People keep saying that Hillary will destroy Donald in debate. But I’m concerned. I’m bothered by the memory of one exchange between Bush and Gore in one of the presidential debates in 2000. When Gore confronted Bush with the math behind Bush’s tax proposals, Bush just responded by calling Gore’s figures “fuzzy math.” In fact, Gore’s numbers weren’t fuzzy – he and he had laid it right out for all to see. I concluded that Bush was trying to bully Gore and the American people by substituting insult for fact. But people reacted that Gore was a nerd and Bush would be nice to have a beer with. I think that was unfortunate largely because, as president, Bush took us into the war in Iraq with what I believe were disastrous results. This isn’t the place to refight the issues of the Bush presidency. The real problem is that Trump has never shown any dedication either to the facts or to policy detail and many Americans have shown an appetite for unsupported slogans and invective. So I’m concerned that he may try to bully Hillary in the debates and how Americans will react.
We’re not perfect and it’s clear that some of us like bullies. The big question is whether that’s just a few or a lot. We know that some people think it’s perfectly appropriate to win their disputes by brandishing their “Second Amendment” powers; that some still spank their wives and girlfriends and put them through hell so the almighty men can get what they want. We know that some people still behave as if rape is just the assertion of their own “authority,” and as if it’s perfectly appropriate to belittle women, gays, Blacks, browns, immigrants, or people who grew up in different religious traditions. Some still think it’s OK to get what they want by denying other people access to the vote, running them out of town, throwing Blacks and browns into prison, or shooting and killing young men out of fear for their skin color, scared that they meant ill by walking home. We have laws against schoolyard bullies but some adults act like them. Some people are bullies and some people like bullies.
Donald with his bullying jabs is clearly after their votes. He wants the votes of people who put others down like he does because of the color of their skin or put people down like he does because their parents brought them to America from somewhere else. He reminds people they might solve problems with their Second Amendment rights because he wants the votes of bullies who intimidate people with their Second Amendment rights.
The question that will be settled by the debates is not just how Trump will, or can, behave, but what proportion of us are or admire bullies, what proportion of us are prepared to admire leaders of the Ku Klux Klan because they appear strong, and what proportion of Americans respect careful, thoughtful and considerate behavior.
Make no mistake, this is a battle for the soul of America. Who stands for decency and who standards for hate, who stands for considerate behavior and who admires the bullies of this world?
Steve Gottlieb is Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor of Law at Albany Law School and author of Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and the Breakdown of American Politics. He has served on the Board of the New York Civil Liberties Union, and in the US Peace Corps in Iran. Steve maintains a blog: constitutionalismanddemocracy.wordpress.com
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