Posted in: Opinion, streaming, TV, TV, YouTube | Tagged: donald trump, Joe Biden, stephen king, trump

Stephen King on Trump's "Medicine Show Chutzpah" During Debate

Author Stephen King shared a fiction writer's perspective on Convicted Felon Donald Trump's "debate" performance against President Joe Biden.

To say that CNN's alleged "debate" turned out to be exactly the dumpster fire we were expecting would be a righteous understatement. President Joe Biden was raspy and tired from a day of campaigning – and it showed. Meanwhile, ex-reality show host, multi-impeached ex-POTUS, and convicted felon Donald Trump dropped steaming pile of lies after steaming pile of lies from the right-wingy fantasy land he currently reigns in. As for CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash? Well, we're still trying to figure out what the purpose of either of them being there was. Without any real-time fact-checking or pushback, why were Tapper and Bash even needed? Anyone could've done that job – CNN could've literally just pre-recorded the questions (and maybe an occasional odd "Thank you" to play after one of Trump's piles of lies, like what went down during the "debate"). One person who has never been shy when it comes to sharing his thoughts on the Trump mess is bestselling author Stephen King – who looked at Trump's "debate" debacle from an interesting perspective.

Though noting that Trump "made a degree of sense" when the "debate" first got underway, it didn't take long before "his lies grew more grandiose." And that's when King put on his "writer of fiction" had to admit that he "could almost admire" the "chutzpah" Trump was showing by just going for broke and laying out lie after lie after lie (King's words: "his medicine show chutzpah"). And if anyone knows about spinning some grand works of fiction (in good ways that don't destroy our democracy), it's Stephen King.

CNN, Tapper, Bash Debate Debacle Sparks Biden/Trump Dumpster Fire

Knock-knock. Who's there? CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. "CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash" who? And that really is the biggest question coming out of Thursday night's "debate" between President Joe Biden and ex-reality show host, multi-impeached ex-POTUS, and convicted felon Donald Trump, isn't it? Let's get the debate out of the way first, though. From Biden, we got exactly what we would've expected from an old guy who spent most of the day making campaign stops and then had to get on the stage for debate. From Trump, we got the same flowing wave of nonsensical bullshit and outright lies that we've come to expect from the convicted criminal with absolutely no record to stand on. If you were expecting some kind of "The American President" moment, then I don't know what to tell you other than the real world isn't a Marvel movie – or is it? Because rarely does real life give us a choice that is so painfully easy to make that if it was a script being pitched, it would be rejected for being righteously too unrealistic. Freedom or fascist dictatorship. In simpler terms? A delicious slice of pizza or a punch to the face. This year's election isn't an "issues" election – it's a "survival" election. And that's where CNN, Tapper, and Bash come in…

In terms of being a "news network," Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav's CNN continues its drive to be mentioned in the same conversations as FOX "News" – maybe that's a good thing ratings-wise, but it kinda tanks any chances you have at "journalistic integrity." In fact, from now on, let's refer to CNN as "Cnn" due to how small it's gotten over the years. As for Tappper and Bash, I would like a chance to ask them this. What would the difference have been if we just had two coats on hangers replacing you? Oh, you need someone to ask the questions? You could've had literally anyone record them ahead of time. It's not like Tapper and Bash were doing any pushback or real follow-up – and fact-checking? Tapper and Bash weren't having any of that – because why would you want the American voters to actually know when someone's telling the truth and someone's lying? That would actually mean that Cnn would… have to do its job?!? 

So, where do things stand at this point? Moving forward, any debate that doesn't have real-time fact-checking isn't worth the screen time – they just become glorified infomercials for the candidate, no different than those "town halls." I'm sure Tapper and Bash's Cnn colleagues will rally around them and try to paint them as being unfairly treated and how they were put into a "tough position." Stop it. They put themselves in that position by sitting on their journalistic responsibility to cut through the lies and get to the truth for their viewers – the voters. Instead, Cnn used the truth as a sales tactic to get viewers to check out their post-debate coverage.

Yes, that's right – Cnn did do fact-checking… after the debate was over. I saw a clip of it on Twitter – not from Cnn but from someone else. Because Cnn couldn't even get around to posting a fact-checking video on its YouTube channel (at least at the time that this was written). But it was never really ever about the voters or even the candidates – it was never about the substance. Cnn wanted "sizzle." What we all got was a dumpster fire.

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