“Good News or Great News?” Here Are Key Questions for Tonight’s Presidential Debate.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

In case the moderator for tonight’s debate needs a hand with questions, and from the replay of Chris Wallace’s 2016 run, he might, we here at Recharge have drafted key conversation starters. Wallace is welcome to these lines of inquiry, all under one rubric fitting for our moment: “Good news or great news?” Everything’s here, COVID, the Constitution, the good fortune visited upon Americans over the past year:

1. President Trump, since you’re the incumbent and a student of the Constitution, first one’s yours: Interfering with the Postal Service’s universal delivery mandate enshrined in Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the Constitution is a good or great thing?

2. Also President Trump, since you’re a supremely good leader and we have a Supreme Court to which you nominated a replacement in record time, and since you tweetedThank you to @foxandfriends for covering, supremely, the greatest political scandal in the history of the United States, OBAMAGATE,” is it good or great news that I, Chris Wallace, of self-same Fox, am returning our thanks with lobbed softballs?

3. Joe Biden, this one’s yours: Is it good or great news that…oop, we’re up against a break.

4. President Trump, you said, and I’m quoting, “I am the least racist person there is anywhere in the world.” You’ve also said, and I’m quoting, “I have a great relationship with the Blacks. I’ve always had a great relationship with the Blacks.” Yet polls show that some number of voters don’t agree that you’re “the least racist person there is anywhere in the world.” And data shows that the coronavirus has a disparate impact on Black Americans. Is it good or great news that all polls and all data and all public health experts are inherently mistaken when they’re not in your favor or fit to your narrative?

5. Joe Biden, this one’s yours: Is it good or…our apologies, another break. Everyone vote!

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate