Jack of Harts

Eight years ago, Vice President Biden and Vice President candidate Ryan met in a debate. I went back to watch the first twenty minutes of that debate, just as I did the Trump-Biden debate of this week. For one, it was rather amazing to watch Biden walk around with a spring in his step. But it was also amazing to see how much was the same between then and now. His mannerisms. His reactions. And the way he debated.

Biden treated Ryan in 2012 much the same way he treated Trump in 2020. In the first twenty minutes, he interrupted Ryan multiple times. He accused Ryan of saying untrue things multiple times. Didn’t actually use the term “liar” as he did with Trump, and didn’t call Ryan a clown. But he did use the term “malarkey” multiple times, which means insincere, foolish, and deceiving. He also said that what Ryan said was just untrue. He mockingly laughed at Ryan throughout Ryan’s answers, and talked over him multiple times when the moderator was very obviously asking Ryan a question.

Now Ryan was a gentleman and did not respond in kind. And from my memories of that time, he was loudly declared to have lost the debate. That was eight years ago. Trump today is no gentleman to those who mock him. He is known to fire back when people attack him. He hits everybody, so it is truly no surprise to me how Trump reacted when Biden pulled the same tricks on him, only ramped up, as he did on Ryan eight years ago.

After watching the Biden-Ryan debate, I no longer wonder if Biden planned to start the insult and interrupt campaign during the debate with Trump this week. I now realize that it is his standard operational strategy. It is what he wanted. Though I would be willing to bet that he was surprised by just how down in the dirt and muck it got. All of us were, but perhaps more of us should have watched that old debate again. Then we would have recognized the signs earlier to know exactly what was going on.