Who won Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s first debate? Our panel reacts

That it's even a question is what's wrong with us politics these days.

I agree with you, except it was smart not to spend too much time talking about what he just said. He said it, and the soundbite is out there. If she attacks him in the moment, he can respond and try to walk it back. Her aim was to get him to say as many deranged things as possible so that he can be memed to death.

The biggest knock against her, and you'll see it in every article as a way to appear unbiased, was that she didn't share a lot of details on her plans. But that's by design. She doesn't want to describe exactly what restrictions on abortions she would support, because that would become the talking point for the right. She gave him nothing, so Trump had to make shit up about post-birth baby murder. It was a good strategy that worked.

So now we can talk about the bigotry of immigrants eating pets, the nonsense about baby murder, who pays for tariffs, and what constitutes the concept of a plan. Her biggest mistake was looking at him like he's crazy all night, and saying "this........ former president..." Because those are going to become the memes people remember about the night. She did very well overall, but the best thing she could have done was be entirely forgettable.

Unfortunately, I think if she's too aggressive or mean then it will turn off a lot of swing voters. It's smart to err on the side of caution.

But it could make a difference to that sliver of the electorate who has not paid attention until now,

This is exactly what has me irritated with her performance though. If these people weren't paying attention then they won't know what Trump was saying are all lies. He seemed more "knowledgeable" to someone who doesn't know hes lying. She just kept trying to hit talking points instead of refuting his bullshit, or even explaining it for the most part.

I mentioned in another thread that she could have used the opportunity he presented to show how dangerous the heritage foundation is. His comments on all his cases being dismissed are because of corrupt judges (Cannon) which get chosen during Republican administrations, but instead she jumped on more talking points and completely ignored it... I can't imagine what it must be like to be up there so I'm sure it hard to think on your feet in that position, but I just felt annoyed that I seemed to know more about the day to day political bullshit that has happened than her. I'm sure she knows it all, but she never showed that.

She did ok, but it definitely wasn't the slam dunk a lot of people are making it out to be. :/

In a system where a single person gets full executive authority, I want to see what they are like in difficult situations.

I can’t vote for policies. I have to vote for a meat bag. I want to see the meat bag perform.

Yeah, ideally it shouldn't, but IMO were in this state where we're kinda trying to play chess with a toddler that just wants juice and thinks the pieces are neat.

Taking a step back, I don't truly understand why the option is between someone who might be reasonable, and a convicted predator con artist who, at every turn, keeps demonstrating how they're more racist and incoherent than your great grandpa, but here we are.

Tldr: I agree with you, but this isn't that.

She could at least answer most of the questions in a reasonably direct way.

But it does make my eyes roll when it’s a yes or no question and people ramble. Just say yes or no and then ramble.

It definitely matters. There's a world of difference between right leaning and actual fascism.

Get the fuck out of here with that dumb shit.

does not matter who wins the election now because a right leaning party is going to win no matter what

I’m going to save this to make fun of later.

Aaaaand that's a block