I am so relieved. Somehow I had been worried that during this last presidential debate, some body snatcher might temporarily replace the eighth grade bully on the Republican side of the stage by a convincing semblance of an adult candidate.
But that did not happen. On the right side of our TV screen we saw a calm, articulate, highly competent, well informed grown-up addressing the issues with wit and depth, expressing her views in clear detail and with consistent intellectual force.
On the left side of our TV screen we saw a petulant eighth grade bully. There is something unnerving about seeing a seventy year old would-be statesman whose game is pretty much on the level of a fourteen year boy accustomed to beating up his classmates for their lunch money.
I felt bad for the millions of Trump supporters who had to watch that performance. I felt even worse for them when their standard bearer engaged in something even more disturbing: Suggesting that he might not accept defeat, and thereby attacking the electoral process itself.
As Hillary Clinton said tonight, in a different context: “I mean, who does that?”