By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
With “Rumble in the Jungle” in the headline, I had hoped to present the terrific When We Were Kings:
It’s 1974, Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the Heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another… in Kinshasa, Zaire: the “Rumble in the Jungle” between champion George Foreman and challenger Muhammad Ali. In historical footage and new interviews, this documentary explores the relationship between African-Americans and the African continent during the Black Power era in terms of both popular culture and international politics.
(Ali first deployed his famous “rope-a-dope” tactic in this match.) In any case, while it pains me to compare Ali to, well, another candidate, this puffery from When We Were Kings does seem familiar somehow:
[ALI:] It is befitting that I leave the game just like I came in, beating a big bad monster who knocks out everybody and no one can whup him. That’s when little Cassius Clay from Louisville, Kentucky, came up to stop Sonny Liston. The man who annihilated Floyd Patterson twice. HE WAS GONNA KILL ME! But he hit harder than George. His reach is longer than George’s. He’s a better boxer than George. And I’m better now than I was when you saw that 22-years old undeveloped kid running from Sonny Liston. I’m experienced now, professional. Jaws been broke, been knocked down a couple of times, I’m bad! Been chopping trees. I done something new for this fight. I done wrestled with an alligator. That’s right. I have wrestled with an alligator. I done tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail. That’s bad! Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick! I’m so mean I make medicine sick!Don King: Bad dude!
Muhammad Ali: Bad, fast! Fast! Fast! Last night I cut the light off in my bedroom, hit the switch and was in the bed before the room was dark.
In any case, for those who came in right at 8:30pm and want something to watch, here’s Ali vs Foreman–The Rumble In The Jungle, presented by ESPN Classic, and narrated by Dr. Ferdie Pacheco (Ali’s cornerman):
I don’t see any point in attempting to predict the course of the debate; as readers know, I’m a proponent of the idea that volatility is the central feature of this election, despite all efforts to keep things stable, and it follows that the debate will be volatile (then, of course, given the composition of the moderation panel, the debate could turn into a slugfest on which candidate supports Israel the mostest, which would, of course, be volatile in its own way). The conventional wisdom is that the dichotomy to watch is Biden’s cognitive function vs. Trump’s tendency to be an [glass bowl]. But presumably the staffs for both candidates have prepared them for this (and Trump actually seems to be listening to his); perhaps Biden will recite the first ten digits of π, and then challenge Trump to recite the next ten, “as any serious candidate would be able to do”; or Trump might, with touching sincerity, share his sympathy for Hunter Biden’s troubles — Dear Hunter! — with the father figure behind the other podium. Maybe Biden pivots to the greatness of Lina Khan! Maybe Trump asks Biden to draw a clock — and he does! “What’s your number gonna be in jail, Donald?” “54-46!” We just don’t know!
What I will be watching for — besides, I admit it, waiting for Biden to slip a cog or an “Oh, the humanity!” moment from Trump, plus both debaters duking it out, blow-by-blow, ZOMG the spectacle!! — will be how the candidates appeal, or have been managed or chivvied into appealing, to the small numbers of persuadable voters in the swing states (and from their appeals, perhaps to reverse engineer the future course of the race). For some reason, I’ve been watching Moneyball clips lately; this is an especially good one: “People who run ball clubs, they think in terms of buying players. Your goal shouldn’t be to buy players, your goal should be to buy wins. And in order to buy wins, you need to buy runs.” Those small numbers of persuadable voters are the runs.
In any case, here are the details once again (from Indian Express, amazingly, more coherent than CNN):
How long will the debate be?
Ninety minutes, starting at 9 p.m. Eastern time, with two commercial breaks. That is a normal length for a presidential debate, but the commercial breaks are noteworthy: General-election debates in past cycles, sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates rather than an individual news organization, did not have them.The candidates will not be allowed to talk to their aides during the commercial breaks, but they will have time to take a breather and collect themselves in a way they would not have in past years.
Will there be an in-person audience?
No. The candidates will debate in a CNN studio with no live audience.
How will the candidates be positioned?
They will stand at lecterns. Biden won a coin toss to choose his spot, and he will be on the right side of viewers’ TV screens.
Will there be opening and closing statements?
Opening statements, no; closing statements, yes.
The order of the closing statements was determined by a coin toss. Biden will make his first, and Trump will have the last word of the debate.
How long will the candidates have to answer questions?
CNN will allow two minutes for each answer and one minute for rebuttals. The moderators, CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, will be able to grant extra time at their discretion.
How will the moderators prevent interruptions?
The candidates’ microphones will be muted when it isn’t their turn to speak. That was another Biden request, intended to guard against Trump’s penchant for interrupting and speaking over debate opponents.
And here is CNN’s “How to Watch” page. I assume something will show up there at the appropriate time (and what a mess the CNN site is, to be sure; a maze of twisting corridors all alike). CNN will also show the match on YouTube.
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