I think too much weight is put on the presidential debates mostly because of the first ones in 1960 between Kennedy and Nixon. Presidential debates didn’t really become a thing until 1976, but the current incarnation are not really debates but rather a form of a cage match of participants in suits. The sole purpose of these debates is to make one look good and their opponent an idiot, and you don’t really hear substance or anything new. Even those 1960 debates are not remembered for substance but rather for how bad Nixon looked on television. You could say that debate was the beginning for performative era of presidential elections that we now bemoan.
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Notes From The Cave 