A Few Good Women

Trump gets his cuckoo clocks cleaned

In the spring of 1988, the biggest fight boxing had to offer was on tap in Atlantic City: Mike Tyson versus Michael Spinks for the undisputed heavyweight championship.

Despite Tyson's rampage through earlier fights which led to three alphabet titles, The Ring magazine recognized Spinks as champion coming into the fight. Spinks, of course, had beaten the previously undefeated Larry Holmes. That proved to be Michael's only moment of glory. After a lengthy delay, the fighters finally entered the ring. The crowd was strangely quiet, lulled into a stupor-like state after hours of waiting for the big moment.

When Tyson charged from his corner and launched an all-out attack, the fight was over, just 91 seconds later. Spinks avoided Tyson's initial rush, but moments later he took a flush left hook to the head, followed by a wicked right to the body, and sank to the canvas. Michael Spinks never fought again.

Donald Trump knows a thing or two about this fight because he was the promoter. It had cost him a then-record $11 million site fee. The guess here is that Trump made some money. The fight generated 22,000 in the audience, and over $30 million dollars in revenue. Seldom in the history of the sport have so many paid so much for so little.

On Tuesday night, Donald Trump must have had flashbacks to 1988 as he dueled Kamala Harris in the second Presidential debate in Philadelphia. In the first debate in June, Joe Biden had arguably the worst debate performance in the history of Presidential debates. Tonight, Trump responded with, “Hold my beer.”

I’ll confess that I have been checked out these last two weeks and haven’t been paying attention. Yesterday, I caught up a bit. As it turns out, Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy have been out there peddling stories of pets being eaten by Haitian immigrants. Trump brought this up during the debate. If America’s pets are in danger, I don’t think they’ll be comforted by knowing that RFK Jr, who once flayed a dead bear and cut off the head of a beached whale with a chainsaw, is on their team.

In an interesting opening dynamic, Harris walked straight up to Trump to shake his hands, and in an almost admonishing tone, told him, “Let’s have a good debate.” What she meant was, “If you coming for me, I’m coming for you, mofo.” Trump might have guessed his goose was cooked right there. There were few surprises in Trump’s approach. At one point, he repeated his famous lie, “They’re killing babies after they are born. They are executing babies.” It is ridiculous to even have to clear up something like this. However, in Trump’s defense, I did see a full grown man annihilated live on TV, a full 78 years after he was born. Maybe, the pro-life team has a point.

There was a moment when I thought Kamala Harris made the strongest case to be the next President of the United States. She started off by saying, “This mo..” and stopped herself just in time. We will never know whether she meant to say moron or mofo. I could not even dream of having this kind of willpower, and it certainly deserves to be rewarded. As AOC tweeted, “he sounds like a guy yelling at random people on 34th street with a karaoke speaker.” This pretty much sums it up.

Vice President Harris had a good night. In fact, a great night. Trump was never expected to do well. He flopped worse than expected. Sadly, the way the debate was framed by the mainstream media in the week leading up to it, Trump’s performance was not going to make any difference to his chances. But Harris had everything riding on it, they said. CNN even had a headline which said, “Nowhere to hide, Harris faces a moment of truth.” The media coverage has been astonishingly one-sided and overly dramatic, to say the least. My take: debates usually provide feel-good moments for both teams, but rarely make a difference to the outcome. When I think back, I’m hard pressed to think of any feel-good moments for the Trump team. The Harris team had plenty to crow about. “You’re a disgrace,” was memorable.

My guess is that tonight will be forgotten quickly as the fever pitch of the battle rises in the final stretch to November 5. The debate won’t make a difference to the results, but will likely dent Trump’s fundraising from big donors. If I was a Republican donor writing a big check, I’d hold back from throwing more money down a sink hole. On the other hand, Harris is likely to see a surge in her own fundraising. 71% of donations to Harris during the first 60 minutes of the debate came from women. Now, if she can widen the gap in fundraising in this final stretch, that might prove fatal for Trump’s chances. Ad blitzes are known to make a difference in the final stretch.

When Donald Trump agreed to debate VP Harris, I knew the man was certifiably insane. Not only is he no match for her on a debate stage, he does NOT KNOW that he is no match for her. Tonight, Trump had his cuckoo clocks cleaned. And yet, this is a close race. Recent polls even have Trump ahead.

Ultimately, this fight is going to be won by a few good women. Nancy Pelosi got the ball rolling by forcing Joe Biden out. Kamala Harris has seized the baton and is striding down the final lap with confidence. Liz Cheney, a lifelong Republican and daughter of the much hated Dick Cheney, came out last week and endorsed her. Taylor Swift endorsed her after the debate. The “white women momentum” is building. That bodes well for Harris.

There are nearly two months left in the race. It’s still anyone’s game. As I said last time, I’d rather be Harris than Trump. This is becoming truer with each passing day.

Have a great week, wherever you are.