I consider myself a bit of a political junkie. I enjoy the drama of it, the games candidates play, the heated speeches and debates. But the 2016 Presidential election has, for me, gone from an entertaining-yet-concerning spectacle to an embarrassing, flaming mess. As is the case every four years, November will present a defining moment for the future of the country—not a decision we should, or can, take lightly.
On Monday, for the first time in this election, we saw Clinton and Trump exchange fire not through a series of sassy Tweets but with actual spoken words and exaggerated hand gestures. But as big of a deal as it may have seemed to finally get a sense of these two in a room together, was there actually anything to be gleaned on Monday that we weren’t already aware of?
The purpose of these debates—to “get to know” our Presidential candidates and gain a better sense of where they stand on the issues that matter most to us—seems redundant at this point, considering the complete overabundance of coverage that has saturated our news feeds for the past several months.
I already know, for instance, that Clinton is not an incredibly personable candidate. I know that Trump is even less so. I know that one candidate offers logical plans to address important societal issues—not all of which I agree with, but none of which sound implausible. I know that the other candidate doesn’t seem to even have implausible ideas, let alone plausible ones. And I know that only one of these candidates can pull off a red pantsuit and a knowing smirk for the entirety of an hour-and-a-half long debate.
If nothing else, Monday’s debate and the debates to come will confirm what we’ve known for months: There’s an obvious choice to be made. So please, before it becomes a last-minute hassle of a thing to do, register to vote.