Xtter Reactions To The Donald’s Bigly Bad Night
Sometimes the bird gives you the bird
X (the site formerly known as Twitter and now referred to as Xtter) has been with us in some form or another since 2006. And since the Presidential election of 2008, too-online folks (like myself) will turn to the increasingly crappy website for real-time hot takes on the Presidential debates.
Last night was no different for me. From snarky to resigned to… well… just weird, here are some of the most noteworthy Xeets I saw during the debate and in its aftermath:
First and foremost, at least some Republican pundits and advisors acknowledge that Trump lost the debate:
And, while you, under no circumstances, ever have to hand it to Rod Dreher, Trump even lost him:
Of course, Rod wasn’t the only one to bring up how “biased” the moderators were. However, as Frank Lutz pointed out:
As others pointed out, complaining about the refs is never a good sign in sports:
Other populist conservatives, who I’ve been assured are the real protectors of “Free Speech(tm)”, proposed novel solutions to the issue of media bias:
In the meantime, the former President also speculated that all the questions had been shared with Harris ahead of time:
I mean, who could have ever expected that they might be asked questions about the economy, immigration, national security, and other such topics. If only there was a way that a person could prepare for those topics so they don’t have to bullshit about how after 12 years he only has a “concept of a plan” about how to handle replacing the ACA. Then again, with a debate prep team like Trump’s, what could go wrong? This brings us to one of the members of the former President’s entourage and her unique theory about Harris:
But, in response to a question about Trump’s performance, noted pearl-clutcher Lindsay Graham reminds us that Trump cannot fail; he can only be failed:
In the end, even noted Trump stan Elon Musk had to admit it wasn’t a good night for his preferred candidate.
While I disagree with Elon’s take, it’s at least measured and even… dare I say, not weird. There’s absolutely no way he would then immediately descend into the deeply weird moment later when, say, a major female celebrity… like Taylor Swift… decided to endorse Kamala Harris. Definitely no way at al…
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What the everloving…?! BTW, do not click into that thread unless you want to see some of the most cursed AI pictures of your life–many of which were being posted/promoted by Elon Musk himself.
Some folks on Twitter decided to riffs on some of Trump’s favorite talking points:
I’m working on an in-depth post about J. D. Vance and accusations of immigrants eating pets. For the moment, I’ll let begrudging Trump apologist vent his spleen on the topic:
However, I can’t let that perspective stand without this important reminder that just because people are spreading xenophobic and racist bigotry, you don’t need to take part in it:
Ok, while this is fun, the joke has probably gone on far too long (it’s been 12ish years), so I’ll leave any despondent Trump supporters with this calming thought:
OK OTBers, I’d love to hear what your favorite hot takes are in the comments!
I will say this: complaining about the moderators is like watching sports with diehards–the refs are always against their team and never the other one. (Or, if you have ever watched travel soccer with parents you know exactly what I am talking about).
Golly. Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit says Trump gave a “masterclass” in debating and that he “shredded” Kamala Harris.
I watched yesterday: Live on PBS, on laptop screen with Twitter.
I did the same with Biden/Trump. Biden/Trump Twitter was the same as passengers on a plane that knew that they were going down.
Harris/Trump… wow.
I like that show better. I hope they renew it for four seasons!
The Daily Beast: https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-demands-abc-shut-down-111238987.html
“Trump Demands ABC Be Shut Down for Daring to Fact Check Debate”
Sounds rational.
BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!
@Steven L. Taylor:
100%. Also, if a Trump supporter wants to seriously advance that decision, the next question they should be asked is:
@Not the IT Dept.:
From that article:
Huh, how does this square with previous comments we recently got on OTB like:
Elon’s creepy impregnation xit would get most people fired or forced to step down from leadership in public companies.
Aside: Is Rod Dreher still a thing, anywhere?
@Argon:
I am reliably told he’s HUGE in Hungary.
You know, one of my notions about us electing a woman to be President is that enough voters need to believe that she is courageous and strong enough to defend them.
For instance, on the eve of the Spanish Armada, Elizabeth I said this, “I know I have the weak, feeble body of a woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a King of England, too”
Trump is 10 inches taller than her, and he’s a coward.
Trump was an excellent punching bag to demonstrate this idea in plain sight for Harris, it would seem. I was hoping she could manage something like this. She has been showing signs of that spirit, of that heart and stomach. Which is what we need from a president.
Just Trump being Trump
AOC
Mmhmm, OK, Donald
In my opinion, Trump did a fantastic job sounding like someone who needs a chaperone around plugged-in appliances. Please, Republicans, it’s time for an immediate jungle primary – moderated by Kid Rock and Qaaron Rodgers.
Men normally have to pay for the kind of domination Kamala showed last night.. don’t forget the evening started by KH invading Trump’s space to forcibly greet him by shaking his hand because Trump obviously wasn’t going to walk to her willingly.
@Argon:
Cut the Cisgender God of Emperor Mars and Phobos some slack. Xlon might have meant he owns so many children, he’d be willing to give one to Ms. Swift.
@Matt Bernius:
“I am reliably told he’s HUGE in Hungary.”
What happens behind closed doors is none of our business.
@Matt Bernius:
Two things to note here:
– Trump ran to his safe space, Fox News where coverage is always rigged in his favor, to complain about ABC allegedly being unfair to him. He knew they would agree. (BTW, I agree Harris should agree to another debate on Fox. As others have noted, the network would undoubtedly run interference for TFG, but they wouldn’t be able to protect him from himself. She would still bait him and he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from taking the bait.)
– The moderators real-time fact checked Trump 4 times over 90 minutes. CNN’s fact checker Daniel Dale put Trump’s lie count at +30. That means that Trump “got away” without fact checking >85% of the time. It is telling about the sycophants with whom Trump surrounds himself that he sees <15% contradiction as oppressively unfair.
Trump really lives in his own reality and his enablers are afraid to point this out to him for fear of a tantrum. The cowardice is astounding.
@Gavin:
Thanks! That Trump being Trump to the tune of the Peanuts theme was laugh out loud funny.
@CSK:
I do not smoke, but if he really believes that to be true, the next time I am experiencing some painful migraines, I need to smoke some of what he is smoking, because I should be flying high on cloud 9 after partaking of some of his wacky tobaccy.
I get it, after last night I suspect a great many GOPers are turning to alcohol or weed to distract themselves from dwelling too much on last nights utter fail by Trump.
I think that after all the jokes die down about what wine goes with pussy…cats, that this debate may have mattered even more than many folks think.
Kamala certainly showed Trump what to expect if he goes through with debating her again, and he should be careful because he may get what he wished for, a debate on Fox News.
Look, the guy is what…78 years old, folks really need to start focusing on that fact.
In many ways, she was beating up on a cranky old-man who yells at clouds last night, but since this old man has a real chance to be our next President, she has been backed into a corner and has to continue to beat up on this old man. It almost pains me to have typed that out, but if she lets up on Trump she is toast at the ballot box and she knows it.
The race for President really should be Kamala / Walz against J.D. Vance /???, and the GOP and even MAGA die-hards know this to be true. However, the door seems to have slammed shut on Trump stepping down like Biden did. This could, forget that, I need to be bold, I think this will doom the GOP to at best hoping against hope that Trump’s performance does not hurt the downticket races and the GOP continues to maintain enough of a majority to put the breaks on most of Kamala’s agenda as President of the United States.
@inhumans99:
Let alone that Trump would never step aside with grace as Biden did, the GOP is so broken that nothing like this could possibly happen. The door hasn’t slammed shut. The door was sealed shut and papered over when the Republicans acquitted Trump in his second impeachment trial. “JD Vance/???” – a Senator of 1 ½ years with no prior political experience and a person who doesn’t exist – says it all.
The only hope for the Republicans to break away from Trumpism and start some return path to a coherent, conservative opposition party is for Trump to go down big, dragging down-ticket races to defeat with him. I can’t see that happening. I think the Republican Party will have to sink lower and sustain their dysfunction longer before they bottom out. But the idea that the GOP could do what a healthy political establishment might do – reassess positions/strategies in defeat, then moderate – is a fantasy.
@Scott F.:
I wonder what would have happened if El Weirdo hadn’t run in 2016, or had failed to secure the nomination. Who in that crowded field would have won the nomination, and possibly the White House (save Reagan-Bush the elder, parties tend to alternate in the presidency since 1952 after either one or two terms*).
*I’m aware this is not natural law, as demonstrated by the exception noted. Gore lost by a tiny margin, and may have really won. Clinton won the popular vote in 2016 and lost the EC by a very small margin of voters in three states. It would have taken little to alter such results.
@Kathy:
There was a lot of commentary here at OTB when Trump won in 2016 centered on the idea that Trump was a natural next step on the trajectory for the Republicans that had been set in motion by Gingrich’s hyper-partisanship, then boosted by McConnell’s anti-Obama nihilism. I’ve always thought that seeking common ground and moderation died a slow death over those 20 years to be replaced by the take-no-prisoners nihilism the Republican base has come to want.
So, with where the GOP voters were in 2016, if Trump hadn’t run I don’t see how any of the normies, like Kasich, Jeb, or Christie would have won in his place. That would make Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, or Scott Walker the ones I think would have prevailed in the primaries.
Ironically, I think Kasich, Jeb, or Christie could have also beat H. Clinton (based on the alternating you note, plus H. Clinton’s widely understood liabilities). OTOH, I think Clinton would have beat Cruz, Rand or Walker handily as those three are uniquely charmless and unlikable in a way Trump wasn’t at the time.
Harris seemed normal. I disagreed with her a lot and she dodged lots of questions, but she seemed normal. Trump came off as unhinged. Unfortunately, enough people like unhinged that he could still win.
@Steven L. Taylor:
While I was watching it, for some reason, I was thinking what was hurting Trump the most was not having an audience, a chorus to play to. Without that his statements fell as flat as they truly are…and he could sense that.
@Scott F.:
The thing about the Weirdo Felon weirdo wannabes is they can’t project the total and complete lack of shame or conscience the Orange ass can. See what Flyin’ Ted did after he was caught Flyin’ away from the winter storm that stopped Texas a few years ago.
So, yes, Clinton might have won.
Alas, counterfactuals are still not falsifiable.
@Hal 10000:
I have to keep reminding myself that facts are no longer relevant here. Trump has effectively eliminated “conforms to reality” from the list of causal factors that will select our next president. The ONLY thing that mattered for Harris was to shift a significant number of poltroons* from planning to vote for Trump to planning to either not vote at all or vote for Harris. Anyone capable of understanding policies, checking facts, or caring about people who don’t look like them is irrelevant to that goal. At which point, yeah, do whatever works. It’s sad and pathetic and makes me mourn for the country I thought I lived in, but it’s where we are.
*Which is to say, people too stupid to recognize Trump’s defects, too deplorable to object to Trump’s racism/misogyny/cruelty, too ignorant to recognize Trump’s lies as lies, too obsessed with abortion to care about anything else, too miserly to care what happens to the nation as long as they don’t have to pay taxes, etc. — or some combination thereof.