‘Depende sa debate’

By Alex P. Vidal

 

“Those who cannot understand how to put their thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of debate.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

 

SOME Filipino-Americans in New York have remained undecided whether to vote for reelectionist President Donald Trump of Republican Party or for Joseph Biden of Democratic Party.

Like many Americans, most of them continue to monitor the day-to-day campaigns from the different states and the strategies being marshaled by both parties with less than 40 days before the election day on November 3, 2020.

Nestor Urdaneta, 68, of Leyte said he voted for Hilary Clinton in 2016 but recent developments, particularly the riots that ensued after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis cops on May 25, may change his mind about supporting the Democrats unless Biden can convince him in the debates.

“But I’m still a Democrat by heart,” said Urdaneta, who lives in Astoria, Queens.

Urdaneta, a retired health worker, said he will wait for the Presidential Debate first on September 29 before making his final decision.

“Depende sa debate. Malalaman natin kung sino talaga ang magaling na candidato (It depends on the debate. We will know who is the better candidate),” he stressed.

 

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Remegio Saranas, 61, employee of Staten Island Ferry, chided Urdaneta: “Mag Trump ka na. The Democrats are destroying America. Look at the Black Lives Matter. Look at the radical Democrats. They are the ones leading the riots and they want to defund the police. They hate President Trump because he is doing the right thing for America.”

Saranas, a former seaman from Pangasinan, said five years before he became an American citizen, “I studied the political history of America. I want my children to become rich and this can only be achieved if we are governed by the Republicans. How can we become rich under the Democrats when all they want to do is give free food, free housing, free financial assistance, free lahat p_tang ina.”

Urdaneta replied: “I will have to consult my family again. We haven’t talked yet because of the pandemic. I was supposed to go home to Leyte in August but my flight had been cancelled. As I said, depende sa debate.”

Sixty-eight-year-old Herminia of Marbel, Cotabato, who divorced her Hollywood-based American husband six years ago to live with a 36-year-old Latino, earlier convinced Urdaneta to vote for Mr. Trump.

But Urdaneta gave the same excuse: “Depende sa debate.”

Urdaneta didn’t hide his displeasure at Mr. Trump’s “habitual lying” and his “being insensitive” to the deaths of more than 200,000 victims of COVID-19 in the United States.

“The President doesn’t even mention in his speeches that he is sympathizing with the victims and their families. He even downplays the statistics and refuses to believe in science and the mandatory wearing of a mask,” Urdaneta said.

 

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All the debates will start at 9 o’clock in the evening (Eastern Time) and will run for 90 minutes without any commercial breaks.

The first and third debates will be six 15-minute segments, according to the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).

Each topic of the segment is selected and announced by the moderators at least one week before the debate.

The format for the second presidential debate will be reportedly more of a town hall meeting, and questions will come from the citizens of the location. The schedule of the three debates are as follows: Sept. 29 at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio); Oct. 15 at Adrienne Arsht Center (Miami, Florida); and Oct. 22 at Belmont University (Nashville, Tennessee).

The New York Times said Trump was reportedly “discussing with his advisers the possibility of sitting out the general election debates in 2020 because of his misgivings about the commission that oversees them,” but the President later cleared up that claim on Twitter.

“I look very much forward to debating whoever the lucky person is who stumbles across the finish line in the little-watched Do Nothing Democrat Debates,” President Trump wrote.

 

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The president’s campaign also reached out to the CPD in August, asking the CPD to include a fourth debate in the early part of September.

Mr. Trump also suggested moving the final October debate to the first week in September as another option.

This would be so mail in-voters would be able to watch a couple of debates before voting.

The CPD rejected the request early August and wrote a letter to Trump’s campaign saying, “While more people will likely vote by mail in 2020, the debate schedule has been and will be highly publicized. Any voter who wishes to watch one or more debates before voting will be well aware of that opportunity.”

The first and only debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris is set for October 7 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City in Kingsbury Hall on President’s Circle.

 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two dailies in Iloilo)