Who Wants to be the Next President?
Forget the debates this year, what America really wants is a live game show
It is perhaps not surprising than when you have two men competing for who will get the title as the oldest man to be elected president, ever, that physical and mental prowess come into the discussion.
At this point, I think there are very few people left in the United States that are truly undecided about the candidates based purely on their stances on political issues. If you are a hard core Republican or Democrat, there is no swaying you based on anything that will possibly be discussed in these debates.
What people will be watching for is how tired they look, do they slur words or repeat words, and other signs that they are just too old for the position. The candidates know it too, and take time to point out their physical successes, like drinking a cup of water with one hand.
So let’s just stop the pretense all together.
Cancel the debates, and set up some live game shows for America.
We all know that sports have been gone for a while, and what we are craving is some exciting competitions, and a chance to see the presidential nominees face off head to head could be really fun.
Trump would likely agree to it for the sake of the ratings and the airtime, and Biden might even agree to it to prove to Trump’s followers that he can beat the person they cheered for when he drank from a cup with one hand. Plus, they love to mock Biden and call him “Sleepy Joe,” and mock him mercilessly for his public mistakes, so a chance for him to out perform Trump might just be welcomed.
Round 1- Strength and Endurance obstacles.
For the first round, for this fictional game show format, there should be a running course set up. To make sure no one tries to trip the other person, it should be time trials. Start with a sprint, and then maybe add a ramp to the course for some added flair of their abilities to successfully go up and down the ramp.
Next, there should be some kind of endurance test, where they prove that they can continue to lift 5lb weights the longest or hold the longest plank. Or, even better, have it be a cup holding competition! Fill a cup with water, and see who can hold it out the longest before they have to put it down or spill. Based on the crowd reaction at the Trump rally, it will be a great spectacle to watch.
Round 2- The trivia segment.
Round 2, let’s set aside all of the physical games, and let these two senior candidates sit as they compete to answer questions, ala Jeopardy style.
You could have a category for history, a category for literature, one on current world affairs and one on current political leaders, to name a few. The harder the questions the more points they get, but only if they buzz in first, so you get to see their reflexes too.
This is the part that really covers what most people will be watching in the debates, and will allow each candidate to demonstrate his ability to answer questions without faltering, repeating or tripping over their words. They both have a reason to want to demonstrate that they do not have dementia, and what better way to prove their cognitive abilities than to square off against each other in a Jeopardy match, presidential nominee edition?
Round 3- The health floor routines.
Much has been speculated about their health and possible mental conditions, so, imagine that each in each city that these competitions are held in has a town submission for their favorite doctors, hopefully that specialize in senior health, and the top three winners for the area come on the show.
Each candidate can go through a health assessment, off camera from each other, and show us Americans just how good they can both perform on a cognitive test, heart rate check, oxygen levels, BMI and whatever else those doctors decide to check.
Then, like gymnastics, they can each aim for a 10/10 perfect health score. It would be amazing, and surely very positive for any candidate who was in “very good health” as at least one of them claims, very loudly, to be.
If it is a big enough thing to be bragged about, repeatedly, as it so clearly seems to be, then it should be something that can be judged and part of the information that voters should be able to know comes from an unbiased source, or at least from a doctor that is clearly not being paid to give a good report.
The winner of the competition is whoever gets the most points from all three rounds.
The winner gets bragging rights, and his fans- I mean supporters- get to celebrate that their candidate won, or complain about how it was unfair, since obviously you can’t lose fairly on one side, or at least concede that you lost fairly. Only in sports, not in elections, of course.
If the loser struggles enough, in every town, people will clearly see who the stronger, smarter, healthier candidate is, and will choose them, since that is the only thing that matters, not their ability to run a country, their policies, or their goals for the next four years, right?
— — — — —
If you haven’t caught it yet, the above scenario is satire.
While, honestly, I think it would be very amusing and eye opening to see this game show instead of the debates, which are likely to have one person in particular interrupting the other and being very rude, I don’t actually believe that they are what this election (or any election) should be based on.
Sadly, too much of what I see on Twitter, especially coming from the Trump camp, is asserting their own politician's strength, genius and health against Biden’s mistakes and the times that he shows his age.
It cannot be denied that both candidates are old. Either way, the person named as the next president of the United States will be the oldest ever elected.
It is also true that both of them have shown their age over the last year. Because at 77 and 74, neither can really claim to be the “young” candidate.
At least on the Democrat side, we had other, younger candidates, but they didn’t capture the voters in the primaries, so Biden is representing for the left. Trump, as a president running for a second term had a few others try (also younger), but none of them really stood a chance against the incumbent.
My point with my game show is that let’s just admit that 1- the candidates still remaining in this election are old, and bickering over their ability to run, walk down ramps, hold cups or talk really shouldn’t be the focus- for either side. Then, we can talk about how 2- if you aren’t already a Republican, most of us don’t really trust most of what Trump brags about with his health, so unless he wants to go on a game show like this, it would be great if he stopped talking about a doctor’s results that are only marginally believed.
Here’s a concept- watch the debates for each candidate’s plans for how they actually plan to fix the mess our country is in.
Voting is a job interview, not the results of a reality game show. It shouldn’t be a popularity contest, or who can say more things that resonate with your “side.” As tempting as it may be, it also isn’t about how healthy they are, or how long they are likely to live if elected.
Our nation’s handling of the 2020 pandemic is out of control, and consequently our economy is in shambles, at the same time that there are outcries for civil justice. More than ever, our nation’s ability to choose the best leader is crucial to our country shaking off the mud and injustices of 2020.
You know what would be great?
Picking a person that has a plan for how to fix all of that. If you Google “Biden’s plans,” you can find answers. Then search for “Trump’s plans”- I didn’t come up with anything current besides his plan to reopen America. Nothing about how to fix the problems we are facing as a nation.
Picking a person who has demonstrated that they will actually do something constructive to help when problems arise. Like how Biden talked to the leaders of the Black Lives Matter protests instead of getting a photo in front of a church and tweeting about “Law and Order.”
Picking a person who can answer clearly a simple question about what their goals are for the next term!
Want to know the saddest thing about all this?
The brutal honest truth is that in this day and age is that more people would tune in to watch the fictional game show than are likely to watch the real debates.
Then, of those who watch the debates, most will be treating it like the game show described above- watching and judging based on who looks more tired, who stutters more, and who looks younger in behavior. Every mistake will be repeated and amplified by the opposite party on Twitter as the proof for why they shouldn’t be elected.
How many people will tune into the debates for the ideas, to truly allow the answers on policy sway who they will vote for over voting for their party no matter what?
Politics in 2020 is a farce of what elections are supposed to be.
I genuinely wonder sometimes if there is anyone out there still deciding in the next several months who to vote for. Anyone who is not already a loyal Trumper, MAGA supporter, “he can do no wrong” voter or a vote Blue “no matter who”, never Trumper, whoever is on the left voter.
In a normal world, where policies matter over parties, there would be many who were interested in what the leading candidates had to say, and thoughtfully consider who would be the better leader this time.
In an ideal world, even the states would change frequently, where the majority of the election wasn’t predictable months before anyone voted because of the “red states/blue states” reality in our current times. Why does the decision of who leads the country come down to just “swing states?”
In a perfect world, there would be more than two legitimate parties, where the population didn’t have to sort itself into just two categories, but voters were spread more over more groups, and there was more room for people to be elected if their vision for the country didn’t fall into one of two specific boxes.
Bottom line- it is time we choose policies and leadership over everything else. Despite their ages, their ability to hold a cup or walk on a ramp shouldn’t decide who gets the job. Their character, ability to lead and listen to experts, and plans for our nations’ future should.
