28 June—The big news today is that the delightfully heady fragrance of Tatarian honeysuckle, which had been dissipating in the dry weather, was refreshed by the recent wet weather. Tatarian honeysuckle, taxonomically known as Lonicera tatarica, came over—probably from Siberia—way back in 1752 as an ornamental plant.

Naturalized Tatarian honeysuckle is older than the republic, yet it’s still considered an invasive species and a noxious weed. Sure, it’s aggressive and persistent and virtually uncontrollable and its orange berries can be toxic.

Noxious, aggressive, persistent, uncontrollable, orange, toxic? Whom does that remind us of? Okay, I called it wrong about the Supremes upstaging Donald Trump yesterday about presidential immunity. But I hit the bullseye with Trump himself last night, all the way down to his white shirt and red tie and just how he’d win the semi-reality freak show.

Did you notice, by the way, that Joe Biden was wearing a blue tie, although it wasn’t as intense as Trump’s red one? And did you notice, by the way, that Joe was saying “By the way” a lot?

So at CNN’s virtual bell Trump came out blustering, insulting, and lying (as usual) and continued his offensive offense throughout the show, knocking Biden too many times to count. But Biden was (barely) able to roll with the lies and insults and even delivered a few telling truths himself.

Not to put Biden down, but the show was predictably Trump’s.

Every time Trump opened his mouth negativity, insults, and lies gushed out. It didn’t matter what questions the milquetoast moderators asked, Trump domineeringly steered every answer to his own nefarious purpose and advantage. Viewers who were able to stay awake saw flames and smoke billowing up behind his lectern. But that’s precisely what his faithful followers absolutely love to see and hear from their malignant MAGA messiah.

The milquetoast moderators? What were they doing on the set? They appeared to be little more than stage dressing. Why didn’t they ask really pointed questions? Why didn’t they follow up—or even try to get him back on track—when Trump totally ignored their rather softball questions and blathered on about how great he was and how corrupt Joe was and what he’d do during his second term?

They didn’t think to ask him how he’d actually do anything? The presumably well-informed and skilled journalists didn’t bother even to note his lies or follow up on important questions.

The female milquetoast moderator, whoever she was, for a few seconds looked like she was going to press Trump all the way home for a firm answer on whether he’d abide by the election result win or lose. At the end, though, she just let him off the hook with his usual noncommittal answer.

Sure, for whatever reason, Joe Biden had a bad night. But Donald Trump, for clear and ever-present reasons, had a terrible presidency. And a second Trump presidency promises to be even worse . . .