Last night was a travesty, but there is no comparison between what Trump and Biden did in the debate last night.

In moments like this, we’ll look to establish parity between the two men. We’ll be so disgusted with the process that rather than tax our pandemic-drained brains with the work of sorting one from the other, we’ll lump them both together, curse our two-party system, and toss it all in the bin.

Yes, Biden called Trump a fool, a clown, and told him to shut up. That’s not great if you prefer your politics polite enough to discuss while drinking tea and nibbling biscuits. But we’ve been out of tea and biscuits for a while now.

I can’t say I’m disciplined enough to act differently when faced with a similar barrage. I know I’m not.

Make no mistake, Trump wanted to push Biden to a place where the Vice-President’s actions might be compared with his own. If you know you’re not better than your opponent, try to make him look like he’s as bad as you.

But this obscures three very striking things that happened last night:

1.

Donald Trump – a man who was elected to represent the best of us – told the Proud Boys, who stand for violent white supremacy as the Klan once did, to “stand down and stand by.”

When asked to denounce white supremacy by the moderator, and specifically asked by Biden to denounce the Proud Boys, he basically told them to Netflix and chill until their help was required.

The President of the United States gave an order to a group of white supremacists to be ready when he needs them.

You might be unhappy with Biden’s debate performance but he didn’t attempt command and control of a group of terrorists.

Would you associate yourself with people like that? Trump did. If you vote for him, you’re associating with them, too. Maybe in 2016 you could convince yourself that he was someone else, but you can’t now.

2.

Donald Trump – a man who was elected to represent the best of us – asked his supporters to go down to the polls and watch over people voting. The very actions he decried in 2016.

Trump would like us to believe this is normal during elections: For supporters of a particular candidate to mosey over to election sites and hover over the proceedings. He wants you to think this is pollwatching.

It’s not. I know you know pollwatching involves training and careful attention, not using your physical body as an obstacle. In light of the above, it’s clear this was another attempt at voter intimidation and suppression. (I’m not even getting into all the lies he said about mail-in ballots. As Biden learned last night, you’ll wear yourself out by trying to refute everything Trump says as he says it.)

With everything else last night, this moment seems not to be given the attention it deserves.

Trump wants to steal the election through physical violence and suppression. He wants to sow doubt and suspicion of the whole process and foment disgust among the electorate. He wants you to believe the lie that there’s no difference between him and Biden. If the above wasn’t enough to convince you though:

3.

Donald Trump – a man who was elected to represent the best of us – tried to shame a father for his son’s drug addiction.

We should want a President who has compassion for the illness experienced by another person’s family. Or, at least, not to mention it. Trump can’t do that. It’s not in his nature. He’s so uncomfortable with sadness as an emotion that he can’t bear to understand or accept sorrow or weakness. He has to shame you for it.

Would you ever do that? Why would we want a President who does?

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If you don’t vote for Biden, you’re voting for, and affirming, the above. In a different world that doesn’t have the dominance of a two-party system that might not be the case.

We have to vote within the world as it exists if we’re ever going to get the world as we’d like it to be.

If you’d like our country to be different, your choice is clear.
If you abhor violence, your choice is clear.
If you care about free and fair elections, your choice is clear.
If when your friends and family are hurting, your instinct is to pull them close, rather than shame them for their weakness, your choice is clear.

Because there’s no comparison.