Any serious person who watched the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump had to notice there was only one adult at the podium. Harris was fully in control and sounded sharp, empathetic and sane. Her rapidly aging opponent accused immigrants of eating people’s pets, bragged about his (dwindling) crowd sizes, refused to answer whether he would sign a nationwide abortion ban and conceded that after nearly a decade of his rants against Obamacare, he has no fixes but has “a concept of a plan.” Here’s a roundup of how the night went:
Kamala Harris Broke Donald Trump. The Atlantic‘s Peter Wehner wrote that in their first face-to-face meeting, the Democratic nominee humiliated the former president: “The night, for Harris supporters, went better than even the most optimistic among them could have hoped. For Trump supporters, it was not just a defeat but a public humiliation, the crushing comeuppance they probably secretly feared might one day arrive but, until now, never quite had.”
Republicans dismayed by Trump’s ‘bad’ and ‘unprepared’ debate performance. The Guardian wrote: “Republicans were virtually unanimous that Trump had come off second best in a series of exchanges that saw the vice-president deliberately bait him on his weak points while he responded with visible anger.”
The debate between Harris and Trump wasn’t close — and 4 other takeaways. NPR’s Domenico Montanaro wrote: “If that June debate was a five-alarm fire for Democrats that eventually forced Biden from the race, after Tuesday’s debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s proponents should probably check the temperature in their own house.”
How Kamala Harris Knocked Donald Trump Off Course. Time writes: “Trump glowered and grimaced, spewing old grievances and strange new attacks. The former President repeated a baseless Internet rumor that migrant invaders were killing and eating pet dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio, and claimed that Harris “wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens in prison.” With sharp ripostes and canny traps, Harris baited Trump into boasting about his crowd sizes, grousing about the 2020 election, and standing up for the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol to thwart the peaceful transfer of power. In the nine years since Trump first burst onto the scene, no opponent—Democrat or Republican—has dealt with the 800-lb. gorilla of American politics as coolly, or gotten under his skin to such a degree.”
What Was He Even Talking About? The Atlantic‘s David A. Graham said Trump’s rant about immigrants eating pets was another sign of his break with reality.
(The FORWARD art above was created by Shepard Fairey, who offers a free download of the image here. Fairey is the artist who created the iconic HOPE poster for Barack Obama.)
