Former Sen. John Danforth (R-MO), a longtime member of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), tore into President Donald Trump’s efforts to smear the commission as corrupt and biased on Tuesday.
I’ve had my differences with John but his logic here is unassailable!
“…Had I wanted to help the Biden campaign, the last thing on my mind would have been to restrain the technique President Trump exhibited in the first debate.”
He warned that Trump accusing the debate organizers of bias as part of his crusade to delegitimize a potential defeat on Election Day “destroys public confidence” and “paves the way to violence in the streets.”
Trump didn’t get the inauguration crowd he wanted in Jan 2017, so if he loses he wants that violence in the street.
Who cares anyways. Time for the debates to hit the dustbin of history. We’re long past a time where they held meaning. In the 24/7 media age, nobody is getting introduced to the candidates via these.
Cranky pants usually whines and complains until he gets his way. In this case he wants the format changed to what he sees as his advantage. But Danforth didn’t take da bait.
He warned that Trump accusing the debate organizers of bias as part of his crusade to delegitimize a potential defeat on Election Day “destroys public confidence”
tRump and the fascistgop have been actively delegitimizing all of our democratic institutions. Their hope for maintaining permanent power depends upon it and they’ll never get a better opportunity now that they’ve stolen control of our courts.
Can you possibly imagine how little Trump cares about the damage he’s wrought, not just on the debate commission, but on the nation and world as a whole?
Those last two grafs: warning Trump that his critiques could destroy public confidence and lead to violence – that besides the CPD’s honor, his words could undermine faith in the fairness of elections – how tone-deaf is this guy? Those warnings aren’t potential, unappreciated consequences of Trump’s actions.They’re the whole point. Trump literally couldn’t care less about Americans’ faith in its elections, or the integrity of the election results.If he can manipulate them to win, he’s all for it. If it doesn’t work and he loses, but those institutions are destroyed in the process, who cares? If you’re a MAGAt, drunk on the Trump cult Kool-Aid, that’s one thing. But to pretend to be a public advocate for America’s electoral processes and institutions, and not realize by now that Trump doesn’t care one iota if the country falls because of him, that’s just mind-bendingly obtuse.
John gave the MO Republicans a tongue lashing, at a funeral no less for one of his mentorees. John is old school Republican.
Now if only the other famous John, Ashcroft would have a talk with his son Jay our current Secretary of State.
for a second there I thought you were saying Jay Ashcroft was the US Secretary of State and I was thinking, “They come, they go, I must have missed this one.”
“It is not the honor of the (fill in the blank) that is at stake here. What is at stake is Americans’ belief in the (fill in the blank) and, in turn, the (fill in the blank). When that faith is undermined, the damage to our country is incalculable.”
It’s been the entire strategy of this administration. Where ya’ been these last 4 years?