The first Democratic debates proved one thing: We still don’t have a candidate who can beat Donald Trump.

California Sen. Kamala Harris got all the attention for playing prosecutor in chief, but her case against former Vice President Joe Biden boiled down in some ways to a ringing call for forced school busing. It won’t be too hard for Trump to knock that one out of the park in 2020.

Biden did himself zero favors by telling Harris that he opposed only busing that was ordered by the federal government. It was a weird endorsement of states’ rights and local jurisdictions’ right to segregate schools. That’s the best argument he could marshal against busing little kids miles across town?

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders came across as Rip Van Bernie, looking and sounding as if it were still 2016.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., was asked why there weren’t more blacks on his city’s police force. His response was, “Because I couldn’t get it done.” OK, so do better as mayor before you try to be president.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was dominant against a Night One lineup of pygmies. She might have the chops, but we can’t tell yet because the first debate was so tame.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker got a lot of air time, and while his delivery sparkled, I’m not sure the content of his answers on gun control and the like made much of an impact.

Trump must have enjoyed every moment and every answer, because he now knows he’s looking at a bunch of potential rivals who are still not ready for prime time.

Historical note: The San Francisco school board’s vote to paint over the mural of our first president that has long adorned George Washington High School is a bit ironic.

The artist, Victor Arnautoff, was a Depression-era Communist who subversively portrayed “the father of our country” as a slave-owning Indian killer. But that completely sails over the head of a school district that now teaches those very facts in the classroom.

But I admit, I have a reason for opposing such revisionist history. It’s personal with me. I know that when I finally pass from this world, my namesakes — be it the Willie L. Brown Jr. Bridge or Willie L. Brown Jr. Middle School — will be the first to be rebranded.

Movie time: “Late Night.” Emma Thompson plays the lead in this true-to-life comedy-drama about a fading late-night television star, but it’s Mindy Kaling as the “minority hire” who brings the laughs. Definitely worth seeing.

“Anna.” Sasha Luss elevates her female assassin role to rival James Bond. Luss plays a killer who brings great looks, great athletic skills and a genius IQ to the game. Body count carnage is off the charts.

“The Last Black Man in San Francisco.” A hometown production that tells the story of a dysfunctional black family. Danny Glover is in three relatively short scenes, so he’s easy to miss unless you’re really paying attention. A flick worth seeing, but not if there’s any meaningful competition.

Land ho: The Supreme Court’s decision to keep its hands off gerrymandering fights sent me back in time to the deal that helped get me my first state Assembly seat.

It was back in the 1960s and no one was better at drawing politically advantageous lines than the late Phil Burton of San Francisco, who was on the legislative redistricting committee at the time.

It was before the age of computers, a time when half the population figures used in drawing up districts came from census data and the other half consisted of what you could convince lawmakers was true.

Back then, we even allowed sailors at sea to be counted if their ships berthed in the district.

For months Burton painstakingly led the committee through the mapping of districts up and down the state. Each sitting lawmaker was brought in for a one-on-one to go over the map and work things out.

In San Francisco, for example, Charlie Meyers wanted all the Catholic neighborhoods to be in his Assembly district. So Phil circled them all and connected them with narrow lines.

The night before the final vote, they do the count and discover they’re one seat short of the required 80. That’s when Phil pulls out a map of San Francisco and adds a few more sailors to the population.

And for years after that, I represented San Francisco and all the ships at sea.

Want to sound off? Email: wbrown@sfchronicle.com