This week’s debate was an opportunity to put a nail in the coffin of Kamala Harris’ campaign, but Donald Trump failed to make it happen.
My overall impression of this debate was that Harris did much better than expected, and Trump consistently took the bait, which kept him from focusing on the key issues that really mattered to Americans.
As a former high school and collegiate debater, the way to win is to advance your position, degrade your opponents’ arguments or points, and then bring it home in the closing.
Trump utterly failed to win this debate. Of course, he was not helped at all by the ABC News moderators who fact-checked Trump during the debate but never once fact-checked Harris in the debate. Unbelievable, but it just goes to prove the point that the Main Stream Media (MSM) will do whatever it takes to ensure that Harris wins the election.
I am disappointed to share my impression, but I believe it to be accurate. I also believe that while the debate will temporarily boost Harris in the polls, the polling in a few weeks will go back down to the tight race that this is.
So, what about my Ten Keys to the Debate? Here is the answers:
Will moderators cover all issues in rank of importance? – They did only on the top issue of the economy. Then the moderators went after Trump on tariffs (which Harris supports also), and then the #9 polling issue of abortion was moved up to the third topic of the night. Harris won on the issue because she used empathy, but Trump was right to say it is a state issue. His retort should have been, if you live in a state that supports your beliefs stay there, if not move to a state that does.
Will the moderators be fair? – No, they were not, but conservatives knew this going in and so did Trump. And the moderators always allowed Harris to rebut, but also always tried to limit Trum by trying to go to another question instead of allowing sufficient back-and-forth which would allow the candidates to further flesh out their position.
How will Harris perform in follow-up questioning? – Harris had her initial answers down pat, and in her follow-ups, she did well, though not always truthful. – Trump was not always truthful either. Harris successfully deflected some of Trump’s allegations and dodged them with what sounded like reasonable answers, though she was never pressed – by the moderators or Trump – to drill down into her answers.
Will Trump be disciplined? – No, clearly he was not. Harris was animated, showing emotion, but overused her hands throughout the debate instead of using them for an exclamation point. Trump succumbed every time to her taunts, and he did not follow his own performance against Biden. Trump seemed angry; he repeated many campaign lines twice which wasted his short debate time allotments where he should have been forcing Harris to defend the status quo of violent crime, fentanyl coming in to the US, and terrorist from around the world getting into our country.
Who makes the most mistakes? – Trump did by bringing up the specious argument about illegal aliens eating dogs, cats, animals in Springfield, OH. This is a weak argument and instead this will be the headlines in the MSM. Harris made no major mistake because she was never pressed hard on her multiple position changes – and Trump did not hit her until his closing comment, which was good, but too late.
Will Kamala being able to rationalize her position changes? – She never really had to (because the moderators let her off Scott free) and Trump did not list specific issues other than fracking, defund the police, etc. There are so many ways that Trump could have repeatedly hit her on her changing positions like having no positions on her website until just recently, and her “Opportunity Economy.” Trumps response should have been, of course you want to promote an Opportunity Economy because you did not provide any opportunities – like jobs, cost of food, gasoline prices, mortgage rates – while you were in charge.
Will one candidate get more air time? – I did not keep track, but my perception was that Trump got more time, but he did not use it effectively to attack his opponent or make his own case for the future.
Will Trump be able to link Harris to Biden? – He tried and to that extent he was successful, but he missed so many opportunities to drive it home that she represents the status quo. The only time he did was in his closing statement when he said why did not you do it during your 3 ½ years in office; that should have been a repeat line throughout the debate. He also scored heavily when he said she could go down to DC and close the border right now by executive order.
Lack of Harris website policy issues come up? – No, and this was a missed opportunity by Trump who should have continually hit Harris on her changing positions. BTW, if your values have not changed as Harris maintains, then what motivated your policy flip-flops? Sen. Bernie Sanders gave the answer when he told the Sunday morning shows that she was being pragmatic, and Trump should have hung that around her neck as the anchor to deflate her justification for running.
Did either candidate look Presidential? – Overall, Harris looked calm, cool, and prepared and as I already said Trump looked and sounded angry, unnecessarily defensive, and without the specificity that he could have brought to various issues, especially on economic issues which he knows in his sleep and which Harris might have not been up to the task if challenged.
BONUS QUESTION: While the election result question in the 2024 race was not specifically asked, it did come up and Trump was way too defensive, and the argument grew weaker when he started talking about the court challenges. Instead, he should have stuck to his previous answer – if the election is honest. A significant plurality of Americans do not have faith in our election integrity, and it shows in the polls and yet he never used that to justify why elections need to be upfront, timely (not weeks to learn who won), and the process is transparent. Big missed opportunity.
Trump never talked about the future, only about what he had done. President Reagan told Americans that our country was in decline, but he also offered the “the shining city on the hill.” He projected positivity about the future, but that future would only happen if he was our President. Trump did not make that case at all, except to also use Reagan’s phrase “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” which is appropriate but was used only sparingly.
One of Trump’s best arguments was when he was asked by Harris about all the admin folks who had terrible things to say about him, and he wonderfully responded that he had fired every one of them and yet the Biden-Harris administration has not fired anyone. His other compelling argument was about Afghanistan and Harris clearly fumbled and dodged her answer.
Trumps use of Hungary’s Prime Minister comment was foolish as Viktor Orban is a dictator and it fed right into Harris’ argument line that Trump loves dictators. When he argued that NATO was finally paying its fair share that was a strong point.
Trump’s line of argumentation that he will resolve the Ukraine-Russia war while he is still President-elect is just narcissistic and weak. What he should have done was use Biden’s own words about allowing Russia to have a “minor incursion” which was a subtle invite to do what you want, and Russia did just that.
The biggest chance to undermine Harris, in my humble opinion, was her repeated three-prong economic plan: $50,000 for small businesses, $25,000 to help on mortgages for first-time home buyers, and $6,000 tax credit for families with children. Trumps retort should have been, that this infusion of new money would (1) reignite inflation, (2) is being proposed because Biden-Harris inflation has killed Americans chance to live the American dream, and (3) where are the details?
How does government decide which small businesses get the loans? And the fed’s track record of allowing multi-billion-dollar fraud in TRAP and solar programs undercuts that issue. On home mortgages, do illegal aliens get the money too? Is it cash up front? Give us the details. All of this would have put questions into people’s minds about Harris’ economic plan, which is just a couple sentence framework with no details.
Trump allowed Harris to escape this debate “unburdened” with her shortcomings except on the economy and immigration, which are rightfully the top two issues that matter most. Consequently, I would not be surprised if Harris now wants to have another debate!
Authors
