Presidential debate open thread
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Well, this is happening:
Debate tonight between a candidate running to be the next president of the United States and a candidate running to be the last president of the United States— Philip Gourevitch (@PGourevitch) September 10, 2024
Patrick Healy: Heading into tonight’s debate, what do you want to hear or learn from the candidates?
Michelle Goldberg: Honestly this question kind of infuriates me, because it assumes that what matters about tonight is some contest of policy positions, which is absurd. The media, I realize, has collectively decided that we’re going to treat Trump like a normal political candidate, and while that might be the right call in terms of preserving our journalistic institutions — though I’m genuinely unsure — it obscures the stakes. In this debate, the only thing that matters is whether Harris wins. It’s a cliché to say it, but she’s all that’s standing between us and autocracy.
Whether the first debate will end up being a monumental historical event or more of a footnote might not be affected by tonight’s debate, but then again it might.