The debate last week saw Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris face off against Former Republican President Donald Trump in what ended up becoming an argument of accusations and insults. Hosted by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in Philadelphia, the debate had high potential to become a turning point in the 2024 election, but instead seemed to fall flat on its face straight from the very beginning.
Above: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in the second 2024 presidential debate. (Credit: Sky News Australia and ABC America)
In her introduction Harris failed to address, not only her policies in a clear manner, but also her plans of achieving the promises she intends to use to win the election. Similarly, Trump also did not provide viewers with an exact method in how he would execute his plans should he become president again, but rather explained the means by which the Biden-Harris administration had fallen short in keeping the rest of the world well-behaved.
Tergiversation on both sides
The change, however, took place when the moderators of the debate began to address the topical points—such as immigration, America’s economy, world order, and more—and how each candidate would face these issues were they elected. While Harris would bumble on about how she shows support to specific worthy causes, Trump proceeded to, not only disarm her entire argument, but also provide firm and clear strategies he would implement to resolve each issue.
His downfall, however, was when it came to answering specific questions. Rather than giving a direct and straightforward response, Trump seemed to move his way around each question and accusation to point it to his own beliefs, and what the Biden-Harris administration had done to ruin the vital progress he had previously made as president. Harris, on the other hand, was not any better with this either, and she found herself repeating things she had already said, and danced around the question with virtuous quotes and no particular answer to what she had been asked.
“It was a rigged deal”
The ABC moderators of the debate—Linsey Davis and David Muir—weren’t any more helpful. Fact-checking almost all of Trump’s statements, they made few attempts to verify Kamala Harris’ arguments.
As the former president himself called it, this debate became a difficult situation in which he was forced to stay on the defensive side for most of the time.
Above: Linsey Davis. (Credit: Sky News Australia and ABC America)
“It was three–to–one,” he commented in an interview on Fox News the following morning. Trump went on to solidify the point that the moderators of the debate relentlessly corrected him, and yet somehow let many of Kamala Harris’ slip-ups slide. “It was a rigged deal, as I assumed it would be.”
“It’s easy to look like you know what you are doing when both moderators are on your side,” commentator Megyn Kelly added, referring to Ms. Harris. “Trump did the best he could, but it really was like three fighters in the ring pummeling one opponent.”
“They’re taking the cats to Isengard!”
The most influential part of this presidential debate was Donald Trump’s claim regarding the Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating the pets of residents. In what seemed to be a completely random statement, Trump incited quite an unwarranted response from the moderators.
David Muir fact-checked President Trump’s claim unforgivingly, and corrected him in saying that there was “no evidence” to support this statement. He went on to imply that there was no credibility to the notion of immigrants killing the cats and dogs of the people in Ohio.
Interestingly enough, however, is the fact that there have indeed been reports from credible sources supporting Trump’s argument—such as the New York Post—and even police records have proven that these claims are not actually false.
Of course, the media has gone crazy over Trump’s rather unusual point. From memes to hilarious music videos, the topic has gone viral. Republican Vice President candidate J.D. Vance himself told CNN, “if we have to meme about cats to get the media to care about an issue, we’re going to keep on doing it.” This is a personal favourite of mine:
The Kiffness | YouTube
A confronting conclusion
To conclude what could quite possibly be one of the most insignificant presidential debates for the United States in the 21st Century, the former president finally took the offensive side that supporters had been itching for him to take the whole debate. In his closing remarks he accused the current Vice President of failing to deliver the promises which she had made in her running for office, and he again brought to light the very little action she had taken in the three years she had been given to make such grand changes to the USA’s immigration and economical problems.
Trump also reminded viewers of the fact that the United States of America is “being laughed at all over the world” as a result of the nation’s inability to prevent the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. As his final words for the debate, Donald Trump brutally gave Kamala Harris the title as “worst Vice President in the history of our country”
Above: former President Trump takes on the "worst Vice President in the history of America" Kamala Harris. (Credit: Sky News Australia and ABC America)
Ms. Harris, on the other hand, made the attempt to end the debate on a bright and sunny note.
“We can chart a way forward!” announced the 'Worst Vice President in America’s History' before she repeated her previous statements regarding her promises to the American people were she elected. This included her plan to support middle-class Americans (which, interestingly, she has not specified how she will do), and her fantasy of building a thriving “Opportunity Economy”, (whatever that is).
Despite Harris’ many attempts to make herself stand out as the ideal presidential candidate for all Americans, Trump’s stoic demeanour reflected his strength in policy and confidence in America to become a great nation once again if the people voted wisely. The winner of this debate has become subjective; and the predictions of who might win this 2024 election couldn’t be more unknown.
Also wanted to say that because of this post I learned a new word! (Tergiversation)
So fascinating to hear your thoughts Christopher! You have a unique perspective from the outside which is something I respect in this day and age of one sided media and reporting. How do we get you to be a debate moderator in the future?
Very well done. I watched and yeah, it did not really go anywhere.
I feel like the core issue is that each side villainizes the other side much more any election before “trump will become dictator with project 2025!” “ the border is going to get overrun if Kamala gets in “
It’s borderline immature and not productive at all.
Good very fair wrap up Christopher of both candidates. My 4 star rating because I did detect some emotive? bias against Kamala in your reporting, eg your cynical repeating of the accusation of " Worst vice president in America's History". I found the debate a fascinating clash of two vastly different personalities and ideologies. As you reported Kamala did not introduce her side well, with emotive stories of her "middle class" origins, obviously to confront early on Trump's wealth and perceived elite position. She quickly got into the personal criticism of Trump and a true "debate" never really got started as Trump returned the slinging, justifying himself and his achievements rather than presenting real policy positions and strategies. She "got…
Ha, lovely job with this recap. I only watched a few highlights from the debates because I was prettyy sure it'd be a waste of time otherwise, but... man, this country is a mess. Very glad I don't live there anymore XD I sincerely hope Kamala isn't elected because of Shaylee's point about WW3 and another Civil War 😅 but may God's will be done.