At least one of them will soon be history

“Jane you ignorant slut.”

- ROSIE DIMANNO

If only that kind of low comedy crosstalk — from the Point/Counterpoint skit on “Saturday Night Live” in its heyday — could be expected of a presidential debate. At least it would be entertaining.

Of course, given Donald Trump’s previous forays into the oratorical showdowns, when he careered to the very edge of crazy, the potential for a Demolition Derby Debate is always there. But the once-and-hewishes-future American president had reportedly been tutored in the restrained ways of civil discourse whilst preparing for Thursday evening’s viva voce encounter with President Joe Biden, hosted by CNN in Atlanta, with no live audience.

Far different from Trump’s last time around the debate circuit, coached by then-New Jersey governor Chris Christie. As Christie recounted in his book, “Republican Rescue,” Trump didn’t think he needed any prep. “What the f--- am I doing here?” Trump whined about the exercise. “I know how to do this. I’m already the president.”

Trump lost that round to Biden and then the election, too.

Neither man is a particularly good speaker. Their duelling camps could only hope that their guy wouldn’t commit an irreparable faux pas: Incoherence and lunacy from Trump, with his tendency to slur words and go off on rambling tangents; stumbling and mumbling from Biden, who’s been a careerlong gaffe machine, increasingly prone to mixing up names and drifting off into incomprehensible sentences.

In an excruciatingly close race between presumptive Republican nominee Trump and incumbent Democrat chief executive Biden, both were tasked with proving their cognitive senescence and corporeal stability. Each, after all, is a geriatric. Though much has been made of Biden’s advanced age, 81, Trump has just turned 78. The United States is apparently very much a country for old men in the White House.