> @kaizen The only section I remember on this was Trump saying "I have a mask right here, (I wear it when I need to)" and refering to Biden's mask as "ridiculous, the biggest mask youve ever seen"
@drenath
Fine, but you have to at least acknowledge that Trump has been extremely inconsistent on masks in spite of the fact that all of the scientific evidence points towards them being an important tool. Literally two weeks ago: "A lot of people say that masks aren't good..." and then describes waiters touching their masks and then touching plates. "A lot of people said don't wear masks." "The concept of masks is good but you're constantly touching it. There's a lot of peopel who don't think masks are good."
See: https://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/trumps-abc-news-town-hall-trump-responds-question-73036468

Those statements are why this was coming up in the debate. Any leader with a basic level of competence would be promoting things that help people stay safe and get covid under control. Instead he chose focus on mocking Biden for wearing a mask - literally the exact opposite of what he should be doing. Now, his own irresponsibility has directly put other people at risk, including, Biden who was near him at the debates even though Trump was aware that he may have been exposed.

Also, there's no evidence for his comments - this notion that touching your face with a mask on is somehow spreading covid. He's literally just making that up.

> you have to at least acknowledge that Trump has been extremely inconsistent on masks
@Katelyn
I don't know why anyone would look to Trump as an authority on mask-wearing anyway, but I've seen evidence in both directions.

@drenath What do you think about the fact that the president of the United States is an untrustworthy source of information on matters about basic health and safety? If you support him, how do you reconcile that?

He's not a doctor. I wouldn't ask Obama about my computer problems.

Doesn’t matter if he isn’t a doctor

But he undeniably has a lot of power and influence - people listen to the things he says, and he's very aware of that and abusing that power. It would be one thing if he just said "Idk, I'm not a doctor. You should listen to Fauchi." But that's not what he's doing. Do you think that this shows good leadership?

It’s his responsibility to not spread misinformation and promote proper health protocol

If your claim is that Trump talks too much and is loose with facts, we're in agreement.

Do you support him?

His influence over the country makes it a responsibility on him to deliver accurate information

I'm not sure what "support" means. I didn't vote for him.

Side question, do you think the left extreme is gonna be able to influence policy if Biden is voted? @Katelyn @drenath

People are saying he’s a sort of vessel

He's a vessel for Kamala Harris. Cuz I'm betting he gets 25thd in the first year.

Personally no. It sort of seems like the Trump was thinking Sanders was going to win and didn't bother to change his oppo prep. It doesn't seem like a real argument to me - it seems like they just have much else to criticize about Biden because he has such a great reputation for being moderate and working acrosss the isle.

Is there any evidence to suggest this?

I mean, if this is even what a majority of Democrats wanted, why Biden overwhelmingly win the primaries, especially after all the other moderate candidates dropped out?

A big standout was him not calling out the violence until it started to effect his campaign

He is an somewhat awkward situation with calling out violence, and I wish he would do it more too. But leftists I know really hate both Biden and Harris. I'm not sure what level of organization you think this is happening on, but leftists certainly aren't aware of that plan.

Do you agree with the “anything but trump” or “well do anything to vote him out” mentality? @Katelyn

Sort of. It seems to be mixed amongst folks on the far left. There's some that are "Bernie or Busters" and others who are saying that they're willing to bite the bullet and unethusiastically vote for Biden because they see Trump as actively dangerous to out democracy (and I agree with them on that).

FWIW, I think Biden does a much better job an uneviocably denouncing violence on the left, compared to Trump who fumbles with denouncing the Proud Boys and other right wint millitia groups. And I can understand why he isn't really aiming to launch in to talking about violence when an overwhelming majority of those protests were peaceful and for an important cause. Drawing attention to a few bad actors that are inevitable with protests on that large of a scale seems like it would be very harmful to the movement without much benefit.

Also, the violence on right vs left are not equivalent. I'm not familiar with any left wing millitia groups who are organized, collecting weapons, and actively talking about "race wars", "succession", etc.

Proud Boys are not right wing militia. Also you say right wing militia like it's a bad thing.

sorry

https://www.bet.com/news/national/2020/10/01/black-lives-matter-proud-boys-utah-trump.html

They're certainly contributing to violence, no?

no

they're responding

passivism is not contribution

someone has to stand the line

you're delusional to think the cops can do anything at all

Do you think that vilgilante citizens need to take it into their own hands?

not to mention the fact that the cops are being targeted as the problem in the very beginning

what are cops?

citizens?

what is government?

people?

You and I might be on too different planes of reality to really have a constructive discussion here.

you like to send people to do your dirty work and you can keep your keyboard typing hands clean?