Debate This!

The Schloss-Blog will be watching the debate closely. Probably. But in the debate and throughout the campaign, Biden has to hit critical themes over and over again. And he needs to get dirty doing it.

First and foremost, Joe, get in the damn gym, take some Balance of Nature supplements, perk up your look and your step. You'll be amazed what that will do to people's opinions of you. You have to shake the "feeble" look and pathetic-looking energy levels that plague your reputation. You don't seem to care about it.

You're motionless while all around people clap and sway to the music. In the picture with G7 leaders, you look Zombie-like. That may be out of context, but you have to be conscious of it and beat it back.

Fix it. Or lose.

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TRUMP'S A FELON

The conviction has not moved the needle as much as some thought it might, but no matter, it will move it enough to likely make a difference in vote totals, possibly offsetting the impact of third-party candidates.

Trump is still ticked off about it, mightily. He rants about it, insults the judge about it, but won't go to prison over it.

Probably.

Joe, you have to needle him about it on stage and throughout the campaign. It might not make as much of a difference to voters as we might think, but it makes a difference to Donald and it shows in his out-of-kilter remarks on the campaign trail. Actually, polls show Trump could lose as much as 10% of Republican votes because of the conviction.

Much of this assumes Trump is on the campaign trail. The judge could impose tight travel restrictions outside of the jurisdiction without the parole or probation officer's permission. I mean, otherwise, could you see Trump being sentenced to public service and doing garbage pickup in Central Park daily for three months? 

Whatever the penalty, it's something else Trump will complain about. Regularly. Insultingly. Anyone else (you or me) would've gone to prison over this and even earlier for all the GAG order violations. For Trump, travel restrictions, governed by a parole or probation officer, will feel like prison and the Biden camp has to make sure to remind him of it. Always.

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IMMIGRATION

Trump and the GOP appear to be scoring points with their stance on the southern border but they have weak spots, most notably that Trump himself was the one who sank the strictest, tightest border legislation since what ... the Reagan Administration?

Biden has to use the clip from the State of the Union address in which lead GOP immigration negotiator, Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, is seen mouthing "That's right," when Biden says the deal was struck with everything that the Republicans wanted and was then torpedoed by Trump anyway.

Lankford, one of the most conservative of the conservative Republicans, was betrayed by them and Trump, as were the American people. Biden must remind everyone of this, again and again.

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THE ECONOMY

The economy is great but in a word, it is not and that word is: inflation.

Inflation is what Americans see when they hear and read reporting on the economy. The economy is actually pretty good: stock markets, which Trump publicly rooted for to crash, are setting records. In other words, your 401k is doing pretty well. Remind people he rooted for them to crash, to wipe out their savings and retriement accounts.

But all that is still not enough. Inflation is the word that rules the day and has Americans thinking no, the economy is not good because prices are so high. People say their personal finances are good but they're still wary of the economy overall.

Huh?

That's even though the rate of inflation was lower the last 15 months than the rate of increase in wages in the United States. 

Fifteen months! Damn it, Biden, remind people that their money has more buying power now than it has since inflation was ignited by Trump's mishandling of the pandemic and the supply-chain issues and merchandise shortages it caused.

Sucker punch, Joe: remind America that Trump killed 1 million Americans, because he did in his pandemic denial. That ought to get their minds off of inflation and thinking about getting an updated COVID shot.

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FOREIGN POLICY

It seems almost as if Hamas is doing everything it can to not end the war in which it is getting its brains beaten.

Literally and figuratively.

Hamas appears to have no intention of settling the war, what with public opinion swaying in their photos-of-dying-children-reports way.

Israel, however, cannot eliminate Hamas completely, ever. The Hamas spirit and nature will live on as will its dedication to destroying the Jewish state and raiding Israel again like it did on Oct. 7. Hamas can be contained post-war, but eliminated, no.

The new Gaza government must shut out Hamas, which regularly sacrifices Palestinian citizens to Israeli attacks by hiding in among them and making sure they're in harms way of Israeli military maneuvers. 

Still, the killing has to stop to score a diplomatic win for Biden, pre-election. Remember how Antony Blinken did a lot of globe-trotting to try to keep Russia from invading Ukraine?

How'd that work out?

How has his globe-trotting gone to end the Israel-Hamas War? 

Menwhile, Trump says Putin will release, on his request, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, being held there on spy charges. 

If that's so, Don, why not ask now?

Trump will be a disaster on foreign policy by withdrawing us from NATO, cutting off aid to Ukraine and restricting immigration from what he calls "sh*thole" countries.

If Trump wins, it's going to pay to be Norwegian.

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DEMOCRACY

Trump is going to do all the things professed in Project 2025.

Prosecute Biden. Prosecture Hillary Clinton. Prosecute Merrick Garland. Prosecute Alejandro Mayorkas.

And more.

He's going to do it and very little for the American people. He's already said on the campaign trail that he doesn't care about his base, just their votes.

Kiss the Constitution good-bye. All of it.

And once he and his acolytes (AG Jeff Clark? Yikes!) take away his political enemies' rights, he's coming for all of ours.

Due process? Warrants? Hah!

Advantage Biden though, because when this stuff comes up in the debate, it'll be clear what Trump plans to do to our rights.

Problem is, that's what his base wants him to do.

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ABORTION

A winner for Biden and Democrats, but scores lower on the prioprity list for Americans in their concerns over the economy and immigration. Still, a solid opportunity to score points in the debate and all campaign long.

Remind Americans constantly that Republicans will take away women's reproductive rights and they have the Supreme Court they need to back them up on it. 

But Trump is proud of being the president who struck down Roe v Wade and must be reminded of that constantly. It gets under his skin.

TRUMP BEING TRUMP

Biden and the Democrats best campaign ad is Trump himself.

Stumbling over words on the stump. He's done this, everywhere, from South Dakota to Idaho to Wisconsin to one-on-one interviews. Even on Fox with Hannity trying and failing to steer him clear.

Memory? Trump is devoid. He often rambles on about anything, off topic.

In a session with American corporate CEOs, among the nation's largest, he promised to reduce their corporate tax burden to 20% from 21%

Asked why, he said, "Because it's a nice round number." Huh?

He makes it up as he goes along. And he'll kill business and the economy.

Immigration shut downs restrict employment in health care, hospitality and immigration and the quality of employees as well. Those "sh*thole-country" immigrants are not taking jobs away from Americans, as Trump claims. In a lot of cases, they're taking jobs a lot of Americans would likely never take.

The tariffs Trump wants to slap down on everyting would further restrict the economy, acting as new taxes on Americans instead of punishing foreign manufacturers.

NET/NET

Joe, Americans think the economy (inflation) sucks. Say how you'll fix it.

Joe, Americans think housing is too expensive. Say how you'll fix it.

Joe, Americans think democracy will be under attack under Trump. Say how you'll protect it.

Joe, remind Trump he's a convicted felon, a busines failure (6 bankruptcies) and is the mass murderer of 1 million Americans (COVID) - that ought to get under his skin.

Then let him trip all over himself. Trump on the stump - convoluted, confused, meandering, senseless - is your best advertisement.

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Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Todd Rungren (missed your concert in Phoenix, damn).

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.