“Good News or Great News?” Here Are Key Questions for Tonight’s Presidential Debate.

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In case the moderator for tonight’s debate needs a hand with questions, and from the replay of Chris Wallace’s 2016 run, he might, we here at Recharge have drafted key conversation starters. Wallace is welcome to these lines of inquiry, all under one rubric fitting for our moment: “Good news or great news?” Everything’s here, COVID, the Constitution, the good fortune visited upon Americans over the past year:

1. President Trump, since you’re the incumbent and a student of the Constitution, first one’s yours: Interfering with the Postal Service’s universal delivery mandate enshrined in Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the Constitution is a good or great thing?

2. Also President Trump, since you’re a supremely good leader and we have a Supreme Court to which you nominated a replacement in record time, and since you tweetedThank you to @foxandfriends for covering, supremely, the greatest political scandal in the history of the United States, OBAMAGATE,” is it good or great news that I, Chris Wallace, of self-same Fox, am returning our thanks with lobbed softballs?

3. Joe Biden, this one’s yours: Is it good or great news that…oop, we’re up against a break.

4. President Trump, you said, and I’m quoting, “I am the least racist person there is anywhere in the world.” You’ve also said, and I’m quoting, “I have a great relationship with the Blacks. I’ve always had a great relationship with the Blacks.” Yet polls show that some number of voters don’t agree that you’re “the least racist person there is anywhere in the world.” And data shows that the coronavirus has a disparate impact on Black Americans. Is it good or great news that all polls and all data and all public health experts are inherently mistaken when they’re not in your favor or fit to your narrative?

5. Joe Biden, this one’s yours: Is it good or…our apologies, another break. Everyone vote!

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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