Frank Luntz on Amanpour tonight in a discussion about the debate: "I'm not a Republican anymore."
Luntz is responsible for people using Democrat as an adjective instead of a noun. The proper form for an adjective is Democratic.
It concerns me he still thinks the election is too close to call. If rural voters come out in big numbers combined with the Hispanic vote Trump could still win. I can't for the life of me understand why Hispanics would vote for Trump.
I don't either, though the large majority of Latinx voters (around 70%) do not favor Trump. The only answer I've got is that some older Latino men in particular are socially very conservative and patriarchal, and maybe some don't like the way their kids and womenfolk are changing? Or there may be a divide between older Latinx whose families have been here longer feeling like more recent immigrants are squeezing them out? The whole GOP schtick is that resources are oh so limited these days, everything is shrinking, that's just how it is because of those evil Democrats, so we need to fight among ourselves to increase our share of the pie.
Also, there was an increase in jobs under Trump. Now they were crappy jobs for the most part, and wages didn't grow. But given that some subgroups of Latinx people have historically gotten the crappiest jobs with stagnant wages anyway, maybe it's about expectations.
However, the Latinx has been hit very hard by Covid, both in therms of mortality and in terms of job losses. Whether Latinx voters on the fence are more likely break for Biden out of anger over Trump's indifference to the losses within their communities or whether they break for Trump because they think opening up the economy again will help them financially remains to be seen.
It's hard to say without a better breakdown of which Hispanic and Latinx demographics are most likely to support Trump (as in which states are they in, what age and gender, which occupations, which national origins, how recently their families immigrated here).
I hope Biden listens to what Luntz has to say about his focus group's response: people want to know more about Biden's health care plan.
I hope he does too, though to be fair, he didn't get a chance to say anything about any of his proposed programs on Tuesday night. He needs to get out there in one form or another to reach more people, whether it be virtual town halls or whatever. Ads can't really talk about things in depth, and most voters don't want to
read anything about a candidate's policy proposals.
It's common for candidates to interrupt one another in debates. Moderators often take them to task for it, and I've often wanted to shout, "Shut up, you're going to get your turn in two minutes!"
But as with everything Trump does, it was at a whole new level. He didn't just jump in and say, "That's not true," or even, "That's a lie because." He just talked constantly, vitriolically, and completely over everything Biden said. His whole purpose was to shut Biden down, to rattle him, to make him stutter, and to not let him say anything. The best moments were when Biden looked at the camera and said over the Trump Tirade, "This is about you, about your families" etc.
It's frustrating how many cartoonists and
memes are making it look like both candidates are equally to blame here, but I think most Americans, at least the ones not already in Trump's camp, know who is to blame for the direction this debate took. Biden could have handled it better, perhaps, but he was the one who showed up in good faith, prepared for a normal debate. The sad fact is, the person who doesn't care about rules or norms or decency is the one with the power to ruin things for everyone else. The GOP has been down this path for years, and one of their own has finally taken the approach to its logical extreme. That's what the past 3 3/4 years have been and what the next 4 years (and beyond) will be if Trump gets re-elected or steals the election.
