Who won Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s first debate? Our panel reacts
Who won Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s first debate? Our panel reacts
Harris may have been light on policy, but she was able to bait an ‘unhinged’ Trump into a number of traps
Harris may have been light on policy, but she was able to bait an ‘unhinged’ Trump into a number of traps
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Trump was flailing. Under pressure, he took no responsibility for his past actions and instead threw invective and invented facts as he went along.
I wish Harris would have doubled down on this. After he tried to shift the Jan 6 blame to Pelosi, she could have directly pointed out that Donald Trump's idea of leadership is to shift the blame for all failures to other people. And that's why he's so afraid of people holding him accountable at trial.
But generally, she did rather well IMO. These debates haven't been about policy for a while, but she still took the time to outline hers. They're about presenting who you are to the American People. But only nerds watched the thing live, the rest will only see 5-second sound bites. I think Harris did a good job presenting herself to the nerds as Presidential and capable of the job, while baiting Trump into saying more stupid stuff to feed the Social Media beast.
His base won't care, because it believes that cat-eating illegals are forcibly making all of our kids trans. But it could make a difference to that sliver of the electorate who has not paid attention until now, and can see how weird it all is.
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.
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 said she would codify Roe V Wade into law. We know that is because it was in place for five decades and it doesn't need to be explained during a debate.
Right, that was the talking point, and that was smart to stick to that. Because it sounds like an answer to the question, but it doesn't nail down specifics that can be used in attack ads from the right or the left.
Roe V Wade was a court decision that was interpreted and modified through a long history of court decisions. It's not one set of rights and restrictions.
Here's an excellent, in-depth summary of all of the relevant court cases that led to the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Org ruling:
To codify Roe V Wade into law would require a constitutional amendment protecting the right to abortion. Anything less will be challenged in court, and unless we can impeach some illegitimate Justices, the SCOTUS is going to continue to push their radical agenda against women.
Or we could hit a double whammy of strengthining your right to privacy such that any anti abortion or anti trans care law becomes impossible to impose.
A man can dream 😭
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.
If she were debating anyone else, maybe you would have a point. But you need to hit back hard when debating Donald Trump, because he will never stop hitting you.
Do you really think there are uninterested voters who would watch the clips of this debate and say "Harris was too mean, so I'm voting for Trump instead?"
Yes, 100%. It happened with Hillary. You remember the controversy of her deplorable comment, which was statistically factual?
Moderate Republicans might show up for Trump.
Left leaning centrists might stay home.
Swing voters who are friendly to Trump's economy might "both sides" their personalities.
Some centrists just give Trump a pass on his personality. But Democrats don't get the same leeway.Unfortunately these are the voters that can swing the election.
No, Hillary made the mistake there of insulting Trump voters directly with that comment. Harris went the opposite direction, and pointed out how many former Trump supporters support her now. She is actively courting people on the fence, not calling them names
I respect that viewpoint. That was the most famous example. But I know people generally thought she was mean, crass, or shrill because she would call Trump names (accurately) during debates.
Being aggressive is cathartic for us who pay attention. But swing voters are inherently easier to push away and are inherently not as "sold" on Trump being a national crisis and don't like being told what to think.
But I'm just an armchair analyst. So maybe I'm way off.
She (as in her campaign) even did that to progressives. Its was a very divisive election season. It was really hers to lose.
People hold emotionality against people differently based on gender, so yeah, I do.
The minute she starts to sound like "my bitch ex-wife" that's going to do something visceral.
It's not right or fair, but it is.
I’m pretty sure the demographic that talks about “my bitch ex-wife” is mostly in the tank for Trump already.
If you're so absent from reality that this far in you still haven't decided if Trump is a bad guy or not, I'm sure you're statistically more likely to have an ex wife.
And I agree that anyone who is comfortable saying "my bitch ex wife" on a public forum is already for Trump, but there are plenty of people with ex wives they don't want to be reminded of.
Again, I'm not going to sugar coat this: the world is unfair and sexist.
Yes. Mostly because it would "validate" extremely thinly veiled sexism.
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. :/