless, this is that time.

Everyone in America knows what both of these men are about. Nothing they say will sway anyone to his side. The only thing that can happen, and this is the most likely outcome, is one or the other of them will make a complete mess of the debate and cast doubts upon his ability to hold office.

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In this arena, Biden has the most to lose. If he goes on the air and comes across as “old,” something it will be difficult for him to avoid as his grip on things seems tenuous at times, he could easily lose the election. His age shows badly on most days. If he gets into a pressure-packed situation, he could fold.

In the debates before the last election, Trump behaved very badly, continually interrupting Biden and coming across as a jerk, at best. And that is Trump’s Achilles heel. Actually, Trump is a basket case who shouldn’t even be in the race, but that’s another story.

His personality is both his best friend and his worst enemy. If he comes across as Dr. Jekyll, he will do very well. If his Mr. Hyde personality comes out, he could sink himself as he did in the debates before the 2020 election.

The thing is, there is no mystery at all who these two men are. We have seen them for a long time. Trump entered the political arena in 2015. Biden has been in it essentially his whole life and has served as both vice president and president. Neither one of them is going to surprise us with some unknown or unanticipated aspect of his character.

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They will have nothing new to say. We know them. We know their flaws. We know their strengths. Most of America already has made up its mind; therefore, the only thing that either of them can do is screw up his chances. For Biden, especially, he has nothing to gain.

Both men are quite old. We see it with Biden more easily than with Trump, but they are only four years apart in age and both are too old to serve in the office of president. I don’t think any of us believe that Biden will live four more years and, if he does, it is hard to think that he will be in full possession of his mental capacity.

Trump is heavier, under more stress, and could easily have a heart attack just from that. Not to mention that the job of president is a bit stressful in and of itself. Both of these men are older than the normal life span of a male in the United States and to think that either of them will make it through a four year term in office is a bit of a stretch.

This makes the vice presidential debates of greater importance than that of the presidential debates. I don’t know too many people who look at current Vice President Kamala Harris with a great deal of confidence that she would make a good president. Trump has not yet named a running mate, so we don’t know who will be his second-in-command.

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That could actually be the determining factor for the very few voters who haven’t made up their minds. If we were ever looking at an election with the vice president has been more important, I can’t remember it. Were I in Trump’s shoes, I would be very careful about my selection. By picking an excellent person to be his running mate, he might be able to tip the scales in a close race.

The unavoidable fact in this election is that both candidates are awful. Biden is simply too old for the office. Trump tried to overthrow the last election through lies and intimidation and faces abundant criminal charges for it. You simply can’t get a worse presidential election.

The bottom line is that we face four years of incompetent leadership no matter which man wins the White House. We witnessed Trump’s incompetence particularly during the COVID crisis and his mishandling of the immigration and border issues. Biden has done no better on the border, though he did tidy up the COVID mess a bit after Trump’s disastrous 2020 year.

For all the hoopla about the economy, both men spent dramatically over budget and contributed to the huge national debt. Trump’s spending and Biden’s will be about the same, adding about $7 trillion each to the debt. While Biden is currently below Trump, by the end of his four years, his deficit spending will be slightly higher than Trump’s. These numbers were at least in part due to spending designed to assist the economy through the COVID disaster, which that occurred in 2020, the final year of Trump’s presidency, and carried over into Biden’s.

Everyone knows these men and the mess they have made. If you need a debate to make up your mind, you probably haven’t paid any attention over the last eight years.

Gary Cosby Jr. can be reached at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Donald Trump, Joe Biden agree to debates. Why bother? | GARY COSBY JR.