The Worst Debate Takes
Plus, Mona Charen on The World’s Brokest “Billionaire”
Leading The Bulwark…
The Worst Debate Takes
I waded through the muck to bring you the very finest of the bad takes.
Don’t worry, there are only three more of these things to go.
Thanks for tuning in!
Our turnout to last night’s post debate live stream was fantastic and destroyed our expectations. Livestreams are not something we do a lot of around here, in fact, it was our first. Internally we discussed the logistics and did a run through earlier in the day. I thought if like 50 people showed up, it’d be a success.
About 2,000 of you did. And we got A LOT OF QUESTIONS and weren’t able to get to them all. Or even a statistically significant fraction. We’ll work on that for the following debates, but if you’re a member of Bulwark+ and missed out, you can watch it here. I won’t blame you if you don’t want to relive the horror of last night.
The only positive thing about having to watch last night’s shitshow was being spared the Cleveland Indians getting slaughtered by the New York Yankees and me beginning to worry about Shane Bieber’s future. Indeed, a depressing night in Cleveland.
If you’re not a member of Bulwark+ and want to catch up, you can by signing up right now:
On the Pods…
WTF Was That?
Jonathan Last, Tim Miller, and Sarah Longwell on this week’s Next Level podcast chat about the Proud Boys. Stalin versus Poland. And swing voters. We’ve got it all.
The Next Level is a members-only podcast, but for a limited time, you can listen in.
David Jolly and Will Saletan Dissect the First Debate
On today's Post-Debate Bulwark Podcast, former Congressman David Jolly and Will Saletan discuss the first presidential debate. Why Trump can't help himself? Is his ego his fatal flaw? Will there be more debates? Did Joe Biden alienate the left?
From The Bulwark Aggregator
Apparently a Former Disney Child Actor is Also Running for President – Ryan Parry, The Daily Mail
Two Marine Corps aircraft collide mid-air near Salton Sea – Andrew Dyer, San Diego Union Tribune
Live Drawing The First Presidential Debate – Jason Adam Katzenstein, Current Affairs
Proud Boys celebrate Trump’s ‘stand by’ remark about them at the debate. – Sheera Frenkel and Annie Karni, New York Times
A Disgusting Night for Democracy – James Fallows, The Atlantic
Trump Planned to Go Feral on Biden. Now His Allies Want to Call Animal Control – Scott Bixby and Asawin Suebsaeng, The Daily Beast
In today’s Bulwark
Just Shut Up, Man
Amanda Carpenter: President Trump makes a mockery of our political process once again.
The President Is a Sociopath. And 60 Million Americans Like It.
Jonathan V. Last: The Cleveland debate revealed everything and changed nothing.
No More Debates
William Kristol: In Cleveland, our national humiliation continued.
The World’s Brokest “Billionaire”
Mona Charen: Why the revelation of Trump’s massive debt might matter.
Biden Won the Debate. America Lost.
Richard North Patterson: Who would want the Trump of last night for a neighbor, coworker, or friend—let alone a president?
Overtime
How FOX Changed TV Sports Forever... If you’re a subscriber to The Athletic, you must read this story about the debut of Fox Sports and how it changed live TV forever.
While we’re on the topic of live sports... At Defector (a publication to which you should subscribe if you love sports) there’s a sad story here that suggests the art of live broadcasting is in trouble.
Welcome to the Sub Club...
I’m of a certain age where I ate a lot of Subway sandwiches after hockey practice, and remember the old Sub Club stamps. (#RIP.) There’s only one sub I like at Subway, and it’s the Pizza Sub, and this old menu staple that disappeared from most of Subway’s corporate consciousness, but it is not forgotten.
Most young Subway sandwich artists have never heard of it, and you have to walk them through making it, but after reading this story out of Ireland about a ruling on Subway’s bread being too sweet, I had to have one. But it’s always good to take a trip down memory lane and remember your favorite adolescent sandwich.
Markets in everything. A high school classmate of mine’s younger brother was profiled in the WSJ for his inventive response to being a COVID-19 furlough: going back to Cleveland, buying bikes, refurbishing them, and selling them to New Yorkers at a premium.
News from the old neighborhood. A Shaker Heights, Ohio police officer is under investigation for giving protesters the bird while on Presidential Debate detail. Why would you do this? Also, no offense to Pepper Pike, but why Biden chose to spend the night there is beyond me when Shaker Heights is pretty much hero-worship level liberal.
The failed HHS COVID ad blitz. They wanted Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake. They got Dennis Quaid, CeCe Winans, and Shulem Lemmer. Take a look inside the $300 million boondoggle of a campaign to “inspire hope.”
This suit is black.... NOT! America is going to get another Borat movie before the election. And I suspect any conservative fan of the first Borat movie is not going to like it very much.
Is that an... Elephonkey? I’m not sure what CNN was going for here, but...
Trump’s Steel Election Trap. The WSJ editorial board on why “flirting with protectionism is a loser.” But they’re being nice to Trump here. Saying Trump has flirted with protectionism is like saying he and Stormy Daniels are just business associates. But as the election looms, lots of choices are being made, and not because they’re the right policy...
Speaking of which... Cruise ships! We can’t have those floating petri dishes not doing business for Florida on the eve of an election, now can we? The Trump administration, which as we all know is taking the science of COVID-19 seriously, saw to that.
And because 2020 demands it... Here’s Weird Al on last night’s debate
Well, that’s it for me for today. Remember, you can always drop me a line at swift@thebulwark.com.
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