What I Saw on Tuesday Night’s Debate

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart

I’m not going to repeat what we all saw during the presidential debate on Tuesday evening. It was a major embarrassment for Donald Trump.

I saw something which has not been discussed by anyone in the mainstream media. I saw a 78-year-old man struggle to maintain his composure and keep his focus on the questions and his responses.

Time and time again Trump repeated the same answers to questions unrelated to his response. Trump proved that his attacks on President Biden were founded on fact. This old, white man is too old to lead our nation. Trump and I are the same age. In less than two years we will have the honor of becoming octogenarians. Retirement is a good thing, and Trump’s retirement would be good thing for our country.

AN ISSUE OF GREAT IMPORTANCE FOR OUR NATION’S FUTURE

Vice-President Harris is a vibrant 59-year-old woman whose experience and efforts have led her to where she is today. On Tuesday evening Kamala Harris proved that she is very capable of leading our nation forward into the 21^st century. Trump continues to exist in the mid-twentieth century. That may be acceptable to others in his age group, but for a nation whose average age is 38.2 years, it is not.

I WAS WITH THE MAJORITY

Late in 2023 when I realized that the 2024 election would likely be between the same two old, white men who challenged each other in 2020, I was very disappointed. I agreed with the majority of our nation’s people. I felt that both political parties failed us.

Of course, it was not a surprise that the President was seeking reelection. I knew that if voters made their decision based on Mr. Biden’s accomplishments, he would be the clear choice. However, our country’s people are the least informed in the world, and all too often vote based on emotions, personal beliefs, or the lies they see on television “news,” or ads paid for by the candidates. I was concerned about the future of America.

I found it reprehensible and revolting that today’s fake Republicans would have the arrogance and audacity to offer us the worst candidate in history for a third time. If Trump is the best they have to offer, this says a lot about the once Grand Old Party.

Republican voters disappoint me. Although I am aware that she is a hypocrite and an opportunist, Trump’s party was offered a legitimate candidate in Nikki Haley. However, they rejected her in support of a man who would end democracy in America and establish a fascist regime with himself as our nation’s dictator. Someone must explain this strange situation to me.

If the best person in their party, their leader, was the man standing before the television cameras Tuesday evening, how incompetent and unqualified are the men and women seeking your votes for Congress? This is sad, and very worrisome.

YOUR VOTE IS A RIGHT WHICH DEMANDS GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

There is no one in our nation who is unaware that voting is our most important right. However, it appears that a large number of our voting public ignores the great responsibility which comes with that right. We vote for ourselves based on our beliefs, needs and wishes, but we are also voting for our children, grandchildren, and beyond. Policies created by the woman or man residing in the White House have implications which will affect multiple generations. We, the eligible voters, must not look only at the present but how our vote will affect our nation’s future.

It is an undeniable fact that voting for a party, not always for the best candidate, is moronic, and a waste of your most valuable right. If democracy is to survive, every voter must become an Independent. Only candidates who will serve all Americans and support the issues most important to you and those you love should receive your precious votes.

Political parties are no different than large corporations. Their ultimate goals are power, and the enormous wealth needed to maintain that power.

OLD PEOPLE SHOULD RETIRE

I am an old man. I would love to have the physical abilities I had when I was 35. However, I have earned the right to not work for someone else ever again.

I am grateful that my mind is sharp, and that I remain interested in what happens in my country and the world.

However, I am not in denial. I am out of touch with anyone who is half my age or younger. They see many things in ways I cannot quite understand. However, they are the future, and the future belongs to them.

Trump is the past, and not the best representative of those times. He is incapable of relating in any way to anyone who is younger than 50 years of age. He is past the age when he might have been an effective leader, as he proved with his failed response to Covid-19.

Kamala Harris is the leader we need in 2024.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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