Well, the first US Presidential Debate between incumbent Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden is over. Joe Biden got played.

When the only strategy against a lying gaslighter like Trump was going on the offensive, the Biden campaign forgot to attack. More so, it forgot that the best form of attack is pre-emption.

You see, Joe Biden did not need to debate Donald Trump: He should not have debated Donald Trump.

In doing so, he forgot the fundamental lesson of warfare: Get there first and with the most. You choose the battlefield, and knowing the enemy’s capabilities you then deploy while maximising your fog of war.

All Joe Biden had to say months ago was:

I will not debate Donald Trump. I do not debate impeached people. I do not debate liars. I do not debate murderers. I do not debate tyrants who gas their own people.

But he didn’t.

With Trump’s jugular exposed he instead went for the solar plexus. And Trump’s is buttressed by too much fat—aka rhetorical mastery—for that type of punch to hit.

Covid-19, tax evasion, corruption, violence for PR, racism: Biden’s counterattacks didn’t strike, despite telling the president at the 20-minute mark, “Will you shut up man”, which may have been the funniest moment of any presidential debate I’ve seen.

So, what now?

Trump won this fiasco of a poorly modified free-for-all. It took Biden 20 minutes more to find his stride. Far too long.

If, however, tomorrow’s editorials suggest any edge going to Biden, anything is possible.

Trump still has to play his “trump card”. Trump has yet to burn the Reichstag. He hasn’t yet overtly called for his masses to take to the streets but he’s capable of doing anything to ensure that Democratic Party votes will not count.

You see, Trump is right about one thing. Sanctuary Cities and law and order are the Democratic Party’s weaknesses. And Trump didn’t once have to tie them to “Antifa” to push his point, though he eventually gave them a mention.

Trump’s administration has caused one-fifth of the world’s known Covid-19 dead: 205,000. And Joe Biden couldn’t make it count for anything.

Trump got to the battlefield first today.

He’s the only one waging war.

© 2020 Adam Parker.