Bless his heart, they had a debate and the real Donald Trump showed up...
The impact of the Harris-Trump debate will reverberate for quite a while after the candidates left the stage. It should no longer be in question, Donald Trump has proven again that he is unfit for the office he seeks— even worse, he should be disqualified. And that will be the headlines for the next few days.
That the real Trump showed up, the old man with raccoon eyes and sprayed-on complexion was there for all to see and hear, should not be a surprise. As his opponent stated so eloquently time after time, he was spitballing from the same old playbook. He couldn’t help himself and when he was finally saved from further embarrassment by time, the nation was treated to the Trump show that Democrats had hoped for— the racist, misogynist, ill-prepared and mostly incompetent Donald Trump took the stage and was eviscerated by Kamala Harris. On Fox News, they tried to rescue him. The commentators, they tried to point out— mostly because David Muir and Linsey Davis were tough and prepared— did him in by calling out not just some lies (there were far more left to hang there in the night) but his absurdities. Who can forget the picture of migrants eating dogs in Springfield? No, everyone’s favorite unhinged uncle came to dinner and drooled all over his red tie.
That’s only half the story. The bigger story was how well Kamala Harris handled the moment. Her performance was near flawless as she managed to answer the questions asked, dispute his lies, and display the stark difference between herself and her opponent. Where he bobbed and tried to weave his way over, under, and around questions, she bombarded us with her competence. She knew the answers and gladly, some might say joyfully, took on even the tough questions posed to her by the mean, nasty commentators. For her part, she was just as effective in the half-screen reacting to Trump’s performance. Her opponent in comparison looked surprised as each of her points hit home. There were several moments when his expression indicated an “oh damn” moment— she said that? Did she go there? Why didn’t I think of that? and, oh boy, I never should have said that! There were more moments when it seemed as if he had led with his chin and she found it with a right cross:
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Number one, I have nothing to do, as you know and as she knows better than anyone, I have nothing to do with Project 2025. That's out there. I haven't read it. I don't want to read it, purposely. I'm not going to read it. This was a group of people that got together, they came up with some ideas. I guess some good, some bad. But it makes no difference. I have nothing to do -- everybody knows I'm an open book. Everybody knows what I'm going to do...
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: So, Donald Trump has no plan for you. And when you look at his economic plan, it's all about tax breaks for the richest people.
Whack! The Democrats had long before the debate hung the 900-page Heritage Foundation screed with a forward by his running mate around his neck. Trump had spent hours at his rallies espousing its talking points while denying his involvement in its creation in public. 2025 had become tantamount to the Republican platform at the RNC, endorsed by name and by inference by speakers, only to be buried after disclosure of its policies became toxic.
When David Muir brought up the question of tariffs, the former president went off on a defense of what has become a Democratic talking point for weeks— that tariffs are a tax on consumers. Trump bit hard:
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They aren't gonna have higher prices what's gonna have and who's gonna have higher prices is China and all of the countries that have been ripping us off for years. I charge, I was the only president ever China was paying us hundreds of billions of dollars and so were other countries and you know if she doesn't like 'em they should have gone out and they should have immediately cut the tariffs but those tariffs are there three and a half years now under their administration...
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Well, let's be clear that the Trump administration resulted in a trade deficit, one of the highest we've ever seen in the history of America. He invited trade wars, you wanna talk about his deal with China what he ended up doing is under Donald Trump's presidency he ended up selling American chips to China to help them improve and modernize their military basically sold us out when a policy about China should be in making sure the United States of America wins the competition for the 21st century.
It is almost painful to compare their responses to abortion and Trump’s failure to answer a question on his position on the war between Israel and Hamas. Not only did he fail by comparison to sound knowledgeable, but he also sputtered and fumed nonsense in an attempt to exchange lies for coherence. On abortion, he tried to paint Governor Ralph Northam as an extremist who proposed fetal “abortions” after delivery. Ralph Norman was West Virginia's governor from 2018 through 2022 and is a pediatric neurologist. Here is Trump’s crazed charge during the debate:
“The problem [Democrats] have is they're radical because they will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth, after birth. If you look at the former governor of Virginia, he was willing to do this. He said, 'We'll put the baby aside, and will determine what we do with the baby.' Meaning: We’ll kill the baby."
Trump and Republicans in general have used Northam’s response to an interviewer's question about late-term abortions and care for babies born with severe life-threatening disabilities:
"If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen," Northam said. "The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother."
But Northam was only addressing what happens in cases where a baby is born with severe deformities and has a low chance of survival. What's often left out of the above quote is what he said immediately before it:
"When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of, obviously, the consent of the mother, with the consent of the physicians -- more than one physician, by the way -- and it's done in cases where there may be severe deformities. There may be a fetus that's non-viable."
— 13 newsnow, “Trump says in debate that former Virginia governor supports killing babies after birth. Why this is a lie.”
Northam was not speaking for Democrats and was not being asked about his position as a politician. He was asked for his expert opinion as a pediatric neurologist about a non-viable fetus. Harris countered with a nuanced and passionate defense of a woman’s right to reproductive health care. Trump was repeating a despicable lie.
There were no competing visions represented at the debate last night, just a set of competing realities. Donald Trump believes that government is an appendage of power. It serves those who hold it whether to hold on to power or keep them from a prison term. What was most disturbing at the end of the debate was not that the result of the election was still in doubt. It is not that there are still Americans who have yet to make up their minds about their choice for president.
Even before the debate that should have been clear to most voters who were following the race. The more disturbing fact that lingers after this debate is that for 40% of voters, the question is not in doubt. The man who swears that our pets are on every immigrant’s DoorDash delivery list and that the 2020 election is still unsettled has a grip hold on a base of voters for whom no fact is dispositive, no performance is disqualifying.