The first one was a sham, a dry run for the real Democratic candidates, the most committed to the true direction of the party: hard left, into the gutter. How about healthcare for illegal aliens? Aye!
Hey MS-13 members--if you get a boo-boo while murdering an American citizen, we'll patch you up, gratis!
To underscore how much Dems love immigrant and illegal voters from south of Texas, the Spanish speaking trend continued, with the moderator and Pete Buttigieg sharing a brief conversación.
The collective insanity on stage--everyone trying to out-virtue-signal their peers--was rounded out nicely by the self-help author Marianne Williamson. It would've shocked no one if she had lit a stick of incense and rubbed her microphone head with a healing crystal.
Joe Biden opened solidly, then fell apart. Befitting a man his age, his replies were too slow, and not heartfelt. He even said "my time's up" twice, which has a ring of truth. Trying to relate the death of his wife, daughter, and son to health care was deeply cynical. The clash between raising his hand for illegal alien healthcare and admitting to deporting 3 million illegals is too much. Had he stuck to his guns instead of flopping left to keep up with the youngsters, he would have looked like the sane one. Instead, in Chris Rock's words, he's "the old guy at the club." Trending: Down.
Bernie Sanders got a lot of camera time and used it to yell. Four years ago it was funny, somewhat refreshing. Now he's just Grandpa Simpson. The American worker is making the same thing now as he did 45 years ago? You need to cite stats for a claim that cuckoo, Bern. "Repeal everything Trump has done"? So you're going to take away the new jobs and sink the economy? What a maroon. Trending: Sideways.
Kamala Harris did more than maintain her title of Most Attractive VP Candidate, she almost called Biden a racist, which he is, and it stuck. She was the adult in the room when she gave a rousing mom-yell, saying, "America doesn't want to witness a food fight!" She was off base with the observation that Trump cares about stocks and poor people can't afford stocks--Trump cares most about jobs. Get one, and eventually you can buy stocks. She really hit home with the line about mothers in hospital parking lots dreading $5,000 deductibles, but her home run was shutting down Biden on busing, saying, "that girl was me!" She didn't know when to stop talking, but overall a strong performance. Trending: Sharply up.
Kirsten Gillibrand's tone came off as hey-what-about-me? She failed to land any punches, and though her Medicare-for-all argument was convincing, no one was listening. At one point she shouted, "It's my turn!" and frequently touted her accomplishments in an off-putting, angry tone. Stating "I was wrong on border security" felt like the end of the road for her campaign. Trending: Down.
Pete Buttigieg is smooth, Michael McDonald-tier smooth. Wrong on several issues, but smooth. To say that the Republican Party "associates itself with the separation of families" and has therefore "lost any right to use the lang of religion" ignores that Obama/Biden used the same exact methods, and that plenty of Democrats invoke the teachings of Christ. In short, he was dogwhistling to atheists. His statement that China is stealing our technology was refreshing. He handled the white officer shooting a black man incident back home in South Bend fairly well, but the idea that police are systemically racist is a bridge way too far, and an obvious grovel for the black votes he'll never get. Trending: Up.
Andrew Yang provided a throwback moment, with echoes of Ross Perot in 1992, as he broke down the US as a business in a quick, choppy style. He was eventually booed on some of his stats as they didn't fit the Dem narrative. He should have run as an Independent. Trending: Sideways.
Eric Swalwell sounded good at the beginning of the debate and then abruptly turned into a cheerleader for Biden. An obvious plea for a VP spot. His ridiculous comment about "weaponizing the census" was his highlight. Toward the end, he started to slur. Trending: Down.
Michael Bennet is way too white for the primary, let alone the Democratic Party. Incredibly boring until the end, when it seemed as though he'd smoked some of his home state of Colorado's cash crop. Trending: Down.
John Hickenlooper was a virtual no-show. His harping on the two drowned illegal aliens showed that the Dems don't have much ammunition. Trending: Down.
Marianne Williamson and her "sickness plan, not healthcare plan" was a funny diversion. Her observation of the "deep realms of racism" was, like, so trippy, ya know? At times she looked like a hysterical actress from the '70s, a poor man's Debra Winger from Urban Cowboy. Trending: Far out, man.
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