I watched last night’s debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. A clear winner and loser emerged. The American people, of course, were the biggest losers, assuming you were looking for real action and answers. But I must say a moderate Republican (Harris) successfully goaded a madcap Republican (Trump) into perhaps his worst performance as a debater. Kudos to Harris and her team for developing a strategy to unleash an angry and ranting Trump.
Harris smartly and confidently offers her hand to Trump at the start of the debate
First, let’s talk about Harris. She praised Dick and Liz Cheney. She praised “the late great” John McCain. She boasted of the lethality of the U.S. military. She stood by Israel and Ukraine and challenged Russia and China and Iran. On health care, she embraced private health insurers and abandoned any notion of a public option, let alone Medicare for All. She promised “access” to health care, not affordable health care for all. She promoted fracking. She leaned into her experience as a prosecutor. In sum, on most issues she sounded exactly like a moderate Republican. If this is what Democratic voters are looking for, so be it.
Let’s turn to Trump. He had a rough night. He ranted about immigrants. He said they’re eating people’s pets, their dogs and cats. And he decided to run against a caricature of Harris. He called her a Marxist. He said she hates Israel. He talked about Democrats who execute babies. I could go on.
Don’t get me wrong: Trump had his moments. He scored on inflation. He attacked Democrats for throwing Joe Biden under the bus. He dared to be antiwar with respect to the Russia-Ukraine War. He warned that Democrats were playing with World War III as that war continues to escalate.
Yet Trump overall came across as grumpy, angry, even unhinged. Trump sees an America in decline, led by hapless and corrupt leaders like Biden and Harris. He says other countries are laughing at us. He’s probably right about that, but it’s hard to sell that highly pessimistic assessment to broad swaths of America.
Harris, in contrast, spoke of an “opportunity economy,” promising tax breaks, new housing, and a fresh start from a new generation of leaders who will move past Trump’s divisiveness. Her message was generally upbeat and optimistic, and I’m guessing it will resonate with Americans who are tiring of Trump’s act.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m voting for Jill Stein, whose positions are closest to a progressive-minded Democrat. Yet, though I’m not a fan of Harris, I call them as I see them, and she clearly won this debate, which began well for her as she made it a point to approach Trump and shake his hand. That was a confident and very smart move on her part.
Trump had a few memorable lines. He asked who’s running the country as Biden spends his time at the beach. He said he took a bullet to the head in large part because of anti-Trump mania promoted by leading Democrats. But his rants often missed their mark, e.g. when he said Harris was going to confiscate guns, she replied she and Tim Walz were gun owners and had no such plans.
Trump supporters, I’m sure, still support their man. Harris supporters, I’m sure, are pleased with their woman. What matters in debates like this is wooing undecided voters, and here, I think, Harris did the better job.
So, a moderate Republican may yet win this November, and her name will be Kamala Harris. If Democrats think that is a win—a woman who salutes Dick Cheney and John McCain while embracing Israel tightly in its genocide against the Palestinians—then so be it.