A Masterclass of a Debate, by Kamala Harris
Zander's Weekend Facts #136: Sunday, September 15, 2024
Just seconds after the two candidates entered the stage of Tuesday night’s presidential debate, it was already over.
While political debates aren’t “won” in the sense that football games have a clear winner and loser, or even elections feature the victor and the vanquished, there’s an argument to be made that Tuesday’s debate came and went with a clear champion.
On Tuesday at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, the two major candidates in this year’s presidential election, participated in what appears will be the only debate between the two this year (more on that in a moment.)
Coming into the debate, the two sides had two clear strategies. For Trump, define his opponent as a ‘radical’ who flip-flops on positions and tie her as much as possible to the unpopular incumbent President Joe Biden. For Harris, come off as a moderate and personable to the millions of Americans who haven’t formed a definitive view of the vice president, while also reminding 81 million people why they voted against her opponent last time.
One of those strategies clearly came across as effective, and the other… not so much.
From the very beginning, Harris asserted herself as though she belonged on the stage watched by at least 67 million Americans. When the two candidates were welcomed onto the stage, as Trump cautiously stood behind his podium, Harris crossed the stage to shake Trump’s hand. The first time since the 2016 election that a handshake between the candidates has been seen at a presidential debate.
The gesture, something once commonplace but what has become increasingly rare between political opponents, seemed to almost surprise the former president and was a clear early victory for the vice president.
Early on, it was pretty clear that Trump stuck to the script he had been given, a definitive win for his advisors, while Harris came off as nervous on the largest stage of her life. Yet, the seeds for Harris’ ultimate debate plan were being planted. In her first few responses, she mentioned things like a “Trump Sales Tax” and “the Wharton School of Finance” (where Trump graduated from in 1968) that she knew would get under his skin. You can see in his early rebuttals that he immediately mentions those points before getting to his message. With Harris starting to get a sense that she would be successful in getting under his skin, and quite easily at that, she slowly eased up from anxiety and subsequently controlled the narrative of the remainder of the debate.
The big moment where this became apparent, and where Trump’s calm and cool demeanor, which had slowly been wearing down as the night went on, totally vanished from sight, was close to 30 minutes into the debate. On the topic of immigration, Harris brought up the fact that Trump had requested Republican members of Congress to oppose a bipartisan-negotiated bill that would have strengthened security at the southern border. But she then pivoted to something unusual, that would’ve been preposterous to bring up with any other opponent. With her current opponent, though, it worked like a charm.
If there’s any three-minute clip that will define the debate, and the election, it’s this one.
I’d like to wager that rallies of the other candidate have never before been mentioned in a presidential debate. Yet, Harris took a massive swing when she criticized what Trump holds most dearest to him than perhaps anything else, his rallies. She saw early on in the debate that he would take the bait when she cast the line, so she knew he wouldn’t be able to overcome the temptation of talking about his rallies.
Just that little mention of what to most people would seem entirely insignificant then sent Trump on an incredible spiral, where he went full-blown conspiracy theorist and falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating cats and dogs.
It does seem to beg the question: If mentions of his campaign rallies get so under his skin that he turns into… whatever that was, why would the American people put him in a position where adversaries of the United States would successfully control him by targeting his massively exposed vulnerabilities? Kamala Harris, who he has described as “dumb as a rock” and a “low I.Q. individual”, was easily able to rattle him in front of the entire world.
The night didn’t get better for the former president, as he refused to look at the vice president the entire night, while she often veered in his direction, showing she was not afraid of the opposition. She openly laughed when he gave his wildest remarks and would show him glances that a mother would give her children when she knew they were up to no good. This despite the fact that the vice president is 19 years her opponent’s junior, perhaps making the proper analogy that she would show him glances that you would give your elderly parent when you know their mind is gone, and you just had to play along with the latest bewildering verbiage.
And finally, when it came time to give the closing statements, Harris laid out the case for why she should be elected the 47th President of the United States. She reached out to Americans of all political parties and ideologies, while concluding with the remark that she would work by “investing right now in you, the American people.”
Trump’s closing statement, which he specifically chose to be last, took a different turn.
Trump spent his two-minute closing statement attacking the vice president, blaming her for the supposed failures of the current president, and failing to mention why he would be the better option. He concluded the debate with the remark, “The worst president, the worst vice president, in the history of our country.”
Not sure his team that prepped him for the debate wanted that to be the final message he would give to the voters.
In what started out as somewhat hopeful, by the lowly standards placed upon the former president of course, quickly turned sour as Harris was able to get Trump to show his true colors: a vengeful, angry, opaque 78-year-old man who would rather spend his time attacking black people for their race or praising the authoritarian prime minister of Hungary than talk about his ideas (if they exist) to help the American people.
Trump told debunked lie after debunked lie, while his opponent often didn’t, and was fact-checked by the moderators for his most egregious mistruths. And while he has since lashed out in anger, calling the debate a “three to one” and “rigged”, considering the former president was given the last word on every topic, I’m not sure they had it out for him in the way he thinks (unless giving him an unmitigated opportunity to unleash his foul ramblings on the American people for much more time than his opponent is “rigged”, then yes, they totally rigged it against you.)
Immediately after the debate, the Harris campaign called for another, almost as if she was saying, “I’m not done with you.” Two days later, Trump announced he would be done with debates, after repeatedly pushing for more than one with Harris.
The Harris campaign even posted what they called an “ad” to their social media channels the next day, which was simply a video of the entire debate (note the timestamp of the video on the image below.)
Trump’s disastrous performance even ignited perhaps the most famous pop culture icon in the world, Taylor Swift, to announce to her 286 million Instagram followers her intention to vote for his opponent.
So you tell me, who was the winner?
For more information on this week’s top story, here’s an article from NPR - The debate between Harris and Trump wasn’t close — and 4 other takeaways
What Zander’s been reading
As Springfield, Ohio has become known to the world, chaos has descended on the city. As false claims began to circle online that Haitian immigrants were kidnapping and eating pets in Springfield, former President Donald Trump joined the fray on Tuesday by amplifying the conspiracies during the presidential debate.
In the days since, bomb threats have impacted hospitals, businesses, schools, and other facilities across the city. Haitian residents have reportedly had their windows smashed and acid poured on their cars. And all the while, Trump continues to spread the false claims, including that the Haitian immigrants in Springfield are “illegal migrants”, and refused to denounce the bomb threats.
Check out this week’s featured article in The New York Times - In Springfield, Ohio, Threats Leave Haitian Residents Shaken
Zander’s Facts Sporting Club
Here are the latest headlines from the sports world in the Sporting Club:
NFL week 2: The second weekend of the NFL regular season is highlighted by a top AFC matchup later this afternoon. In a rematch of the 2023 AFC Championship Game, the Chiefs will host the Bengals in the 4:00 pm ET window. At the same time, the Steelers take on the Broncos, while the Rams visit the Cardinals. Earlier in the day, Saints-Cowboys, 49ers-Vikings, and Raiders-Ravens stand out in the 1:00 pm ET window. On Sunday night at 8:20 pm ET, the Bears visit the Texans, with the Falcons taking on the Eagles on Monday night at 8:15 pm ET. On Thursday night, the Bills had their way with the Dolphins, winning 31-10.
College Football week 3: No major upsets made their way into the week three College Football slate, but a couple of top SEC teams just pulled out road victories. #16 LSU came back to beat South Carolina 36-33, while #1 Georgia survived on the road against Kentucky 13-12. Some other ranked teams were dominant, including #10 Miami’s 62-0 win over Ball State, #7 Tennessee’s 71-0 win over Kent State, and #4 Alabama’s 42-10 win over Wisconsin. #6 Missouri needed a second-half comeback to beat #24 Boston College 27-21, #14 Kansas State stomped #20 Arizona 31-7 on Friday night, and #9 Oregon ran over in-state foe Oregon State 49-14.
USMNT Coach: U.S. Soccer officially announced a hire last week that had been reported for weeks. Mauricio Pochettino was named the head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team on Tuesday, arguably the most successful coach to ever be the USMNT’s manager. Pochettino most recently managed at Chelsea for the 2023-2024 season after having been Paris Saint-Germain’s manager from 2021 to 2022. Pochettino’s most successful run came at Tottenham Hotspur from 2014 through 2019, when Pochettino led Spurs to their only appearance in the UEFA Champions League final in 2019. Pochettino replaces Gregg Berhalter, who was fired after the U.S. failed to qualify out of the group stage of the Copa América tournament in July.
US Open: Jannik Sinner was able to prove his world #1 ranking in men’s tennis as he captured the US Open men’s singles championship last Sunday. Sinner defeated #7 Taylor Fritz in Sunday’s final in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. 7-5. The title is the second grand slam victory this year for Sinner after he won the Australian Open in January. Fritz was featured in his first grand slam final and the first American to play in the US Open final since 2006. The US Open was the final grand slam of 2024, with the 2025 slate kicking off in Australia on January 6.
Deshaun Watson: Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was accused of sexual assault in a new lawsuit filed last week. Watson was previously accused by 24 women of sexual misconduct and harassment during massage therapy sessions, settling 23 of those lawsuits in 2022. The lawsuit filed on Monday accuses Watson of forcing himself on a woman and demanding a massage in 2020. Watson denied the allegations and plans to play against the Jacksonville Jaguars later today. Watson had previously been suspended 11 games in 2022 for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy related to the previous allegations.
Rapid-fire Facts
These are the top news headlines from the past week:
Early Voting: The first votes in the 2024 U.S. presidential election are soon to be cast, with some states beginning the process later this week. Alabama became the first state to begin mailing out absentee ballots to voters last week. On Thursday, Wisconsin will start mailing on ballots, while Minnesota and South Dakota will begin doing so on Friday. The first votes can be cast in person starting on Friday in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Virginia. With Election Day less than two months away on November 5, make sure you have a plan to vote by going to vote.org.
Government Shutdown: Talks over averting a government shutdown increased in Congress last week as the clock is ticking. October 1 is the date that the new budget year begins for the federal government, and also when Congress must pass a stopgap spending bill to avoid a shutdown of the federal government. Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) pulled a vote on a bill that would have provided funding for six months after it became clear it did not have enough support to pass. Republican holdouts on the bill complained that spending levels were too high, while Democrats oppose a provision that would require people registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship. It is already against federal law for non-citizens to vote in U.S. elections.
Inflation: The U.S. received good inflation news last week as the annual rate of inflation hit a three-year low in August. The Labor Department reported on Wednesday that the consumer price index rose by 2.5% from August 2023 to August 2024, the lowest year-over-year increase since February 2021. From July to August, the CPI rose 0.2%, the same increase as the month prior. The report comes as the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee meets later this week. The committee will determine whether to cut interest rates for the first time since March 2020, with a decision to be announced on Wednesday.
Hurricane Francine: Hurricane Francine made landfall in Louisiana last week as a category 2 hurricane, lashing the Gulf Coast and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. Francine rapidly developed in the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall on Wednesday in Terrebonne Parish in Southern Louisiana with sustained winds of 100 mph, dumping 5-7 inches of rain in New Orleans on Wednesday. So far, no deaths and only three injuries have been attributed to the storm. Francine quickly weakened after making landfall and officially dissipated on Saturday.
Wrapping up the Facts
That’s a wrap on this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts. The Facts in print return next Sunday, September 22, 2024.
A masterclass on lying, yes. Do you believe in God?