Dear Editor,

I’ve been watching these US presidential debates for several cycles, but the debate on September 29, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio, between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was the worst one I’ve seen and heard.

Overall, I score Trump four out of 10, and Biden seven out of 10.

Now, for a country like America, which is supposed to have sent men to the moon and, undoubtedly, has some of the better performing educational institutions in the world, to have these two older men like unruly schoolboys having a slugfest in the muck was pitiful.

With this spectacle we can agree with David Smith, a columnist writing in The Guardian, in Washington, DC, who said: “Donald Trump ensured Tuesday’s first US presidential debate was the worst in American history, a national humiliation. The rest of the world — and future historians— will presumably look at it and weep… Anyone hoping for elegant verbal jousting or rapier-like wit was in for a disappointment.”

A snap poll of viewers after the debate found that 69 per cent said they were annoyed by the debate, while only 17 per cent of viewers felt informed by the debate. In total, 83 per cent of viewers felt the debate was negative, while only 17 per cent said it was positive.

So the election is supposed to be on November 3, 2020, but the final results may not be known for weeks to come as many ballots cannot be counted until the night of the election. Then, on top of that, there will be millions of mail-in and absentee ballots to be counted before a winner can emerge. And, even then, the election itself might not decide a winner.

So, in the lead-up to the November 3 presidential election, with Trump apparently trailing Biden in the polls, and Trump refusing to say whether or not he’d peacefully demit office if he loses the election, in last night’s debate he egged on his supporters to show up at polling stations to make sure that the election is not stolen from him. Now, I can imagine that his enforcers will now be showing up in crucial battleground states.

The United States, Sir, is democracy.

So right now, and in succeeding years, people won’t be imploring God to bless America; instead, they will be begging God to pity and save America.

George S Garwood

merleneg@yahoo.com