Getting Comfy for the Pre-Debate Landslide

In most cases I tend to write off when the Mainstream Media try to hype events. Any sort of "most watched event" or "must see showdown" I ignore as I have no desire to give them my viewership or money for something that inevitably falls short of their sensationalist headlining. That said, I am making an exception for the first presidential debate tonight. If only because for once I actually am feeling rather hyped up for an event. Here it is finally, Trump and Hillary in the same room actually speaking to each other. I can't believe it took so long for Hillary to steel herself.

Still, I am legitimately trying not to hype myself up too much. This is Trump's game to lose and I fully expect some surprises to come out of Hillary's corner. At the same time, I do expect the Nimble Navigator to deflect most of them and hone in on actual issues. Hillary's tendency for long-winded roundabout answers will play off rather terribly against Trump's simple snappy responses. Even if it is Trump's game to lose, I expect him to come out of the debate looking even better than before despite the inevitable whining and "fact-checking" the MSM will be doing for the rest of the week. Like others have pointed out by now, the question no longer seems to be if Trump will win; now we are asking by how much he will win.

Lester Holt will undoubtedly try to pry his way into the debate as a participant, especially with the Clinton campaign and a decent percentage of the voters asking him to fact-check Trump's lies. A rather bizarre thing for a moderator to do but not all that worrisome. If Holt is extra hard on one candidate and not the other, this will only help Trump as this will confirm our preconceived persuasions of media bias. Liberals may whine about party lines and point out that Lester Holt is registered as a Republican voter, but the man's a known softball reporter. All anyone needs to do is take a look at Lester Holt's "unbiased" reporting history to see who he favors.

Beyond Lester Holt's obvious biases, other persuasion tactics will certainly be at work tonight. Take a look at the great seal imagery used in this debate prep, the American Bald Eagle clutching his arrows and olive branch. Anyone who knows US imagery can immediately see that the arrows and olive branch have been flipped. Conspiracy theorists can have fun trying to figure out if this means we're signalling whether or not the US is preparing for war, but persuasion theorists should take note here too. Who do the arrows of war point to on the stage? Who does the olive branch hang over to signify the peaceful one? Very subtle persuasion at play here and certainly purposeful; the objects held in the talons are never switched accidentally. We can fully expect lots of the usual "dark and dangerous" talk that helped Hillary earlier this year. This weekend's higher than usual violence will almost certainly be used by both sides and I also expect Hillary will try to spin the madness unfolding in Syria to her favor as well.

All of that being said, I cannot wait for the proverbial fur to fly tonight. I'm going to be comfy tonight gents; who else is ready for the beatdown?