Circus Comes To Television Tonight

     Tonight -- and for one night only -- the bearded dudebro in the gray flannel suit squares off against the grizzled Dad in a tartan flannel shirt.

     This promises to be interesting, since each man is the ostensible "folksy" member of their respective campaigns and they'll probably be fighting to be more centrist than the other guy, J. D. Vance's Yale degree and hobnobbing with high-roller venture capitalists notwithstanding, likewise Tim Walz's Upper Midwest progressivism.  Why, they're Just Plain Fellows who might live down the street -- surrounded by a phalanx of well-armed Secret Service.*

     Only one of them is yoked to a candidate who most recently promised stealing from businesses would go way down, if only, "You know, if you had one day, like one real rough, nasty day, one rough hour, and I mean real rough, the word will get out and it will end immediately. End immediately. You know, it'll end immediately."  That's former President Donald Trump, of course, and he's talking about allowing police to exercise extrajudicial violence without due process of law -- to control retail theft, based on a misstatement of California's moving the line between felony and misdemeanor theft up to $950.00, American.†  (Draconian punishment has been tried; England used hang people for shoplifting, picking pockets and theft, as late as 1832 for some offenses.  It was not a deterrent, though they did produce some of the most skilled purse-lifters in the world.)

     Senator Vance's challenge tonight is to not come off as a weirdo.  Governor Walz's is to resist the teacher/senior NCO impulse to chivvy his opponent to act normal.  Vance has been marinating in "manosphere" culture, a subset of the Trumpist Right largely divorced from reality; Walz has been enjoying nearly universal acclaim in Democratic circles.  For both of them, success in the debate will depend on how well their preparation has allowed them to look beyond those comforting horizons.

     We'll find out.
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* This is why I'm not chiding any of the candidates for avoiding the areas hardest hit by hurricane Helene and its aftermath: their unavoidable retinues place a big strain on resources wherever they go and any visit would do far more harm than good.
 
† Weirdly, this is the same guy who likes to talk about how bad inflation has become.  So if it costs more for the same stuff (and it does; the argument is over how much more), wouldn't that move the bar for the seriousness of crimes, too?  In 1789, Congress made sure you could get a jury trial if more than $20 was at stake -- about $715 in 2024.