Trump and Harris on the ABC moderated Presidential Debate. Note the ex-Resident''s subdued hair and make up and Harris's confident smile.
Note--This is one of the posts that ran away with me and took two days to finish. Sorry for the inconvenience.
So, about Tuesday
night’s big event, the one everyone is still talking about. As a part time petty pundit on this blog
I guess I should add my two-cents.
I doubt if commentary I make will be new or surprising to anyone
who has been paying attention. No doubt
our astute readers are among those avidly engaged. Here are some random observations.
While Vice
President Kamala Harris spent five days in private and intense preparation
to face the former White House resident.
He, meanwhile, couldn’t be bothered to be coached or practice again
stand-ins for the Veep.
The best they could do was get him to sit down for a couple of hours and
listen to aids at the other end of the table casually bantered
about issues and policy hoping that something would magically
stick. Donal Trump was, as usual,
supremely confident that he could go out and show ‘em his old buck and wing,
that his adoring legions would lap up every lie and rant,
and that the magnetism of his personality would shock and awe not
only his opponent but the media and cultural elites who
have mocked and scorned him.
About
the only real impact his staff and advisors could have was on the
literal cosmetics of the presentation. Aware that without Joe Biden their candidate
was the undeniable old man of the race, they had to try for a more youthful
and vigorous look. Fat
chance of that. The best that they
could do was fire the retired Earl Scheib spray painter who used
to apply his orange finish and replace him with a talented mortuary cosmetologist
who applied a lighter base touched-up lips for an almost alive
look. Instead of his old golden
retriever comb-over/pompadour now salted by a touch of gray as
seen in recent campaign appearances he took to the platform with
a subdued champaign color do.
There has been some debate about how much of that color was due to his hair
stylists and how much was a product of studio lighting.
But
such tinkering was wasted on this sow’s ear. He entered the stage with a dissolute wave
at a non-existent crowd and quickly took up position behind his podium
with a scowl firmly affixed to his face.
The opening handshake was a test of dominance. Harris's confident stride up to Trump behind his podium and cheery introduction caught Trump off his guard.
Harris
strode onto the stage with a confident smile, mane of hair
shining like a shampoo ad, a slim black suite, and killer
shoes. She by-passed her lectern and
crossed the space between them to offer her hand to Trump. At first, I thought he was pulling a power
move to force Harris to come to him.
But later I learned that the initiative was all hers—as she grasped
his hand, she introduced herself, “Hi, I’m Kamala Harris!” The two had never met. So much for the famed Trumpian
intimidation.”
I watched
on NBC since official host ABC is currently unavailable
on my streaming service due to a contract dispute with Disney.
During the televised commentary before
the debate began hot shot political reporters and guest pundits agreed
that Harris needed to introduce herself to the sliver of undecided
voters who some how “don’t know
anything about her.” They noted that her
experience as a prosecutor would stand her well but warned her not to
engage him in a battle of charges and counter charges She should hold herself aloof from the
circus next door lest she should appear—unspoken wink/nod—bitchy instead
of commanding.
As
for Trump the same gaggle of newsies and candidate surrogates, there was nothing they could do but roll
their eyes in one fashion or another.
Trump could not be restrained by any caution to stick to issues and hold
off on invective, and contain his bent for ridiculous stories. Trump would be Trump and it was only a matter
of time before the wheels came off.
The MAGA designates and embarrassed looking Republican office
holders, could only hope that his invincible base would hold and
that racism and misogyny would drive White men into the camp.
Harris
came out briefly introduced herself as mostly a daughter of the middle
class who understood the struggles of families striving to keep
their heads above water while encouraging the next generation to
succeed. The contrast to the tycoon who
started out with a $400,000+ gift from his land lord father; bankrupted
businesses; cheated and chiseled on customers, contractors,
and employees; committed bank fraud and a laundry list of indictable offenses in multiple jurisdictions; has been convicted of
felonies; was impeached by the House of Representatives for
his role in the January 11 Capitol siege; and, by the way has been
ordered to pay millions to a victim of his sexual predatory behavior. There it was all in one dump.
The Trump whopper.
Donald
took the bait and was off and running launching a blistering personal
attack on Harris and then accusing her of responsibility for “millions”
of criminal/psycho/diseased/terrorist hoards overwhelming real Americans. Harris looked on with a satisfied smile. From then on she would poke him with a
stick and he would go wildly more out of control. Most notably, she got him to repeat as gospel
a story pushed on the far fringes of right wing social media and
promoted by Veep candidate J.D. Vance that immigrants were
killing and eating pet dogs and cats in Springfield,
Ohio. Harris roared with laughter. Moderator David Muir was quick to fact
check the claim reporting that the city manager said flatly
that there had been no reports of anything of the kind. Flustered, Trump could on repeat that “I saw
on TV…”
In
between Trump eruptions Harris dodged some direct questions about her evolving
policy views over time that would have required her to throw Joe
Biden or some long-time allies under the bus, but she was able to
turn aside Trump’s claim she is a Marxist by staking moderate ground
in the one proposal she detailed—an aid to entrepreneurs grant
program for start-up small business.
She also made defending and preserving women’s reproductive
health and LGBTQ+ rights, advocating sensible gun
regulations, and preserving democratic government and the rule
of law—all positions popular with critical swing voters, especially
middle-class women and young people but an anathema to religious
and cultural conservatives.
Trump called Harris a Marxist echoing this AI fake circulating in the MAGA universe.
Abortion was such a thorny issue for
Trump the he denied supporting a national abortion ban and bragged that
his Supreme Court appointments, had over-turned Roe v.
Wade to return the issue to the states
“like everyone wanted.” Not only did
such waffling risk offending abortion ban absolutists, but
it patently failed to placate anxious women. Flailing in desperation he let loose with
another wild whopper the “post birth” abortions would be legal in
Tim Waltz’s Minnesota and other states. That drew a quick fact check by the other
moderator—no such laws are on the books or even contemplated.
Trump's post-birth abortion lie. Harris extended her already considerable lead among women.
On foreign
policy, Trump tried to blame the deaths of Americans during the evacuation
of Kabul on the Biden-Harris administration and charged that her
election would lead directly to the destruction of Israel. Threading the needle between her
long-standing support of Isreal and calling for an end to the brutal
war on the people of Gaza was a challenge for Harris but
seemed sane and rational. On
the counter attack Harris roasted Trump for his coziness
and fealty to Vladamir Putin, admiration of strongmen
dictators around the world, his attacks on NATO and other long-time
allies, and his support for Russian aggression against Ukraine. In response Trump called Hungarian neo-fascist
strongman Viktor Orbán as a character witness. Harris could have slapped the podium and shouted,
“I rest my case.”
Trump's character witness--Viktor Orbán, Hungarian neo-fascist strongman.
But the debate, such as it was, continued through
wrangling about the economy. In closing
Trump had only spittle and snarl left which he let out like an un-tied
balloon—a lot of hot air propelling a fancy flight before
collapsing on the floor empty and spent.
Harris was cool and poised.
The gaggles of talking heads in the post-debate
analysis were in semi-stunned agreement that Harris not only won the debate,
but handed Trump his ass. Designated
MAGA shills were at a loss to find a way to declare victory or even to dismiss
the damage caused by their candidate’s meltdown. Various panels of “undecided voters” on
network and cable lopsidedly thought Harris was the victor and when
asked some said the debate had changed their minds. In the unkindest cut of all Fox News flatly
admitted that the debate was a disaster for Trump.
A CNN instant poll showed the win over replacement surge by Harris.
Then Taylor
Swift identifying herself as a childless cat lady endorsed Harris
and nearly melted down social media. Even more impressive or ominous depending
on your point of view, 400,000 people flowed Swift’s link to Code Blue
register to vote.
Overnight polls showed Harris with a significant
bump over Trump nationally. But the popular vote, no matter how lop-sided,
is meaningless in the Electoral College where Republicans have
institutional, locked in advantage. The
election will hang on a half dozen or so results in swing states. Harris got a narrower boost in those states
to take slender lead or tie.
Democrats and
critical target voters were ecstatic and more than a
little smug flooding the internet with triumphant memes. Many seemed to think that the debate was a knock
out punch and that Harris could, you should pardon my expression, waltz to
the Whitehouse. But then they got
a splash of cold water when a new Michigan poll showed Harris once
again lagging Trump. The debate
had changed no minds. It also exposed a weakness
for Harris in the state with the largest and most important block of Muslim-Americans. Support in that critical community is tepid
at best and many leaders are urging boycotting the Presidential race
this November. For similar reasons many
of the huge numbers of voters and potential voters in the state’s large universities,
may also sit-out over Gaza.
Harris supporters flooded social media with post-debate triumphalism.
The Harris campaign did reap a huge swell in campaign
donations, much of it from relatively small and first time doners. The top of the ticket and major surrogates are
doubling down on campaign swings in the contested states. Harris practically qualifies for residency
in Pennsylvania.
On the other side, Trump and his allies have doubled
down on the most ridiculous and easily disproved lie—the unhinged
migrants eat pets story. They have
specifically blamed Hattians and are attacking the city of Springfield,
Ohio. Bomb threats have
been made and militia chatter suggests going to the city to take things
into their own hands. Hattians, many of
whom have experienced political violence at home, are fearful of random
street assaults, as well as attacks on schools and places that have sheltered
and supported them. On Friday
Trump called a news conference to announce that he would begin his mass
deportations in Springfield if elected.
Buckle down, it’s still going to be a
bumpy ride.
