There are a lot of definitions of insanity. Here are some examples that have been gnawing at me lately:
It is insanity to say that, because Donald Trump is demonstrably ignorant on a wide variety of important topics, all he needs to do to “succeed” in this debate is show that he is less ignorant than we think he is. It is insane to choose not to demand, as a condition of being elected, that he have a Presidential level of knowledge.
It is insane that Trump gets away with calling Hillary “crooked,” “dishonest,” and “untrustworthy,” when the objective facts demonstrate clearly that Trump lies much more often and more egregiously, and he is the only one who has been found to have actually engaged in illegal and fraudulent behavior, as well as currently being prosecuted for fraud.
It is insanity for pundits to say that because Trump has consistently been rude, hot-headed, and thin-skinned, insulting everyone from flat-chested women to heads of state of our allies, we will now view him as “Presidential” if he can just refrain from being openly insulting during a 90-minute debate.
It is insane to believe that because Trump’s handlers have made him start using a TelePrompter and thus appear somewhat less manifestly unfit for the office of President than he was a few months ago, that he should therefore be entrusted with the leadership of the most powerful nation in the world.
It is insanity to believe that even though Trump has shown himself both incapable of, and uninterested in, understanding the mechanics of how our national government functions and the specifics of how policy principles are implemented in actual provisions, he is intellectually competent for the job just because he can fling a few barbs at his opponent.
It would be insanity, after Trump has claimed for over a year that he knows more than the experts about every topic, for us to think a few days of debate prep shows he has developed the humility to spend the hours a President must spend learning and studying. The Presidency is a vastly more enormous job than anything Trump has ever even seen before, much less ever done. Nobody knows even a fraction of the knowledge needed to do the job. Obama spends hours every evening reading and studying. It is insanity to believe Donald Trump would do that.
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The Presidency is important. Knowing stuff matters.
Being able to get along with world leaders matters.
Understanding policy at a granular level matters.
Being aware of what one doesn't know, and being willing to do the grunt work it takes to learn it, matters.
Being able to carry oneself with dignity and grace, through 4 or 8 years of constant criticism – both fair and, more importantly, unfair – matters.
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The knowledge Trump displays in the debate needs to be compared with the knowledge Hillary displays and the knowledge needed to carry out the job, not with the absence of knowledge we expect from him because we believe he doesn't know anything.
The temperament Trump displays during the debate needs to be compared with the temperament we want in the Oval Office, not with the temperament he displayed during Republican debates.
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I don't want a President who was graded on a curve.
The United States of America, and the world, cannot afford a President who was graded on a curve.