You can tell who won the US presidential debate by the fury of the commentators on the side of Donald Trump. When their champion kept failing to land a blow on Kamala Harris, they turned their anger on the television debate hosts and wailed about the unfairness of it all.
“One of the most biased, unfair debates I have ever seen.” “The worst moderated debate in history.” “The ABC moderators are clearly shilling for Harris.” “A political assassination attempt by the corporate media.”
Talk about displacement activity. Harris put Trump off his stride from the moment she came onstage and forced the world’s biggest germophobe to shake her hand. In her high heels and dark suit, the 5ft 4in vice-president did more than stand up to the 6ft 3in former president — she towered over him. Trump’s face was a mask of sullen resentment as Harris drove her stilettos into the most sensitive parts of his anatomy. In short, she kicked him in the balls.
There were moments of tension for Harris. Sometimes her answers appeared too scripted, at other times her mouth went dry from nerves. Yet before long Trump was screaming, “They’re eating the pets!” and spouting a fake news story about Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating dogs and cats (he forgot to mention ducks). He had lost the plot. The Drudge Report promptly posted “The End” beneath a picture of Trump in his private plane with a Bond-like white cat on his lap, surrounded by other felines and a beady-eyed duck. Trump had become what he most feared: a laughing stock.
The world’s most famous childless cat lady then delivered the coup de grâce. “Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight,” Taylor Swift announced on Instagram. “Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site… The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth. I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.” Trump now faces a 54-day slog to the finish line on November 5, knowing he made a fool of himself. Gleeful Harris aides let it be known she would relish a second debate.
Fox News couldn’t pull the wool over the eyes of its own viewers. They had come expecting to hear the infamous Kamala “cackle” and “word salads” and instead saw a presidential candidate who was “composed” and “kept her cool”, according to Brit Hume, the sage of Fox. “This was a bad night for Trump,” he added ruefully. “She was very different to the dunderhead we thought she was.” You think? He basically admitted Fox had choked on its own propaganda.
If Trump had managed to stay on script, he could have been more convincing on the economy and immigration, his two strongest selling points, where he has previously outperformed Harris. She did not bother to defend America’s economic performance under Biden, even though employment is high, inflation is falling and interest rate cuts are on their way. Perhaps too many voters have made up their minds to shift the opinion polls that much. But boy, did she goad him into an atrocious performance.
CNN’s snap poll declared Harris the victor over Trump by 63 per cent to 37 per cent, a reversal of the position in June, when Trump crushed Joe Biden by 67 per cent to 33 per cent and forced him out of the race. In one of Harris’s sharpest lines, she turned on Trump and said, “You’re not running against Joe Biden. You’re running against me.” Seizing the mantle of change, she declared she was part of a new generation and made sure to squeeze in several references to her campaign slogan: “We’re not going back.”
While claiming to be high-minded, Harris delivered plenty of low blows and insults. Naturally, Trump couldn’t resist taking the bait. His nutty line about pet-eating immigrants came after she belittled his rallies as low-energy, boring affairs. Preposterously, he responded by claiming she bussed in and paid supporters to attend her own. Battering him with his own favourite vocabulary, she said US generals thought he was a “disgrace” and that world leaders were “laughing” at him. That must have hurt.
Harris would raise an eyebrow, look startled, amused or laugh, while Trump glowered furiously
Harris talked a good deal about representing the future but happily delved into the past to accuse Trump of racism. With an eye to consolidating her support among black and Hispanic voters, she rattled him by knocking his father for refusing to house black people and highlighted his own role in demanding the execution of the Central Park Five — young black men accused of rape who were later found innocent — and spreading birther conspiracies about Barack Obama’s right to be president.
What Trump refused to say was as revealing as anything he said. He wouldn’t admit to any “regrets” over his conduct during the January 6 Capitol riot. He wouldn’t say he wanted Ukraine to win the war against Russia (reserving his pity for the thousands of dead Russian invaders instead). He had only “concepts” of a healthcare plan after nine years to think about it. And he threw his running mate JD Vance under the bus when asked to confirm whether, as president, he would veto a national abortion ban. “I didn’t discuss it with him,” Trump said curtly.
Harris was at her most righteous on the subject of women’s reproductive rights. During the debate, she would alternately raise a quizzical eyebrow, look startled, amused or laugh out loud, while Trump glowered furiously, his mood darkening as the night wore on.
After the debate, Trump entered the spin room, a sure sign he needed a do-over. Declaring himself the victor, he ranted about polls showing him winning the debate by up to 90 per cent. “Where are you getting those figures from?” he was asked incredulously.
When has Trump ever admitted losing? He had probably plucked the numbers out of the foetid swamps of the internet. But as Harris reminded him, he was “fired by 81 million people” at the last election. Last night, he showed he can be beaten again.
