Prof. Leo Panitch, Jacobin writer Meagan Day, and Historian Gerald Horne join Paul Jay to analyze the Presidential debate and the underlying reasons why the U.S. political system is in disarray. They discuss how the people's movement will respond to a possible Trump coup if he loses the election. Tr Prof. Leo Panitch, Jacobin writer Meagan Day, and Historian Gerald Horne join Paul Jay to analyze the Presidential debate and the underlying reasons why the U.S. political system is in disarray. They discuss how the people's movement will respond to a possible Trump coup if he loses the election. Transcript Paul JayHi, I'm Paul Jay. Welcome to theAnalysis.news podcast. Michael BufferLet's get ready to rumbleeeeee! Paul JayThat was how ring announcer Michael Buffer would start WWF wrestling matches. He should have beenon hand to start things off for Chris Wallace at the presidential debate. Donald Trump actually playedhimself as a character in WWF, fighting Vince McMahon, the owner of the massive pro-wrestlingempire. McMahon's wife now sits in Trump's cabinet after the couple donated millions of dollars toTrump's campaign.In 1954, writing about professional wrestling in Paris, philosopher Roland Barthes wrote that prowrestling is light without shadow, emotion without reserve, and the master of that storytelling wasVince McMahon. He understood that millions of people want to scream in anger, cheer bad guys, andthe more flawed the character, the more people cheered. He understood the era of the good guy wasover, and invented characters that were the embodiment of every value people had been taught not tohold. It was a wonderful release for people to express hatred without reserve.Trump, in front of 85,000 people, got to beat up McMahon and shave his hair off, because that's what itwas, a winner gets to shave the other guy's hair off. He stood at the center of the ring, soaking in thewild cheers of the adoring crowd, and that's where he learned his politics.His unmitigated rage was on full display in the presidential debate on Tuesday night.He really thought he could win the debate with the kind of trash talk that works in front of a wrestlingcrowd. And perhaps it would have worked if he was just up against Biden. But at crucial moments, intothe ring would run Chris Wallace, the Fox News journalist, who would take Trump on in a way Bidennever could. Wallace blunted Trump's attack, and even asked a couple of real questions that Trumpcouldn't handle, especially when asked to denounce white supremacy. Only the manic megalomania ofTrump could make the poverty of policy of Joe Biden look good.And what does this "shit show," to quote a CNN pundit who actually said that on-air, say about the stateof the American state? Why is the political system in such disarray? And what about the real issues thatwere supposed to be debated and were mostly ignored? Now, joining us to try to make sense out of allof this is Meagan Day. She's a staff writer at Jacobin and co-author of the book "Bigger Than Bernie:How we Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism."Gerald Horne holds the John Jay and Rebecca Moore chair of history and African-American Studies atthe University of Houston, and is the author of many books, including "The Counter-Revolution of 1776,"and Leo Panitch is the emeritus distinguished research professor of political science at York University inToronto, and co-author of "The Socialist Register." Thanks so much for joining me, all of you. Leo PanitchGlad to be here Paul. Gerald HorneThank you. Meagan DayHi. Thanks for having us. Paul JaySo, Gerald, kick us off. What was your overall impression of what you heard and saw?
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