Second Presidential Debate Thread (at 9pm ET)

[YE]

https://www.c-span.org/debates/

Starts at 9 EDT on Thursday.

[Dr. Arch]

I'll be doing... anything else.

[Buzz]

Last time we ever get to see Trump debate, you bet I’ll be tuned in for better or worse.

[Stuart98]

It's no longer a question of "can Trump right the ship". It's a question of "how much more explosive can he make its sinking".

[Gass3268]

Last time we ever get to see Trump debate, you bet I’ll be tuned in for better or worse.

Unless he loses and runs again in 2024 (God help us).

[Horus]

It's no longer a question of "can Trump right the ship". It's a question of "how much more explosive can he make its sinking".

I'm still not confident of that yet. His numbers have marginally improved over the last few days and the Hunter Biden story, however stupid, seems to have stopped any more bleeding from GOP voters. He still has a path although the window is closing fast. If he doesn't score a knockout blow and the 60 Minutes interview is as bad as it sounds, he's likely finished.

[WD]

It's no longer a question of "can Trump right the ship". It's a question of "how much more explosive can he make its sinking".

I'm still not confident of that yet. His numbers have marginally improved over the last few days and the Hunter Biden story, however stupid, seems to have stopped any more bleeding from GOP voters. He still has a path although the window is closing fast. If he doesn't score a knockout blow and the 60 Minutes interview is as bad as it sounds, he's likely finished.

He’s been finished since June.

[GeneralMacArthur]

I'm excited to see Joe Biden speak for two solid minutes without being interrupted.  And excited for America to get to see that.

[PSOL]

It's no longer a question of "can Trump right the ship". It's a question of "how much more explosive can he make its sinking".

I'm still not confident of that yet. His numbers have marginally improved over the last few days and the Hunter Biden story, however stupid, seems to have stopped any more bleeding from GOP voters. He still has a path although the window is closing fast. If he doesn't score a knockout blow and the 60 Minutes interview is as bad as it sounds, he's likely finished.

He’s been finished since June.

Since late May more like it

Anyway, the last debate was a breeze for me, so I’ll definitely move things around to go watch it.

[Horus]

It's no longer a question of "can Trump right the ship". It's a question of "how much more explosive can he make its sinking".

I'm still not confident of that yet. His numbers have marginally improved over the last few days and the Hunter Biden story, however stupid, seems to have stopped any more bleeding from GOP voters. He still has a path although the window is closing fast. If he doesn't score a knockout blow and the 60 Minutes interview is as bad as it sounds, he's likely finished.

He’s been finished since June.

Not even close.

[WD]

It's no longer a question of "can Trump right the ship". It's a question of "how much more explosive can he make its sinking".

I'm still not confident of that yet. His numbers have marginally improved over the last few days and the Hunter Biden story, however stupid, seems to have stopped any more bleeding from GOP voters. He still has a path although the window is closing fast. If he doesn't score a knockout blow and the 60 Minutes interview is as bad as it sounds, he's likely finished.

He’s been finished since June.

Not even close.

When you’re down 9-10 points, you aren’t winning the election.

[Horus]

It's no longer a question of "can Trump right the ship". It's a question of "how much more explosive can he make its sinking".

I'm still not confident of that yet. His numbers have marginally improved over the last few days and the Hunter Biden story, however stupid, seems to have stopped any more bleeding from GOP voters. He still has a path although the window is closing fast. If he doesn't score a knockout blow and the 60 Minutes interview is as bad as it sounds, he's likely finished.

He’s been finished since June.

Not even close.

When you’re down 9-10 points, you aren’t winning the election.

I don't think Trump is down 9-10 points.

[Woody]

Let the slaughtering begin.

[Earthling]

Let the slaughtering begin.

You are giving up on Trump?

[WD]

Let the slaughtering begin.

You just love giving us new material, don’t you?

[cvparty]

Let the slaughtering begin.

OOOOOHHH YEAHHHH!!!

[Former Crackhead Mike Lindell]

Last time we ever get to see Trump debate, you bet I’ll be tuned in for better or worse.

Unless he loses and runs again in 2024 (God help us).

Trump getting schlonged in the 2024 Republican primaries is the catharsis we all need

[BlueSwan]

This is almost certainly going to be awful. Trump is going to talk about Hunter Biden at any given and non-given opportunity. I fear that Biden won't have a forceful response and the whole thing will de-evolve into a complete sh*tshow, much like the first debate albeit possibly with fewer interruptions.

[wbrocks67]

This is almost certainly going to be awful. Trump is going to talk about Hunter Biden at any given and non-given opportunity. I fear that Biden won't have a forceful response and the whole thing will de-evolve into a complete sh*tshow, much like the first debate albeit possibly with fewer interruptions.

and yet Biden won that debate

[Earthling]

This is almost certainly going to be awful. Trump is going to talk about Hunter Biden at any given and non-given opportunity. I fear that Biden won't have a forceful response and the whole thing will de-evolve into a complete sh*tshow, much like the first debate albeit possibly with fewer interruptions.

If the second debate is also a disaster then Trump will lose by default. Trump needs the gamechanger, Biden doesn't. It should make Trump ace up his game. It just won't happen because he thinks he won the first debate and he is still Donald Trump.

[BlueSwan]

This is almost certainly going to be awful. Trump is going to talk about Hunter Biden at any given and non-given opportunity. I fear that Biden won't have a forceful response and the whole thing will de-evolve into a complete sh*tshow, much like the first debate albeit possibly with fewer interruptions.

and yet Biden won that debate

Yes, but only because Trump made an absolute fool of himself, not because Uncle Joe put in a good performance. Let's hope that Joe is sharper and cooler tonight and that Trump yet again looks like an arse. Sometimes I wish that Joe could just send in Pete Buttigieg to utterly destroy Trump. Pete is much better as a Biden surrogate on Fox than he ever was as a candidate for himself.

[BlueSwan]

This is almost certainly going to be awful. Trump is going to talk about Hunter Biden at any given and non-given opportunity. I fear that Biden won't have a forceful response and the whole thing will de-evolve into a complete sh*tshow, much like the first debate albeit possibly with fewer interruptions.

If the second debate is also a disaster then Trump will lose by default. Trump needs the gamechanger, Biden doesn't. It should make Trump ace up his game. It just won't happen because he thinks he won the first debate and he is still Donald Trump.

Sure, but this time he has an actual target (the Hunter Biden "scandal"), whereas last time Trump was just rambling gibberish the entire way through.

[Earthling]

This is almost certainly going to be awful. Trump is going to talk about Hunter Biden at any given and non-given opportunity. I fear that Biden won't have a forceful response and the whole thing will de-evolve into a complete sh*tshow, much like the first debate albeit possibly with fewer interruptions.

If the second debate is also a disaster then Trump will lose by default. Trump needs the gamechanger, Biden doesn't. It should make Trump ace up his game. It just won't happen because he thinks he won the first debate and he is still Donald Trump.

Sure, but this time he has an actual target (the Hunter Biden "scandal"), whereas last time Trump was just rambling gibberish the entire way through.

And Biden should shoot that target down immediately with a strong answer and turn the tables on Trump (which is hardly difficult to do).

Most people probably don't care about Hunter Biden anyway. If Trump keeps bringing it up he will just annoy people. They want real answers on the problems of the day, like Covid, race relations and the economy.

Even Mike Huckabee sees it that way.

[Crumpets]

To the people saying "Trump is going to hit Biden on Hunter's laptop scandal!" Here is how that exchange will sound to everyone who is not an avid Trump supporter:

Moderator: Asks Biden a question
Biden: Answers
Trump: But Hunter!
Biden: Whatever.
Moderator: Okay, moving on then.

And repeat. Trump doesn't understand why he's losing, and there's no way he can understand how to get people to question voting for Biden in a matter of a sentence or two based on some barely intelligible scandal that is best known outside of Fox as "That thing Rudy Giuliani's doing that isn't the Borat thing."

[BlueSwan]

This is almost certainly going to be awful. Trump is going to talk about Hunter Biden at any given and non-given opportunity. I fear that Biden won't have a forceful response and the whole thing will de-evolve into a complete sh*tshow, much like the first debate albeit possibly with fewer interruptions.

If the second debate is also a disaster then Trump will lose by default. Trump needs the gamechanger, Biden doesn't. It should make Trump ace up his game. It just won't happen because he thinks he won the first debate and he is still Donald Trump.

Sure, but this time he has an actual target (the Hunter Biden "scandal"), whereas last time Trump was just rambling gibberish the entire way through.

And Biden should shoot that target down immediately with a strong answer and turn the tables on Trump (which is hardly difficult to do).

Absolutely and I hope he has a forceful answer prepared. I'm just not convinced that he'll deliver on it, partly because the laptop the FBI has likely IS Hunters, which makes it harder to flat out reject it.

Most people probably don't care about Hunter Biden anyway. If Trump keeps bringing it up he will just annoy people. They want real answers on the problems of the day, like Covid, race relations and the economy.

Let's hope so.