If this was the only Kamala Harris-Donald Trump debate, the country was the ultimate loser. One candidate blustered and took the bait on every attack and diversion offered up. The other papered over her entire political record and faced no challenging questions in one of the most one-sided moderating jobs in presidential debate history.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The Debate: In The Moment
The Harris campaign wants voters to stay in the moment of ABC’s presidential debate because 67 million viewers saw Harris smile and stick to her rehearsed talking points, ABC stick it to Trump, and Trump get angry. In the moment, 63% of CNN’s viewers thought Harris won, and even Fox News’ Britt Hume was impressed: “She came out of this in pretty good shape. How long this will last is anybody’s guess, but this was pretty much her night.”
The Debate: Upon Reflection
The lesson of 8 years of Trump debates is that liberal zeitgeist is fleeting. The Democrat – upon reflection and correction – gets exposed, whether it’s Clinton’s “Trump-Russia” or Biden’s “Hunter laptop” lies. In fact, Harris and her media allies must over-state her performance, because she had “more riding on” the debate than Trump – because his support “moves between 46% and 48%” and her support “could drop to 43%” (source: former CNN analyst Chris Cilizza).
His view is corroborated by the New York Times: 91% of voters had their minds made up about Trump before the debate, including 68% that don’t think he is too conservative. The ENIGMA in this election is Harris – a third of voters don’t know her and half think she’s too liberal – because Democrats held a debate-free primary, she’s flip-flopped on her radical 2020 positions, and “not forthcoming” is increasingly the media’s take on her debate and interview performances.
On Wednesday, CNN’s Jake Tapper faulted Harris for “punting the first question” and “reverting to talking points about her policy proposals.” Harris was asked, “When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?” A yes-or-no question that Harris evaded: “I was raised as a middle-class kid and believe in the dreams of the American people. I have a plan to build what I call an Opportunity Economy.”
Same day, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon cut her “opportunity economy” down to size. Harris had boasted, “Goldman Sachs said Donald Trump’s plan would make the economy worse, mine would strengthen the economy.” The truth, according to Solomon, was that Goldman’s “report looked at both sides and tried to model their impact on GDP growth – what it showed is the difference between their policies is about two-tenths of 1%” (source: CNBC). Sadly, her boast caught Trump flat-footed, but give it time…
Because, on Friday, Harris could not explain her “opportunity economy” to WPVI (PA), nervously rattling out a platitude-filled word salad. Just like the debate, when she was asked how she’d handle the border crisis differently (“So I’m the only person on this stage who’s prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for trafficking guns, drugs and human beings”) and solve the Israel-Hamas war stalemate (“We need a ceasefire deal, we need the hostages out, and we will work around the clock on that”).
The Debate: Upon Correction
The 3-on-1 debacle has resulted in Mark Penn, a top Clinton adviser, calling for ABC to launch a formal investigation into its news division to determine if they were guilty of “rigging the outcome of this debate” (source: Just The News). Probably, because the LA Times now reports ABC’s co-moderators “studied hours of Trump’s rallies and interviews to prepare to counter the candidate’s egregious statements,” with Davis admitting it was a “response to CNN’s debate between Trump and Biden, whose poor performance led to his exit” (AKA don’t let Harris flop).
So, when Trump was depicting his opponents’ extreme positions on abortion, Linsey Davis blurted out a false claim: “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.” Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), in fact, signed an omnibus bill in 2023 that replaced “preserve the life and health of the born alive infant” with “care for the infant who is born alive.” Even worse, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Tina Liebling (D), said the bill prevents “aggressive care to keep that infant alive whether or not the parents want that” (source: National Catholic Register).
Trump was mostly right about Ohio’s problems with Haitian immigrants. This summer, Springfield’s city manager wrote US senators Scott and Brown to request federal aid after 20,000 Haitian immigrants overwhelmed his resources, and a police recording proves a Springfield commuter reported a group of Haitian migrants carrying four geese from a city park two weeks ago (source: New York Post). Elsewhere, video of Canton (OH) police responding to a non-Haitian vagrant eating a neighbor’s cat is streaming online.
Through Friday, Trump was helped by two other news reports: (1) on Thursday, the DOJ released data that crime rates remained elevated under Biden, corroborating Trump’s “crime is through the roof” claim, and (2) on Friday, CNN’s post-debate flash poll found viewers favored Trump 55% to 35% over Harris as the better president for the economy.
A better debate format would have subbed in Fox News moderators at the 45-minute mark to see how “poised and prepared” Harris really is when polls show super-low voter approval of how Biden-Harris has handled the economy (38.3%), immigration (33.4%), and Israel-Hamas (29.6%).
The Debate: The Net Effect
Legacy media don’t get Trump at all, so they don’t see how “bad form” is part of his ultimate outsider appeal, how the latest favorability polls from Siena (46%) and Harris (47%) have Trump and Harris tied, or how Independents could track with Republicans in Lee Carter’s real-time monitoring of a debate focus group (7 DEM, 5 IND, and 5 GOP) on Fox News. But they did – whenever the candidates spoke about abortion, the economy, fracking, and migrant crime.
After Biden, Clinton, Harris, and Trump (thrice), voters aren’t looking for FDR or Reagan. They’re looking for someone with workable policies, and a majority of voters think the US is “on the wrong track” (60%) and Harris “represents more of the same” (55%). In contrast, 89% of “wrong track” voters support Trump, and 61% of all voters think Trump is the “change candidate” (source: New York Times). How does Harris overcome that when numerous polls show independents unchanged after the debate?
No question, that debate was not a good look for Trump. Still, he was smart enough to speak last and deliver what he wants persuadable voters to remember:
She’s saying she’s going to do all these wonderful things. Why hasn’t she done it? They’ve had 3 1/2 years to fix the border, to create jobs, and all the things we talked about. But you haven’t done it. And you won’t do it. What these people have done to our country is allow millions of people to come into our country, many of them are criminals, and they’re destroying our country.
Let’s close in the Way Back Machine. Remember that Reagan flopped in the first 1984 debate, Bush righted the ship against Ferraro, and J.D Vance was chosen because he’s the most at ease explaining (and defending) Trump’s policies and positions. And that hillbilly didn’t get into Yale (and excel) because he was unprepared.