It started with no handshake between two candidates who don’t like each other. When the inevitable question came about the candidates' advanced age and why they didn’t think it was an issue, Biden talked about computer chips. In contrast, Trump responded by talking about golf and the fact that he aced a mini-mental cognitive exam – a 30-question test to help doctors diagnose cognitive decline – a simple test to pass unless you are in cognitive decline. In a bizarre exhibit of old man macho, they started arguing about golf handicaps and whether each could carry his golf bag. No candidate convinced me his age wasn’t a factor in this race. Unfortunately for Biden, his poor performance in the debate convinced many that his age is a monumentally negative factor in the race.

Welcome to election 2024, where the presidential candidates leave many voters wanting different candidates.

Trump quickly demonstrated that he was sharper and a better communicator than Biden. However, what Trump said was another matter, with outright lies and claims without any basis making up the bulk of his material. Catastrophically, Biden garbled up key words, confusing trillions with billions and claiming to have created only 15,000 jobs.

Partisan voters did not have their minds changed. “Never Trump” Democrats and Republicans will hold their noses and vote for Biden. MAGA world would vote for Trump even if he shot someone in cold blood on 5th Avenue.

Swing voters have an impossible choice to make. Vote for the guy who fiddled while the US Capitol was attacked by his supporters and lies with regularity? Trump pivoted away from answering the question about his role in the Jan. 6th riots. Or vote for a guy who has clearly lost his fastball and probably also his changeup? Biden’s debate skills were weak last night. He had many chances to pulverize Trump and squandered most of them.

Neither candidate has shown me they can quarterback a crisis in the situation room, putting their head around a complex geo-political crisis and having the clear thoughts needed to bring it to a safe conclusion.

Had both campaigns asked me, I would have advised both candidates not to debate. Their deficits are too great. Trump’s gamble paid off because Biden absolutely failed to hurt Trump when he left himself exposed. This doesn’t mean that Trump has no deficits—he has many, and they are disqualifying to a vast number of voters.

Both candidates wasted valuable time revisiting past accomplishments, spending little time on forward-looking policies and achievable goals.

I am a swing voter. I don’t want to vote for either of them. The vice-presidential candidates are hugely important in this race because there is not a small chance that both candidates will no longer be with us by the end of the next term. While I know the chances of this happening are zero, our democracy would be best served if each party nominated someone else for president in the next few weeks.

The founding fathers are most definitely rolling in their graves. Our political system is in a crisis primarily of its own making. George Washington had it right when he warned us of the dangers of partisan political parties.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Ken Block ran for governor as the founder of the Moderate Party in 2010 and as a Republican in 2014. He is the president of Simpatico Software Systems, a company that tracks waste and fraud. Block, is the author of the ‘Disproven,’ a book that investigates claims of voter fraud by former President Donald Trump.