US Presidential Debate 1.5 - Now with 50% Less Old Man (Thanks to The Daily Show for That Joke)

Caricatures of Trump and Harris at the Presidential Debate

Trump and Harris both gave a clear insight into what they
were about at their first Presidential debate.

What a difference a competent opposition to Donald Trump makes. Watching the second, or first? Let's call it debate 1.5 since it's Trump's second debate and Kamala Harris' first in this US election campaign.

Watching debate 1.5 my overall impression is, regardless of which candidate you support, and if you don't drill down too deep into what each actually said, both looked like they delivered a strong performance.

After the debate the Left media seemed to think Donald took every piece of bait Kamala threw out, and was flustered, and even shouting at one point. I watched the whole debate and at no point did I feel Trump was shouting - no more than he would at any public rally to get his point across.

He certainly never look flustered either. He did exactly what Kamala was doing when he heard something that he felt was false or inaccurate, he asked if he could respond, or insisted on responding.

You know it. Kamala insisted on responding numerous times too. For example she just had to correct Trump on his assertation that she and her running mate, Tim Walz, were coming for people's guns... they aren't, because both of them are gun owners too. Well that makes me feel better.

Trump may have raised some very alarming non issues, like immigrants eating people's pets in Springfield, Ohio, or babies being terminated after they're born (seriously? That's definitely murder by that point - there's no grey area once a person is born).

But both of them were completely side stepping the moderator's questions on several occasions.

Most notably on the question on what each would do to combat climate change... which, if I remember rightly, Kamala somehow veered off into car manufacturing in America or something... I honestly don't know? But it caused Trump to respond to that instead of saying anything at all about climate change plans.

I'm not going to get into the weeds of what each said. I was expecting Kamala to wipe the floor with Trump in this debate based on his performance in the previous one with Joe Biden. Turns out Joe just wasn't up to the job of challenging Trump with anything coherent that Trump could respond to.

In this debate, while Kamala may have been trying to bait Trump, I feel it had the effect of making Trump seem more engaged and determined in the eyes of his supporters.

Supporters who are not only used to him going off on a tangent with exaggerated claims, but also inclined to believe his claims are true. It's the media that lies and makes false reports, allegedly, just ask Trump.

I can also see why Trump is not a fan of ABC News being the host of the debates. Their news desk was definitely not impartial in their commentary after the debate. It was their team that seemed to think this debate had been a disaster for Trump... it wasn't. It really wasn't.

I'm inclined to agree with Trump that, if there is another debate, while it should have the same rules, maybe let one of his preferred media outlets host it. I think, at the very least, it would be telling on the state of News Media in the US.

All in all debate 1.5 was an improvement over the previous outing. What I saw was both candidates successfully getting their views and messages across. It clearly showed where they both stand and what you're voting for in the election.

Kamala didn't wipe the floor with Trump because she doesn't really speak the language of his supporters. I'm pretty sure she didn't move the needle from the election being a close race.

This election is still very much about mobilizing voters to actually vote. The ones that have picked a side but don't usually vote (I'm talking about democrat supporters) because they don't like any of the candidates. Republican supporters, I suspect, are easier to mobilize... January 6... anyone?

Kamala needs to learn how to speak MAGA if she's going to put any distance between her and Trump.

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