Harris Delivers

It wasn't even close

The gravity of tonight’s debate could not be overstated—unsurprising, given what’s at stake. But that fact alone is a stark indictment of our political peril. 

In a healthy democracy, the fate of the republic wouldn’t rest on a televised spectacle. While seeing a potential president on stage, answering questions, and responding to their opponent can offer insights into how they might govern, a single 90-minute performance should not loom as determinative. 

And yet, sadly, here we are. 

There is no secret about what makes a good commander-in-chief. They should be steady, engaged, prepared, and defenders of our democratic values. By these standards—along with honesty, empathy, and basic human decency—the contrast between the candidates would be laughable if it weren’t so dire. 

And yet, astonishingly, the election likely remains a toss-up. “How can that be?” is the disquieting question that overhangs all of the circus. 

The visuals and rituals of a presidential debate can suggest that both candidates stand on equal footing as plausible presidents. Split-screen shots perpetuate the illusion of parity. They share a stage and identical podiums, and each has the backing of one of our nation’s historic political parties. But of course, any equivalency in this case is false. 

Far too much of the media’s lead-up to this event has treated this election as a competition of policy — where does each candidate stand on the issues? But when one candidate and the party of sycophants he now commands are completely unserious about solving the nation’s problems, this framing is an act of fundamental dishonesty.

Going into the debate, there was no shortage of prognostication and expectation setting. But none of that mattered once the talking started. 

Harris looked tentative in her first response, but she had one goal: to cast the debate on her turf. Get him to take the bait, and he did. Over and over again. 

It was masterful. But I’m not sure Trump has enough functioning neurons to notice. Because if he did, he would have held many of the words in his mouth instead of spewing nonsense into the ether. 

In the last debate, Biden was on the defensive from the beginning. But tonight, Harris laid trap after trap in her answers — going in for the kill on the follow-up. Trump resorted to his usual three or four talking points. But even those eluded him. To call his answers incoherent rants still doesn’t get to how unhinged he truly was. 

It was like he was channeling the weirdest and most deranged corners of the internet, speaking in memes that only make sense to someone marinating in Newsmax. 

Harris knew the buttons to push. When the question turned to immigration, potentially her biggest vulnerability, she mentioned that people leave Trump’s rallies early. You could see the smoke coming out of his ears. So, instead of talking about policy, he was whining about how great his crowds are.

On abortion, she destroyed him. And also on foreign affairs and defending American values. 

He had his usual playbook, pathetic bluster and lies, lies, lies.  But they didn’t land tonight, partly because of ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis. Their questions were fair and precise. They chose the right times to fact-check. And they held Trump accountable for his extremism. You could tell how bad it was going by how much right-wing online trolls were freaking out at the moderators. 

As the night went on, Trump got more and more angry. When you are quoting Viktor Orbán as your character witness on the world stage, you know you’re in trouble. Time and again, Harris turned to the sorry excuse to her right, looked directly at him (no wavering of courage), and called him out on his lies and disgrace. She even had a line for the ages: “Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people. Clearly he has a hard time processing that.”

I am all too aware, to paraphrase Simon and Garfunkel, that we sometimes hear what we want to hear and disregard the rest. But I think, in this case, what we heard was clear enough to break through the MAGA echo chamber or at least reach millions of persuadable voters. 

On stage, we saw a smart, thoughtful, prepared, and disciplined adult ready to be president. Vice President Harris appealed to unity, hope, and the best of American values. In Donald Trump, we saw a pathetic small man well past his prime spewing anger and lies in meandering rants that have nothing to do with reality. 

Is that really what America wants in its president? Or are we not going back?