Trump has convinced many Americans that stridency is a sign of strength while truth and humility signal weakness

I just turned 78, and frankly I’m scared about what might come down Thursday evening when the oldest candidates ever to compete in a presidential race debate each other.

I’m less worried that Joe Biden will suffer a mental lapse or physically stumble than I am that Biden will look weak and Donald Trump appear strong.

Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His newest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com