“He got his clock cleaned!” This is how California governor Gavin Newsom described the shellacking democratic Kamala Harris gave Donald Trump during their debate on September 10th.
I was quite surprised by how incredibly nervous I was in the hours that preceded the debate. So much hangs on the outcome of the November 5, 2024 American presidential election and this debate could determine the outcome.
The first question from ABC moderator David Muir went to Harris: “When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?” Harris did not directly answer the question, and she seemed a bit unsteady on her feet. “Oh my goodness,” I wondered. “Was she going to lose the debate?”
Luckily Harris quickly gained her composure and for the next almost 90 minutes put on a performance that will go down in history. Her ability to effortlessly toy with and provoke the tired, old, angry man was a sight to behold.
And it was not just the words that came out of her mouth. Her dismemberment of Trump was accomplished almost as much by her physical gestures and facial expressions. Trump’s discomfort and her control were clear in the body language of both. Trump would not even look at her directly.
Harris continually reacted with gestures to his various pronouncements while he was speaking, often shaking her head or rolling her eyes. My favourite reaction was when she rested her chin on her hand and looked incredulous as Trump accused her of being a Marxist because of her father’s academic career studying Marxism.
Most talked about later was her dramatic reaction of openly laughing at him and looking incredulous when Trump made the outlandish, false claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield Ohio were stealing and eating people’s pets. This instance also provided one example of how Harris rattled Trump by including a personal dig in her response to the moderator’s question. In that case, while answering a question about immigration, Harris suggested that people should attend a Trump rally and see for themselves that audience members were leaving early out of boredom and exhaustion. When Trump’s turn came respond, rather than answer the moderator’s question, he spent all his time defending his rallies and baselessly attacking immigrants, including the example above.
Time and time again, Harris goaded Trump with personal attacks. Then, rather than replying to the actual issue, Trump would continually fall down her rabbit hole and respond to the dig. Another instance occurred when Harris, in responding to Trump’s erroneous allegations about high levels of migrant crime, noted the various criminal cases Trump is now facing. That led to a long diatribe by Trump alleging the prosecutions were political, faked, and that the Biden government had weaponized the justice department. Harris had also said that it was time to turn the page and address the needs of the American people. That produced no response at all from Trump, just more harangues about the so-called fake cases against him.
By the end of the evening, Trump had been clearly outperformed, outmaneuvered, and made a mockery of. It is not surprising that Trump has now said he will not agree to another debate.
The September 10, 2024 Harris/Trump debate will go down in history.
You can read the full transcript of the debate here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/read-harris-trump-presidential-debate-transcript/ar-AA1qmevU or watch the debate on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgsC_aBquUE.
Daily atmospheric CO2 [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]
Latest daily total (September 21, 2024): 422.19ppm
One year ago (September 22, 2023): 417.88ppm
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