• Notes on the Interregnum
• Lorrie Moore (bio)

I have often believed (along with others) that the last president we had who really wanted the office was Bill Clinton. George W. Bush seemed not that interested but pushed into it, owing to his name. And in 2007 Barack Obama seemed to be testing the waters for a 2016 run in order to let his daughters first grow up in Chicago, not in the White House. But once exploratory committees and listening tours get established, candidates are urged into the horse race, becoming a little like the horse: one can see at a racetrack that the horses themselves want to win. It's not merely the jockey's riding crop providing the motivation. The horses find within themselves some desire for the race and become as competitive as their riders. Though I also once read somewhere that a horse is no smarter than a turtle.

Trump's presidential run, as we know, was a piece of performance art to bolster his brand. A joke and showpiece of disruption, which [End Page 328] his base was somewhat in on but not always. "What have you got to lose?" Trump shouted to crowds in 2016, and I became alarmed because perhaps what did they? They apparently thought not much, or at least were willing to find out. Trump did not actually want to be the president. He had little interest in government—too complicated!—but did have an interest in malignant entertainment. And we have watched him over the last five years trying to get applause; this was first arranged in his 2015 descent down the Trump Tower escalator with actual paid actors making up the "crowd." (To what extent this paid-crowd business has continued, who knows.) One of the things that has truly backfired on him, however, is his attempt to get laughs. Jokes should be funny. And comedy takes practice and discipline he doesn't have. He seems often to be working against his actual skills; whatever they are, joke-telling is not one of them. Though sometimes his crowds (paid?) howl, roar, bray regardless.

Trump does not laugh himself—has anyone ever seen him laugh? perhaps a fleeting chagrined chuckle—but he appears to enjoy laughter that he has generated in others, if not at his own expense. Yet that has been minimal. His unscripted speeches are feats of meandering free association, like a plane in fog looking for a place to land: where is the punchline? He circles without a landing strip in view and then just plops down in a puddle. Stand-up is too complicated! But he appears not to want to work with writers. I will admit that years ago, when for the first time he called Elizabeth Warren "Pocahontas," I laughed out loud. It is easier to laugh at people you admire (Warren) than people you don't. Plus, it was funny. But funny once: repetition is not the key to wit, though it can succeed with a sight gag. Perhaps he got the Pocahontas line [End Page 329] from someone else; he clearly doesn't read (except headlines), but he repeats versions of what others tell him in the various rooms he sits in. "Lady Gaga. I could tell you some things about Lady Gaga …" I guess his supporters feel pulled up to the table. Strangely, in the final debate when Biden referred to Trump as "Abraham Lincoln here," Trump didn't seem to get the joke—he protested in an ostensibly puzzled manner, seemingly forgetting he'd compared himself to Lincoln—though it was a version of his own Pocahontas line.

Someone sends me a fake personal injury ad about the first Biden-Trump debate with Chris Wallace, the one that left viewers as well as newscasters pale and speechless. "If you or a loved one watched last night's presidential debate, you may be entitled to compensation. We are here to help." I think we are all burying the memory of this debate like toxic material in unmarked ground.

In the second and final presidential debate, Trump perhaps had been given a horse tranquilizer. Or a turtle one. He did not perspire...

• 关于间隔的注释
• 洛里·摩尔（生物）

我经常（与其他人一起）相信，我们真正想要办公室的最后一位总统是比尔·克林顿。乔治·W·布什（George W. Bush）似乎不那么感兴趣，但由于他的名字而被推入其中。而且在2007年，巴拉克·奥巴马（Barack Obama）似乎正在测试2016年的水域运动，以便让他的女儿们首先在芝加哥而不是白宫长大。但是一旦建立了探索委员会和聆听团，便会敦促候选人参加赛马，变得有点像马：人们可以在赛道上看到马自己想赢。不仅仅是骑师的动机提供了动力。马匹在自身中发现了对比赛的渴望，并且变得与骑手一样具有竞争力。尽管我曾经在某个地方读到，马比乌龟还聪明。

众所周知，特朗普的总统竞选是提高他品牌形象的一项表演艺术。一个破坏性的笑话和表演，[End Page 328]他的阵营有些扎根，但并非总是如此。“你有什么损失呢？” 特朗普在2016年向人群大喊，我感到震惊是因为他们可能是什么？他们显然没有太多考虑，或者至少愿意找出答案。特朗普实际上并不想当总统。他对政府没什么兴趣，太复杂了！但是对恶性娱乐却很感兴趣。在过去的五年中，我们一直在看着他努力争取掌声。这是他2015年在特朗普大厦自动扶梯下降时首次安排的，实际付费演员组成了“人群”。（这知道有偿人群的业务持续了多久，谁知道。）然而，真正使他事与愿违的事情之一就是他的开怀大笑。笑话应该很有趣。喜剧需要他没有的实践和纪律。他似乎经常在与自己的实际技能相抵触。不管它们是什么，讲笑话都不是其中之一。尽管有时他的人群（有偿吗？）无论如何都l叫，吼叫，bra。

特朗普不笑自己-有人见过他笑吗？也许是一阵转瞬即逝的gri笑，但他似乎很享受他在别人身上引起的笑声，即使不是自费的话。但这还很少。他的无言演讲是蜿蜒曲折的自由联想的壮举，就像雾中的飞机在寻找着陆的地方：座右铭在哪里？他盘旋而未看到着陆带，然后在水坑中摸索下来。站起来太复杂了！但是他似乎不想与作家合作。我要承认，几年前，当他第一次将伊丽莎白·沃伦（Elizabeth Warren）称为“风中奇缘”时，我大声笑了起来。嘲笑您欣赏的人（沃伦）要比不喜欢的人容易。另外，这很有趣。但是有一次很有趣：重复并不是智慧的关键，尽管重复视线可以成功。[End页329]来自其他人；他显然不读（头条新闻除外），但他在他所坐的各个房间里重复了别人告诉他的话。“加加夫人。我可以告诉你一些有关加加夫人的事情……”我想他的支持者感到被拉扯了。到桌子上。奇怪的是，在最后一次辩论中，当拜登将特朗普称为“亚伯拉罕·林肯在这里”时，特朗普似乎并没有开玩笑-他以表面上困惑的方式进行了抗议，似乎忘记了自己将自己与林肯进行了比较-尽管那是一个他自己的Pocahontas系列的版本。

有人给我发送了假的人身伤害广告，内容涉及克里斯·华莱士与拜登-特朗普的第一次辩论，这场辩论使观众和新闻播音员都显得苍白无语。“如果您或亲人观看了昨晚的总统辩论，您可能有权获得赔偿。我们在这里为您提供帮助。” 我认为我们所有人都像无毒物质一样埋葬了这场辩论的记忆，就像有毒物质一样。

在第二次也是最后一次的总统辩论中，特朗普可能被给予了镇静剂。还是一只乌龟。他没有出汗...