Can Joe Biden defang Donald Trump on the debate stage? And does it even matter?

[SharonClark]

Interesting article by Heather Digby Parton in Salon today.

... It will be interesting to see how Biden handles all this in the first debate in Cleveland, or whether it will make any difference one way or the other. Trump likes to say that he won the general election debates with Hillary Clinton in 2016, and there even seems to be some conventional wisdom in the press that he's right, but it couldn't be further from truth....

...It occurred to me over the weekend, as I watched the two men closely, that while Trump can accurately be described as that arrogant blowhard at the end of the bar who forces you to move to a table to get away from him, Joe Biden is the fellow at the other end of the bar who's buying everyone drinks and telling funny stories. It could be that he's just the kind of guy who knows how to handle Donald Trump. We'll find out on Tuesday night.

https://www.salon.com/2020/09/28/can-joe-biden-take-down-the-insult-comic-from-mars-and-do-the-debates-even-matter/

[soothsayer]

1. I think ignoring him and having a grownup conversation with the host is fine

Joe has stuff to say, so shouldn’t waste his time on buffoonery.

[tinrobot]

8. A simple "There you go again." will suffice at this point.

People have been fed an overdose amount of Trump-speak for the past four years. All Joe has to do is point it out and move on.

[yellowcanine]

2. He just needs to stay calm and hit Trump with troublesome facts over and over.

He should refuse to respond to obvious barbs about Hunter, Ukraine, etc. Just be dismissive of that shit.

[grumpyduck]

3. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall during the preps and rehearsals.

Biden and his group were probably ROTFLOL about half the time.

[apnu]

4. No and no.

Trump is too ignorant and arrogant to know when he is defanged. It will not matter, there are next to no undecideds left.

[The Genealogist]

5. Nor will his deplorable followers

In their up-is-down, evil-is-good world, it is impossible for them to see him for what he is.

[spooky3]

6. "Job Interviews" are a search for negative information.

Biden just needs to avoid any major missteps, and spell out why voters should support him.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

7. The best thing for Joe in the debates

Is to show (remind) the country what a sane, rational, intelligent, compassionate, and steady leader in command of the facts looks like. Trying to go after Trump or "Out-Trump" Trump is not what he should be trying to do IMHO.