So maybe it’s not to late for my swell idea for House Democrats — propose legislation that sets up an Escrow account to accept wall payments from Mexico?

Heh.

C’mon, if Trump really won than maybe Mexico’s gonna come through.

No need, really. Trump said he finished the wall in the town hall on CNN.

I did finish the wall. I built a wall. I built hundreds of miles of wall, and I finished it, and then I said we have to build some more.

~ Donald Trump, May 2023

*
First off, it's a dang border fence and not a "wall," and it's been there for decades. It's a lie that Trump finished it; he simply replaced portions of the old fence with new fence. US Customs and Border Protection put out an official report two days after Trump left office that stated around 458 miles of wall had been completed but about 280 more miles remained to be completed. Get this: There were only 52 miles of new fence that had been constructed.

I said it before, and I'll say it again: That dang border fence was already there. There are so many of Trump's cult who are clueless that the fence already existed, but, yes, it was replaced with a more sturdy fence except in multiple places where it blew over in gusts of wind... and still you just need a tall ladder to cross over it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liJ5U-fAt5k

It's also easy to cut through with a tool you can purchase at most any hardware store.

That's assuming we have excellent journalism now, in general. Which we don't. If journalists would do their jobs and actually inform the people instead of running around from one shiny object to the next, then they wouldn't even have to entertain the idiotic thought of giving someone like Trump the stage.

"The fact-checks would have to appear on the screen either below Trump's image (in a scroll, maybe) or as a split-screen with Trump on one side and a continuous list of fact checks as they happen on the other side."

I suggest that the first rule of TV is: what you hear and see takes precedence over what you read on the screen.

Many people do not read fast or well but hear spoken language just fine. In short, I think your idea requires that an identifiable authority deliver the fact checks in the form of a talking head on the screen speaking the corrections and rebuttals to the BS. In short, the town hall format would become a debate between the ex-president and the show's producers, equal-time and all. Don't forget to cut off the star's microphone while the rebuttals are on air, so he can't speak over them.

It's beginning to sound like good TV and excellent journalism to me - but of course, that would guarantee that the former chief executive would absolutely refuse to participate in such a format.

In a while they off
To where the music was soft
The candles were drippy
They saw a real hippy,
Who delivered their dinner.

The rice was brown
And soon they found
That the crowd around
That had jammed the room
Well it seemed to be getting thinner…

It definitely is too late for this one from back in the Ed Schultz days: remember when mandatory pre-abortion trans vaginal wanding was a thing in red Wisconsin, I think? Well who’d have thunk that that’s what Republicans meant when they were chanting “Drill, Baby Drill?”

Get it, Honey, get it?

What? Keep my day job?

So maybe it’s not to late for my swell idea for House Democrats — propose legislation that sets up an Escrow account to accept wall payments from Mexico? C’mon, if Trump really won than maybe Mexico’s gonna come through.

I was more interested in the crowd. It reminded me that Hillary used the phrase deplorables and that’s what this mean crowd was. Cruelty seems to be the point.

Ms. Collins acquitted herself quite well and did what she could. I think we will hear from her again as it’s a bit much to expect her to ask such a ballsy question now, when it doesn’t matter.

I like your fact check delay idea. Since the slightest of delays is no better than a two minute delay to get on top of the bullshit, so you may as well build in adequate time to handle it.

Heck, put ChatGPT on it and everybody could kick back with the popcorn…

Yes, sir. And just today, the House voted for restarting construction of the border wall and Customs and Border Protection to hire 22,000 new agents.

They "demand" that Biden cut all kinds of other things they won't name, while they (still) have no budget to speak of whatsoever, and... build the wall.

No mention of Mexico paying for it, though.

Does that sound like Republicans concerned about spending?

GMADB!

This is the way. Good form. :)

Whatever the technical layout, something like this might actually be workable. Again, I have no idea how long a delay might be needed (perhaps as short as 30 or 45 seconds would suffice?)

Being that his repertoire of horseshit is fairly stable, it does not take much time at all to have answers at the ready. The questions are generally worked out in advance, and so should be the responses.

When he denies asking the Georgia Secretary of State to find votes like he did yesterday, cue the audio you already have ready while displaying a visual on the large screen overhead like you suggested and wherein the audience can read along:

Audio: I just want to find 11,780 votes.

*
The questioner continues: In fact, you placed a phone call on January 2nd to Brad Raffensberger and his counsel that lasted about an hour where you put pressure on them on multiple occasions to "find" you votes.

Followup question for you: Interestingly, the number of votes you requested the Secretary of State "find" for you was 11,780, which was the margin of your loss plus one as determined after multiple recounts. So you were aware at that time there had already been three recounts performed by the Secretary of State's office and the results already certified?
_____________________

Many of the questions are prepared in advance; have the proof ready to show on a screen like you suggested and roll audio tape right along with it where applicable.
_____________________

Final questions of the night: Mr. Trump, as demonstrated via multiple audio recordings and video footage, you've either misremembered some things or -- let's be factual -- fabricated them so why should a voter believe you now?

You've been found liable for sexual abuse and defamation with malice yet continue to defame the woman as well as other accusers so why should any woman trust you now when you outwardly have contempt for them?

Why should a young girl, a woman, or a mother and all their families trust the government to make medical reproduction decisions for them if you're at the head of that government?

Thoughts to ponder. :)

The Republican cult of economic failure actually began with and may even predate David Stockton and Reaganomics even if David Fiderer only coined it during the Bush II years. :)

And that only counts the spectacular messes Dubya and Trumpy left behind.

The worst thing is still how fifty trillion dollars worth of wealth has been transferred from the middle class to the top one percent thanks to Reaganomic tax cuts for forty years.

This is also the way to a second Biden term.

So i guess we're stuck with Joe vs the volcano II

Heh. :)

Trump would make a statement, such as what he said about his own actions with the documents found at his Florida golf club: "I had every right to under the Presidential Records Act. You have the Presidential Records Act. I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified."

There are two falsehoods contained within that statement...

And also, the documents were found at Mar-a-Lago, which is not a golf club. :)

In either case, however, it is the unstoppable nature and overwhelming volume of ejecta that poses the conundrum: how should a reputable news organization handle this?

Put it out to pasture... as many times as necessary. :)

That's a rather poignant image, you've got to admit.

Yes, sir. Reminds me of "bullshit mountain" except with fits of eruption.

Of course, volcanoes are natural features and only spew lava and noxious gasses, whereas bovine excrement has to be distributed by machines known as "manure spreaders" (which are indeed poignantly and, one assumes, pungently impressive to behold in action).

I know, right? That's a stench that's definitely going to linger.

But don't take our word for it that Trump is a prolific spewer of excrement when even he refers to himself as a "very stable genius," and you don't have to be very much of a genius to know that a stable is full of horseshit.

@cw,
You have my full permission to refer to the upcoming presidential election as Joe vs the volcano 2, but i want credit! ;)

Heh.

And, certainly not with the kind of coverage he's been getting for the last seven plus years.

If that's what's called even an inkling of well-prepared, let alone well-intentioned moderation, then Trump should be a very happy camper.

I am at a complete loss to imagine what this act of futility would accomplish. Other than to embolden Trump and his base and turn off much of the rest of the electorate as being a total waste of time and energy.

What the moderator should have done is just let Trump be Trump, spewing as much idiocy as is humanly possible and letting the audience do ALL of the questioning.

Meanwhile the journos could actually delve into some substance and figure out just what the Republican cult of economic failure is all about, among other avenues of research, anyways. In other words, do their damn jobs!

But, that would have taken A LOT more preparation and study than any journo at CNN is willing and/or capable of putting into a night's work, obviously.

Well, for starters, it could ignore all of the nonsense and concentrate on the vacuousness of his, ah, policy prescriptions. Oh, yeah, and stop giving him a platform to erupt on.

Also, a reputable news organization with actual journos who are worth their own salt would focus less on him and more on the Republican cult of economic failure Of course, this would mean treating their viewing audiences and readership with the intelligence most deserve.

I think that would be a good start but I ain't holding my breath. The news media so loves their shiny objects exploding volcanoes. Ahem.