Didja miss last night’s debate? Most Americans did.

The Czar wouldn’t be surprised, though, to see a slight uptick in ratings over most last-debate-before-election debates only because a lot of people were hoping to see a rage-fueled Donald Trump rip his podium apart and hurl the pieces at Joe Biden; and when it was apparent this wasn’t going to happen… say, perhaps, five minutes in, people likely decided to switch channels to see the less-disastrous Philadelphia Eagles hurl things.

That’s okay. There was a lot of tension early on, as viewers waited for the evitable tantrum by either candidate. Didn’t happen. In fact, the Czar could sum up the whole debate as disappointingly entertaining and unfortunately helpful.

There are four takeaways:

1. Trump said only a couple of stupid things. Announcing the GOP would win the House in 2020, while possible, isn’t a good thing to say. It makes him look foolish. Admittedly, you don’t want to admit the GOP is going to lose seats overall, so it would have been better to say nothing at all. Oh, and Trump boasting that he’s been the best president to Black Americans since Abraham Lincoln (yeah, he said it) was certain to invite ridicule. But overall, people aren’t going to change their votes from Trump to Biden over that.
2. Trump said a lot of powerful things, even memorable. He challenged Biden to explain the placement of kids in border cages, which was started by Obama and very effectively reduced under Trump (“Who built the cages, Joe?”). He accused Biden—very effectively—of being a typical politician, promising everything and delivering nothing. Trump announced he was president today because of people like Joe Biden, lingering in politics for too long and achieving nothing but talking points. And on and on. Apparently, about 10% of Americans also learned what a coyote is. So that’s evidently something.
3. Biden, on the other hand, said a bunch of dumb things. He repeated a plagiarized phrase about there being no blue states or red states, only United States—and then went on to urinate on red states anyway. He admitted under his presidency, a long, dark winter was ahead. His best zinger of the night—linking Trump to the Proud Boys (which we already learned was Iranian disinformation from the start)—was utterly muffed when he called them the Poor Boys. This provoked laughter as many Americans googled to figure out what sandwiches had to do with Trump. We could go on an on, but there were a number of stumbles by Biden that showed why Obama never gave him much to do.
4. Biden said nothing good. Yeah, he had a pretty good riff on a bonehead question about Black Americans being pulled over, but Trump jujitsued that by twisting the question from sounding like “why are Blacks so often mistaken to be criminals” to “here’s what Black Americans have achieved over the last four years.” Everything else was either rehearsed or repeated talking points and a lot of bluster and blather that, at best, sounded like Trump’s vain boasting. And from what we’re reading today, many voters were put off by his blatant fear mongering about everyone dying from COVID.

So you might be mistaken into thinking that this was the end of it. And for Trump, it pretty much was. He was wrapping up, for the most part, when the moderator (who wasn’t bad, really—she asked a lot uncomfortable questions of both candidates) asked Trump why so many Black Americans were suffering living near oil fields. Instead of taking the bait, Trump said that these Americans were living there because they were working there, under his economy. A nice answer, and Trump knew it. He pretty much started putting his coat on and turning off the lights when Biden was asked to respond.

And did Biden respond. He announced that he would seek to end the oil industry. Trump wheeled around and asked him to repeat that. Biden did, and announced he would—as president—end America’s use of fossil fuels. Trump was handed gold, and he made sure Americans recognized this as big news, especially folks living in Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Oklahoma.

Biden had a definite look of panic on his face as Trump named those states. Even he realized he just gave Trump 83 electoral votes, mumbling something about “on public lands” and “subsidies,” but Trump drowned out his babbling by reminding voters in those states what Biden just announced. There would be no walking that back, even with the media’s certain (and ultimately proven) covering for him on Friday. It was said, and at this point, if polls in other states stay where they are, those 83 votes will put Trump over.

Bear in mind, this doesn’t affect just four states. Shutting down oil and fossil fuels in this country will put nearly one million Americans out of their current jobs, in the form of drilling, mining, trucking, piping, distribution, distillation, manufacture, plasticization, and more. The Depression here will crush world markets that depend on us. Did Biden mean for all this? Probably not, but he reassured America that Biden, after 47 years in government, has literally no understanding of how the economy works.

Had the debate not asked that final question, Trump would have left feeling pretty good about what happened last night: he did a good job, and Biden did such a bumbling job that only CNN, MSNBC, and the world press would have the gall to suggest Biden won.

Biden didn’t win. But after that last question was asked, and Biden—in under fifteen total seconds—announced he would knowingly tank the world’s economy, Trump probably slept very well indeed last night.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.