DEMS/ELECTION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “He stood in the middle of the debate stage and raised his hand to indicate he would not pledge to support the Republican nominee for president — unless it was him. Confronted by his own history of referring to women as fat pigs, dogs and slobs, he countered that the big problem in the country was political correctness. And he launched into one rival, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, by noting that he never attacked his appearance but said, ‘Believe me, there’s plenty of subject matter there, that I can tell you.’ Four years after Donald J. Trump, a long-shot candidate up against many more experienced Republicans, blew up the expectations for how a candidate is expected to behave in a debate, he will loom over the 20 Democrats who take the stage in Miami this week. In the minds of many Democratic voters, the criteria for judging who they like over the next two nights will be as much about how they imagine a candidate will stand up to Mr. Trump’s unorthodox bullying in televised confrontations in the fall of 2020 as about position papers and experience.”
–Annie Karni, “What Will Democrats Look for in Debates? Someone They Can Imagine Onstage With Trump,” The New York Times online, June 25, 2019