“The United States now confronts graver threats to its security than it has in decades, perhaps ever.”

— Robert M. Gates, former U.S. Secretary of Defense (Foreign Affairs, December 2023)

On its home page before Thursday’s presidential debate, CNN hyped the event it would produce and broadcast from its Atlanta studios.

“Why tonight’s debate might be the most fateful in U.S. history,” screamed the CNN headline.

The network’s forgettable story argued the debate would be “historic” because Donald Trump represents such a threat to democracy.

The story was wrong

The event would be historic because it marked the low point so far in American decline.

What took place Thursday night was not a debate.

For anyone who remembers what this country once was, Thursday’s event was equal parts farce and farewell.

Americans are saying goodbye to a nation that once bestrode the planet like a colossus — a colossus largely for good — that defended freedom on multiple continents with blood and treasure and ideals. Especially ideals.

We are not that country anymore.

What was once a nation of serious people and serious thought had by June 27, 2024, descended into this exchange between the two men who would be our next president:

TRUMP: I just won two club championships, not even senior, to regular club championships. To do that, you have to be........

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