America’s political scene is starting to feel like a jaw-dropping reality TV series. On the most recent episode, Trump vs. Harris edition, Americans were treated to a debate that began with a dignified handshake and ended with “eat-the-cat” memes.
The 90-minute ABC News debate, which aired Sept. 10, was filled with political blunders, breakout moments, one-sided fact checks and very few directly answered questions. This debate was nowhere near as consequential as the Trump vs. Biden debate in June, which was the catalyst for President Joe Biden eventually dropping out of the race, but in such a unique situation as having a new presidential candidate who went through no primary election process, there was much on the line.
One takeaway: Vice President Kamala Harris appears to be one of the few politicians who has figured out how to deal with Donald Trump. Her approach is simple: humor. In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s moral outrage and pearl clutching gave Trump power. Harris, with expression, body language and tone, blunted this power by appearing to find Trump comically ridiculous, someone not worth taking seriously. After one of Trump’s more absurd statements about immigrants eating the pets of the American people, she merely laughed, saying “talk about extreme.”
Ahead of the debate, freshman business major Josiah Tshibaka said Trump is “painted as an extremist by left media outlets, and then he plays into that with things that he says and does and puts on social media.” He also predicted that Harris would egg on Trump and force him to be a bully, which proved true.
Harris baited Trump away from the topic at hand with occasional mentions of his trust fund roots, bankruptcy filings and an ad he took out in a NY paper about the Central Park Five. During a section covering one of Trump’s strongest issues — immigration — Harris stated that people leave Trump’s rallies due to boredom and exhaustion.
Trump took the bait. Rather than talking about a potentially advantageous issue, Trump wasted valuable time responding to Harris’ rally remark. Then he brought up a baseless theory popular in Twitter/X rabbit holes but largely unknown to most viewers, that Harris pays people to attend her rallies and busses them in. Bringing this up only supported Harris’ characterization of the former president as uncredible. Adding on to this, Trump spent far too much time during the debate mentioning unsubstantiated claims; memes of his comments that immigrants are eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio, took over the internet.
Trump tends to do well on the economy, but in this debate his standout moment came later on in the foreign policy section. The moderators asked whom he wanted to win in the war between Russia and Ukraine; Trump answered that he simply wanted the war to be over. Here he showed alignment with much of the American public. According to a poll from Gallup News , 43% of Americans believe the U.S. should help negotiate an end to the Ukraine war quickly, even if it means the Ukraine cedes territory, and Trump gave voice to that belief. He also gave a real answer to the question, not politicking his way around it.
But Trump did too little, too late. His closing statement was strong, especially when he went for the most obvious and poignant attack on Harris, highlighting the question in many Americans’ minds.
“She just started by saying she’s going to do this, she’s going to do that, she’s going to do all these wonderful things,” Trump said. “Why hasn’t she done it? She’s been there for 3 1/2 years.”
However, he could have used that line of attack constantly throughout the debate. Had Trump been more pointed and consistent, he could have won with this attack, for it has all the makings of a winning strategy: simple, honest and difficult to refute.
Harper Gray, a sophomore studying aerospace engineering and director of member relations for UA College Republicans, echoed this idea in an interview that took place about halfway through the debate.
“Kamala is talking about all these things that she wants to do, and I think she’s forgetting the fact that she’s in office right now, and some of these changes could have been made within the past four years,” Gray said.
The debate added another chapter to this turbulent political season. And it certainly has been turbulent: There was a different Democratic party candidate for president two months ago. Both parties held historic conventions. On July 13th Donald Trump was shot in the ear in an assassination attempt. This past Sunday another attempt on Trump’s life occurred at his golf club in Palm Beach, Florida. Overall, it’s doubtable that the debate will have a lasting impact on the polls. Things move fast in the chaotic currents through which American politics flow.
