DEW YOUR WORST

President Biden taking drugs for tonight’s debate. It’s yet another attempt to undermine a fair contest — “Stop the Steal,” in miniature.

• Disgraced former president Trump and his allies are pumping up the volume on their nonsensical claims about President Biden’s plans to get high for tonight’s big showdown. One Republican lawmaker went on conservative TV to fret about Biden taking “Adderall” and “vitamins.” Another claimed Biden’s week of debate prep at Camp David was really about getting his drug cocktail exactly right. Others speculated Biden’s team might “jack him up on Mountain Dew,” and proposed a “No Juicing Joe Act”  to require disclosure when a president takes mind-altering substances. Trump lewdly told a crowd that Biden will get a “big fat shot in the ass” so he can debate “better than ever before.”

• It’s typical MAGA nonsense, but it tells you something. First, it’s a sign Trumpworld is nervous. They’ve spent years caricaturing this president as borderline braindead. Now, they seem worried that they’ve set expectations too low. Republicans are more excited about this debate than Democrats, according to a new poll, suggesting many believe their guy will demolish the elderly Democrat they’ve dismissed as completely senile. If President Biden doesn’t literally fall asleep in the middle of the debate (y’know, the way Trump did in his criminal trial), Trump’s fans will need a way to square all that hyped-up “Dementia Joe” rhetoric with reality.

• These right-wing drug fantasies kicked into hyperdrive in March, when President Biden’s energetic State of the Union address left Republicans cornered by their own bullshit. Tens of millions of viewers tuned in to see President Biden — to be sure, an 81-year-old man, now half-a-step slower than he once was — deliver a sharp, feisty speech full of effective jabs at his bad-faith detractors and real-time rebuttals for his hecklers. Biden’s SOTU performance did a lot to quell liberal hand-wringing about his age. Right wing media scrambled. They had to give their shocked and disappointed viewers an explanation. But… it wasn’t a lie! It was Adderall! Or cocaine! Or… uh, Mountain Dew! Yeah! That’s it! The old fellah must be hopped up on goofballs!

This same breathless delusion lay at the heart of Trump’s infamous “Stop the Steal” movement after his 2020 election defeat.

• Trump spent much of 2020 claiming that only cheating could cost him the election. When he lost, he leaned into “Stop the Steal,” endorsing wild lies about election fraud. Tonight, in the Trump comic universe, Trump can only lose if Biden knocks back a fistful of Adderall with a bucket of Mountain Dew.  

• Trump himself has explained this game in the past. Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes asked Trump in 2016 why he insisted on repeating the “tired” trope of “fake news.” Trump replied: “I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.” This classic example of Trump’s narcissistic candor also explains why his team has relentlessly attacked tonight’s CNN moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Trump maligns any fact-based source of information that makes it harder for him to lie. It’s yet another way to immunize his supporters from any disappointment over his own performance. 

• At the same time, Trump’s years of outrageous behavior have succeeded in making the mainstream political media lower the bar for him. This week, former Dem nominee Hillary Clinton warned: “Expectations for [Trump] are so low that if he doesn’t literally light himself on fire on Thursday evening, some will say he was downright presidential.” It’s possible Biden may falter, or seem off his game. Perhaps, in a rare spasm of self control, Trump may manage to seem normal-ish for 90 minutes straight. Much of this debate will be about whether Trump can avoid sounding deranged, whether Biden can speak clearly and vigorously, and how they each react to the unexpected. After all, on live TV, anything can happen.

But when the debate is over, keep an eye on right-wing media. If they’re outraged and screaming about drugs and biased moderators, or the supposed unfairness of debate rules that Trump himself agreed to — that will be the surest sign they know Trump lost.

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