‘They Want To See Blood’: Historians Lament a Car-Crash Debate

Rising rent, inflated house prices and sky-high interest rates have reached a moment of crisis. Record heat is knocking out train service in the northeast. Waves of migrants come from the south. Russia’s madman is threatening to use nukes against Ukraine. Israel continues its deadly assault on Gazan civilians with U.S. weaponry.

Surely, all these will be topics at this year’s first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Thursday. But no. The vast majority of Americans will not be watching to be informed on policy or even to help them decide who will earn their vote. They just want to see the other guy fall.

“We keep using the word debate but it’s not really a debate anymore,” said Luke Nichter, a presidential historian at Chapman University.

Read more at The Daily Beast.