The great debate was held last night and it was, as expected, a hot mess. The ABC moderators were predictably prejudiced and desperately tried to help Kamala Harris . Trump, as expected, went off the rails on occasion. The moderators fact checked Trump, inaccurately, and ignored blatant lies by Kamala Harris.
We can be absolute certain that the MSM will praise Kamala Harris and trash Donald Trump. We can also be certain that at least some Republicans will criticize Trump’s performance. The most likely complaint will be “opportunity lost.” But ultimately the only opinion that matters is how people, who were undecided, reacted to this event.
The people who mattered, who watched this debate, will not react the same as the talking heads on the networks. Donald Trump is one of the most recognized names in the world. People know all about him. Nothing he said last night was a surprise to anyone. However, few people knew anything about Kamala Harris. This was her opportunity to show people that she is worthy of being President of the United States.
The most important thing for Donald Trump to do last night was show that he is not a threat to democracy. He did that in spades. In fact, he countered by pointing out who did and who did not weaponize the DOJ against political opponents. He was strong and focused in pushing back against the January 6th insurrection myth. He even made the point that it was the irresponsible rhetoric by Democrats that contributed to him being “shot in the head.” Point taken.
Donald Trump had several points to make and he focused on them all night long. It is obvious that country is not headed in the right direction. People are concerned about inflation and economy. In addition, there is increasing concern regarding the open border and runaway crime. On those issues, Trump was much stronger than Harris.
It is hard for any of us who strongly support one of the candidates or even despise one of the candidates to give an honest evaluation of results. But there is a significant difference between Trump and Harris. I know many people who support Donald Trump, but they don’t necessarily like him. What they do like is how the country did while he was in office. This meant that in order for Kamala Harris to win this debate she needed to do two things. One is she needed to introduce herself to the American people as a focused and effective leader. I don’t think she pulled that off. The other was that she needed to convince people that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy. She didn’t do that either.
I think the post-debate polls will pretend that Harris got a post-debate bounce, but it won’t be much, and it probably won’t last. Let’s be honest, if a Republican is running five points behind at this point, they are actually ahead. That has happened almost every time for decades. Republicans always over perform on election night. This means if Kamala Harris is not ahead, she is behind. Nothing about last night changed that.
It would have been wonderful in Trump had been more disciplined and used the numerous opportunities to stick it to Kamala Harris. He didn’t do that. But he wasn’t trying to win a debate, he was trying to win an election. I would not bet against him after this performance.
TDM