9/10 ABC Presidential Debate Game thread

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19,093]

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/story/2024-09-12/dear-donald-trump-youre-right-about-us-migrants

Quote

To the editor: Former President Trump, you are right. Vice President Kamala Harris allowed us immigrants to come to this country illegally with millions of others so that we would vote for her.

When my insane asylum was emptied back home and my violent husband was let out of prison, we were happy to start again in a new country. Harris supported us having transgender surgery while we were staying at the luxury asylum center, generously paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

In gratitude, we want to give back to this country in any way we can. My husband is out now selling drugs to schoolkids and, by the way, has cut back on rapes and murders. I am grateful too and when I sell my cookbook, “Yummy Dog and Cat Recipes,” I will send the proceeds to abortion clinics so they can continue to execute newborn babies.

You will see — we are hard workers.

Andrea Ehrgott, Topanga

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/story/2024-09-15/satirical-letter-on-the-harris-trump-debate

Quote

To the editor: As a devoted reader of The Times' letters page, I wish to nominate reader Andrea Ehrgott of Topanga to the L.A. Times Letter Writers Hall of Fame. If there currently is no such hall, I propose that one be immediately founded and that Ehrgott be installed as its inaugural member. ("Dear Donald Trump: You're right about us migrants. We'll cut back on rapes and murders," letters, Sept. 12)

After all of the television pundits, opinion writers, and editorial boards who have pontificated on the importance of ensuring that former President Trump never again be allowed to be within miles of the Oval Office (all of which I heartily applaud and endorse), this reader from Topanga captured the day in one short letter.

Hail to the chief of letters!

 

James Zimring, Tarzana

[Superhero 8,778]

1 hour ago, 4th&Five said:

But he definitely won the debate. All the polls agree. So what’s the problem?

He would have won more bigly if ABC hadn't colluded with Harris.

[Jive Turkey 12,568]

I'm watching the "ABC whistleblower" affidavit story snowball. 

I've been on the beat that "conservatives are shockingly stupid" but today they've reached a new high (or low). The eating dogs and cats rumors look like Pulitzer Prize winning work compared to this.

Let's review. Earlier today, a random blog full of spam "reported" that there was an ABC News whistleblower who said Kamala got the questions beforehand. It also said that the whistleblower passed away in a car accident.

The Gateway Pundit, definitely a right-wing site, reports that the website is called "County Local News" and will infect your computer with a virus.

At 9:42 eastern this morning, an X account called "Black Insurrectionist - I FOLLOW BACK TRUE PATRIOTS" posted a supposed notarized document attesting to this story, minus the death part, with the name of the "whistleblower" and notary blacked out. It says that Kamala got the questions beforehand, and she and ABC agreed to only fact check Trump, among other things. 

That's it. That's all it took. I'm not BSing here. There is literally nothing else to this story. Just a random spam blog and a random anonymous account. 

So far, the following figures have either endorsed this story or shared it as something that should be treated as credible reporting. 

Marjorie Taylor Greene (reported the whistleblower's "death" and then "corrected" that the person was still alive, with still no evidence he actually existed)
Ted Cruz
Leading Report (558K followers)
Kyle Becker (586K followers)
Benny Johnson (2.7 million, recently revealed to be paid by Russians)
George Papadopolous (1.1 million)
Gunther Eagleman (921K)
Libs of TikTok (3.4 million)

There are many more major influencers, and there surely will be others, but you get the point. Kudos to The Gateway Pundit at least for not going along with this. 

Grifters will grift, but I think that MTG and Cruz are the truly shocking ones, and there will probably be other elected officials if there haven't been more already. Maybe with MTG you expect it, but Cruz is supposed to be a bit smarter. In his case, I'm inclined to think he's lying, which to me at least is a bit less disturbing than him actually believing it. 

Trump will probably start talking about this, and then we'll get more fake "evidence" fabricated to back up the original evidence, along with lectures on how MAGAs have been proven right and this is why nobody trusts the media.

Incredible things are happening.

[bluto 4,894]

Don’t leave out bill ackman tweeting that Muir and abc lack of addressing the allegation reflects very negatively on them, to his 1.4M followers 

[tx 3 putt 76,414]

10 minutes ago, Jive Turkey said:

I'm watching the "ABC whistleblower" affidavit story snowball. 

I've been on the beat that "conservatives are shockingly stupid" but today they've reached a new high (or low). The eating dogs and cats rumors look like Pulitzer Prize winning work compared to this.

Let's review. Earlier today, a random blog full of spam "reported" that there was an ABC News whistleblower who said Kamala got the questions beforehand. It also said that the whistleblower passed away in a car accident.

The Gateway Pundit, definitely a right-wing site, reports that the website is called "County Local News" and will infect your computer with a virus.

At 9:42 eastern this morning, an X account called "Black Insurrectionist - I FOLLOW BACK TRUE PATRIOTS" posted a supposed notarized document attesting to this story, minus the death part, with the name of the "whistleblower" and notary blacked out. It says that Kamala got the questions beforehand, and she and ABC agreed to only fact check Trump, among other things. 

That's it. That's all it took. I'm not BSing here. There is literally nothing else to this story. Just a random spam blog and a random anonymous account. 

So far, the following figures have either endorsed this story or shared it as something that should be treated as credible reporting. 

Marjorie Taylor Greene (reported the whistleblower's "death" and then "corrected" that the person was still alive, with still no evidence he actually existed)
Ted Cruz
Leading Report (558K followers)
Kyle Becker (586K followers)
Benny Johnson (2.7 million, recently revealed to be paid by Russians)
George Papadopolous (1.1 million)
Gunther Eagleman (921K)
Libs of TikTok (3.4 million)

There are many more major influencers, and there surely will be others, but you get the point. Kudos to The Gateway Pundit at least for not going along with this. 

Grifters will grift, but I think that MTG and Cruz are the truly shocking ones, and there will probably be other elected officials if there haven't been more already. Maybe with MTG you expect it, but Cruz is supposed to be a bit smarter. In his case, I'm inclined to think he's lying, which to me at least is a bit less disturbing than him actually believing it. 

Trump will probably start talking about this, and then we'll get more fake "evidence" fabricated to back up the original evidence, along with lectures on how MAGAs have been proven right and this is why nobody trusts the media.

Incredible things are happening.

 

the dumbest fucking people alive 

[chainsaw 9,838]

Okay what kind of advantage did Harris supposedly get?

Question 1 (Economy)

Spoiler

I want to begin tonight with the issue voters repeatedly say is their number one issue, and that is the economy and the cost of living in this country. Vice President Harris, you and President Trump were elected four years ago and your opponent on the stage here tonight often asks his supporters, are you better off than you were four years ago? When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?

Question 1A (Tariffs, since Trump brought it up)

Spoiler

I do want to drill down on something you both brought up. The vice president brought up your tariffs you responded and let's drill down on this because your plan is what she calls is a essentially a national sales tax. Your proposal calls for tariffs as you pointed out here, on foreign imports across the board. You recently said that you might double your plan, imposing tariffs up to 20% on good coming into this country. As you know many economists say that with tariffs at that level costs are then passed onto the consumer. Vice President Harris has argued it'll mean higher prices on gas, food, clothing medication arguing it costs the typical family nearly four thousand dollars a year. Do you believe Americans can afford higher prices because of tariffs.

Question 2 (Abortion)

Spoiler

I want to turn to the issue of abortion. President Trump, you've often touted that you were able to kill Roe v. Wade. Last year, you said that you were proud to be the most pro-life president in American history. Then last month you said that your administration would be great for women and their reproductive rights. In your home state of Florida, you surprised many with regard to your six-week abortion ban because you initially had said that it was too short and you said, "I'm going to be voting that we need more than six weeks." But then the very next day, you reversed course and said you would vote to support the six-week ban. Vice President Harris says that women shouldn't trust you on the issue of abortion because you've changed your position so many times. Therefore, why should they trust you?

Question 3 (Immigration/Border)

Spoiler

We're going to turn now to immigration and border security. We know it's an issue that's important to Republicans, Democrats, voters across the board in this country. Vice President Harris, you were tasked by President Biden with getting to the root causes of migration from Central America. We know that illegal border crossings reached a record high in the Biden administration. This past June, President Biden imposed tough new asylum restrictions. We know the numbers since then have dropped significantly. But my question to you tonight is why did the administration wait until six months before the election to act and would you have done anything differently from President Biden on this?

Question 3A (Mass Deportations, How will that work)

Spoiler

Let me continue on immigration. It was what you wanted to talk about earlier. So let's get back to your deportation proposal that the vice president has reacted to as well. President Trump, you called this the largest domestic deportation operation in the history of our country. You say you would use the National Guard. You say if things get out of control you'd have no problem using the U.S. military [...] You also said you would use local police. How would you deport 11 million undocumented immigrants? I know you believe that number is much higher. Take us through this. What does this look like? Will authorities be going door to door in this country?

Question 4 (Harris Flip Flopping?)

Spoiler

Vice President Harris, in your last run for president you said you wanted to ban fracking. Now you don't. You wanted mandatory government buyback programs for assault weapons. Now your campaign says you don't. You supported decriminalizing border crossings. Now you're taking a harder line. I know you say that your values have not changed. So then why have so many of your policy positions changed?

Question 5 (Trump January 6 Regrets?)

Spoiler

We have an election in just 56 days. I want to talk about the peaceful transfer of power, which of course we all know was a cornerstone of our democracy and the role of a president in a moment of crisis. Mr. President, on January 6th you told your supporters to march to the Capitol. You said you would be right there with them. The country and the world saw what played out at the Capitol that day. The officers coming under attack. Aides in the West Wing say you watched it unfold on television off the Oval Office. You did send out tweets, but it was more than two hours before you sent out that video message telling your supporters to go home. Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day?

Question 5A (Trump J6 Re-asked)

Spoiler

You were the president. You were watching it unfold on television. It's a very simple question as we move forward toward another election. Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day? Yes or no.

Question 6 (Who won 2020)

Spoiler

We talked immigration here tonight. I do want to focus on this next issue to both of you. Because it really brings us, this into focus. Truth in these times that we're living in. Mr. President, for 3 and a half years after you lost the 2020 election you repeatedly falsely claimed that you won, many times saying you won in a landslide. In the past couple of weeks leading up to this debate, you have said, quote, you lost by a whisker, that you, quote, didn't quite make it, that you came up a little bit short. [...] Are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020?

Question 6A (You were being sarcastic with Lex Fridman?)

Spoiler

I did watch all of these pieces of video. I didn't detect the sarcasm, lost by a whisker, we didn't quite make it, and we should just point out as clarification, and you know this, you and your allies, 60 cases in front of many judges. [...] And said there was no widespread fraud.

Question 7 (Israel)

Spoiler

Turning now to the Israel-Hamas war and the hostages who are still being held, Americans among them. Vice President Harris, in December you said, "Israel has a right to defend itself" but you added, "It matters how." Saying international humanitarian law must be respected, Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians. You said that nine months ago. Now an estimated 40,000 Palestinians are dead. Nearly 100 hostages remain. Just last week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there's not a deal in the making. President Biden has not been able to break through the stalemate. How would you do it? [...] President Trump, how would you negotiate with Netanyahu and also Hamas in order to get the hostages out and prevent the killing of more innocent civilians in Gaza? [...] Vice President Harris, he says you hate Israel.

Question 8 (Ukraine)

Spoiler

And I want to turn to the war in Ukraine. We're now 2 1/2 years into this conflict. Mr. President, it has been the position of the Biden administration that we must defend Ukraine from Russia, from Vladimir Putin, to defend their sovereignty, their democracy, that it's in America's best interest to do so, arguing that if Putin wins he may be emboldened to move even further into other countries. You have said you would solve this war in 24 hours. You said so just before the break tonight. How exactly would you do that? And I want to ask you a very simple question tonight. Do you want Ukraine to win this war?

Question 8A (Who should win, Trump?)

Spoiler

Just to clarify the question, do you believe it's in the U.S. best interests for Ukraine to win this war? Yes or no?

Question 8B (How would you deal with Putin, Harris?)

Spoiler

I want to take this to Vice President Harris. I want to get your thoughts on support for Ukraine in this moment. But also as commander in chief if elected how would you deal with Vladimir Putin and would it be any different from what we're seeing from President Biden? [...] President Trump, thank you. You did bring up something, you said she went to negotiate with Vladimir Putin. Vice President Harris, have you ever met Vladimir Putin, can you clarify tonight?

Question 9 (Afghanistan withdrawal)

Spoiler

I want to turn to Afghanistan. We witnessed a poignant moment today on Capitol Hill honoring the soldiers who died in the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. I do want to ask the vice president, do you believe you bear any responsibility in the way that withdrawal played out?

Question 9A (Inviting Taliban to Camp David)

Spoiler

President Trump, your response to her saying that you began the negotiations with the Taliban.

Question 10 (Racial Identity)

Spoiler

I want to move on now to race and politics in this country. Mr. President, you recently said of Vice President Harris, "I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black." I want to ask a bigger-picture question here tonight. Why do you believe it's appropriate to weigh in on the racial identity of your opponent?

Question 11 (Healthcare)

Spoiler

This is now your third time running for president. you have long vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. You have failed to accomplish that. You now say you're going to keep Obamacare. Quote, unless we can do something much better. Last month you said, quote, we're working on it. So tonight, nine years after you first started running, do you have a plan and can you tell us what it is?

Question 12 (Climate)

Spoiler

President Trump, with regard to the environment, you say that we have to have clean air and clean water. Vice President Harris, you call climate change an existential threat. The question to you both tonight is what would you do to fight climate change?

I'm sorry but the very notion that any of those topics were somehow unpredictable, or that either side could have gained an advantage by knowing that they would be asked about by the moderators, is beyond ridiculous. Whoever is pushing that excuse should never work in politics ever again.

[Chuckie Finster 22,600]

Has nothing to do with logic and everything to do with a constant need to feel victimized.
Understand aggy and you understand the modern day Republican Party.

[The Dog 43,809]

He tagged the Southeastern Conference's account:

[The Dog 43,809]

[chainsaw 9,838]

2 minutes ago, The Dog said:

He tagged the Southeastern Conference's account:

They have boats?