Split-screen town halls with candidates duelling for audiences is the perfect emblem of where the United States finds itself on the eve of this election. One candidate full of sound and fury, bristling when the moderator points out his errors and evasions, the other calmly offering detailed responses and even staying behind to chat with the audience. Trump seething with his customary belligerence; Biden a model of avuncular calm. Pete Buttigieg, who has turned out to be a devastating surrogate for the Biden-Harris camp, caught the contrast well in a viral tweet: “Just imagine turning on the TV,” he wrote, “seeing your president, and feeling your blood pressure go down instead of up.”
Having made the indefensible decision to host Trump at the same time as Biden, NBC somewhat redeemed itself with its choice of moderator. Savannah Guthrie, a former lawyer, pressed for details whenever Trump tried to bluff his way out of difficulties. Under her scrutiny he essentially confirmed the details of the New York Times coverage of his taxes and illness and even said he would meet Nancy Pelosi to negotiate pandemic relief. His uneasiness with the grilling also produced the soundbite of the evening. When he tried to make light of QAnon’s cultish support, saying his alleged endorsement of the group was merely “a retweet”, Guthrie quickly retorted: “I don’t get that. You’re the president. You’re not someone’s crazy uncle who can retweet whatever.” A sentence that may turn out to be Trump’s political epitaph.
It is often said that Americans elect the candidate most people would prefer to have a drink with. If that is so, Trump is doomed. In the absence of Brad Parscale – the third of his campaign managers to be arrested – and with several senior staff infected by Covid-19, Trump’s campaign is in chaos.
Its angry messages have said a great deal about the incumbent’s temperament and next to nothing about his political vision. The campaign recently decided, for instance, to launch an internet meme that mocked Biden as old and enfeebled, even though senior voters are a key demographic for Trump in Florida. This was childish and spiteful, a strangely tin-eared joke so close to an election.
After Biden’s town hall the Trump campaign tried to dismiss the former vice-president as a latter day Mr Rogers – a beloved presenter of children’s television. This, too, backfired, and set up a contrast between a familiar and trustworthy figure and “someone’s crazy uncle.” The rage tweeting, the hospital drama, the endless litany of personal grievances has exhausted the patience of all but the most cultish Trumpists. Even Fox News, where some of the president’s most dedicated sycophants reside, has grown weary of the Trump show.
Clearly incensed by revelations of his tax filings and a long history of cronyism, Trump has reprised his 2016 tactics. All have failed to yield results. When the New York Post published a hit piece on Hunter Biden earlier this week, Facebook and Twitter correctly avoided recirculating so many dubious “facts” without content warnings. Likewise the “unmasking” probe that was meant to expose high crimes in the Obama administration concluded without any findings of wrongdoing. Each damp squib has left Trump looking more like a reality star who is about to be voted off the island, mired in the chaos of his own making, while his rival calmly talks about the future. With record early voting heavily stacked against him, Trump’s final weeks of campaigning will need a seismic event if he is to catch Biden. At this point, the electorate seems bored by the president’s reality show and eager to change the channel.