The much-anticipated presidential debate last week began with a cautiously confident Kamala Harris, as she strode across the stage, extended her hand and introduced herself to Donald Trump. He shook her hand and said, “Nice to see you. Have fun.” And she sure did.
The deck of cards was stacked against Trump before the debate even started as the mainstream network’s guest commentators were negating him in their preliminary shows. Republican, Jim Durkin, former Minority Leader of the Illinois House of Representatives, was on Fox Chicago. He was already known to be anti-Trump and was about as effective as having Liz Cheney on panel to represent the Republicans.
Key Issues
When several direct questions were asked that should have been a yes or no response with examples, both candidates went into tangents. This is not uncommon. However, a top issue is the economy and cost of living.
When Harris was asked if Americans are better off than they were four years ago, she went into a long spiel about her upbringing. Her background story was interesting at the Democratic National Convention, as the audience didn’t know much about her, but not appropriate for this question.
An odd comment by Harris was that Trump has no economic plan. After watching several speeches by Trump, his plans have been repeated over and over. He’s indeed an open book if anyone cares to pick it up and read it.
Several traps were laid out for Trump that he surprisingly fell into. The debate wasn’t even halfway over when Harris claimed people left his rallies early because of boredom. He has previously stated he often talks for over an hour because attendees have waited a long time and traveled far for the event.
Trump often has a guest speaker. A recent one was a Venezuelan man who migrated to the U.S. telling his family’s story. The concise message was presented in both English and Spanish, which endeared the audience. Although Harris’ claim was false, Trump’s tone went downward from there.
Immigration was another key issue. There was a bill that would have put 1,500 more agents on the border. Harris claimed Trump “got on the phone, called up some folks in Congress, and said, ‘kill the bill.’” The bill actually failed because “Many Senate Democrats didn’t support it and their campaigns began distancing themselves from Biden-Harris border policies, which the majority of Americans oppose,” according to The Center Square (media).
The abortion issue needed more clarification as Trump stated former Democrat Gov. Ralph S. Northam, West Virginia (actually Virginia), allowed abortions into the ninth month of gestation and even after birth. In 2019, a bill was presented that “loosened” Virginia abortion restrictions.
A comment was made in a committee hearing regarding a woman being permitted to undergo an abortion while in labor. Northam, also a physician, explained that third-trimester abortions are done in cases where there may be severe deformities. “If a mother is in labor, the infant would “be delivered and kept comfortable,” as reported by Fox News.
Other Doozies Needing Clarification
Harris repeated a false claim by Joe Biden that Trump said there’d be a bloodbath if he lost the election. This comment was actually stated over the potential loss of U.S. auto manufacturing jobs to foreign countries, resulting in an economic bloodbath. “President Biden’s campaign quickly accused Trump of fomenting “political violence,’” according to FactCheck.org.
Trump did indeed invite Taliban leaders to Camp David to negotiate the peaceful withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and end America’s longest war. He wanted to “look them in the eye,” get commitments and then put in place a verification regime, said former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “Lots of bad folks have come through that place [Camp David].” Trump cancelled the meeting after an attack in Kabul killed 12 people including a U.S. soldier.
In CNN’s recent interview, when asked about her changing positions on several issues, Harris said, “The most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed.”
Trump claimed Harris supported spending taxpayer dollars on gender reassignment surgeries for prison inmates. She indeed supported this in response to a questionnaire from the American Civil Liberties Union during her 2020 presidential campaign. Additionally, taxpayer dollars were also to be used for “decriminalizing drugs and ending (ICE) detainers for illegal immigrants accused of crimes,” as reported by the New York Post.
Although Harris did not donate money directly to the nonprofit, Minnesota Freedom Fund, that pays for criminal bail and immigration bonds, she encouraged her supporters to donate to the fund to free protesters in the George Floyd riots, according to Snopes Factchecker.
Unprofessional Behavior
Clearly, there are many fact checkers and it’s always good for viewers to do their own. However, it’s certainly not the job of a debate moderator to debunk a statement during the actual debate. The role of a moderator is keeping everyone on time and the candidates on track. They are “not a referee, not a player,” said Professor and Political Journalist Doyle McManus. Moderators don’t “challenge what the candidate is saying — that is the job of the other candidate.”
It was quite obvious that ABC News moderators pounced on only one candidate. Once again Harris was propped up by others during her major appearances on favorable networks. Her debate appearance with the incredulous look on her face is reminiscent of Biden’s modus operandi, but she added resting her head on her chin in a condescending manner.
Interestingly, Conservative men and women had differing views on Trump’s performance. Men had a more positive impression whereas some women felt he had his fanny handed to him on a bronze platter. After all the analyses, maybe Trump didn’t take himself out given there was another assassination attempt.
I enjoyed this review of the debate very much. I thought that it was fair. And in the end after reading this article, I would conclude that this debate probably did not change any voters one way or the other.
The pictures were excellent. Deck of cards stacked against him. Cat trapped in a cage like Donald falling for her traps. And the flip flops to suggest that Kammy has been flipping so many previous bold statements just to get elected. She will say anything whereas Donald comes across as really wanting to make America great again. He has many specific plans beginning with ‘drill baby drill’ to fix the economy and fixing the border to improve crime, in at least that regard. There are other crimes that will be fixed by funding and respecting the police again.
She talked nonsense about abortion, but what is it really but Murder. So many use it as birth control. Of course, it must be allowed in rape, incest, or to save the mother.
Kammy encouraged her supporters to fund the criminals who burned buildings and committed crimes during the George Floyd riots. She was supporting violence.
The fact checking by David Muir and the other moderator were so obviously against Donald and never against Kammy. Come on! And it turned out that David was wrong about crime. He was very rude. Donald is right. Crime is out of control and a very big problem to the safety of Americans.
When she did the obvious holding her chin in her hand, she looked like a jerk. She probably thought she looked cute. But I wonder what Putin and Xi thought of her. Arrest her and throw the key away. That is there policy so often.
So, I say again that this review was a very fair assessment of the debate and my personal thought is that there was no clear winner or loser. Although Donald made better points of fact, Kammy looked better and attacked with a plan. Even though the plan was full of half-truths and poor judgements. Well done.
It was a rather revolting debate. I think Trump should have looked at her throughout the debate, at least a little, but he never did. The whole thing really boosted her confidence but at this time, she continues to do a terrible job in interviews.
I’m so disappointed in David Muir. I thought he had more class but he fit right into the typical liberal (anti-Trump) media. It was quite obvious the moderators support one side only and both should have been suspended.
Glad you liked the pictures and felt it was fair.