The Presidential Debate: Harris Gives Trump the Rope and He Uses It

 Here is what we know thanks to Donald J. Trump last night. Democrats are in favor of executing babies after full term pregnancies. His political rallies are, "...the biggest and best political rallies in history and no one leaves them early." Not only that, but no one goes to Kamala Harris' rallies, but when they do they are bused in and paid by her campaign. We also know at least one European head of state, Hungary's dictator Viktor Orban thinks highly of Donald Trump. In addition Trump has a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act which he will unveil in a few weeks. (I know, he said that eight years ago, but who is counting?) We also learned Joe Biden hates Kamala Harris and all his primary voters were illegally disenfranchised. We learned crime rates in places like Venezuela are at an all time lows, because all their criminals have fled to the United States. Not only that, but those blood thirsty bastards are eating white kid's cats and dogs in Springfield, OH. Uh, that's right, all of them. 

We could go on, but really, it does get old and what's the point? Last night in Philadelphia there was only one person on the debate who looked and sounded Presidential. And she was not named Donald Trump. The media covering the event knows it. Everyone outside the MAGA cult knows it. Hell, even Trump himself knows it. It's why he showed up in the spin room afterward and on Fox News this morning. The man screwed the pooch last night and proved, all on his own, what many of us have been saying for years now--that he is bat shit crazy and should never be allowed near the Oval Office again.

There has been a bunch of media speculation about exactly when Kamala Harris drove Don over the edge last night. Was it when she claimed the audiences at his rallies grew tired and bored and were leaving early? Was it when she called Trump weak? Was it when she said Vladimir Putin would eat him for lunch? 

Personally, I like to believe it was before a word was spoken. Outlets had widely reported Donald Trump and Kamala Harris had never met face to face before the debate. When they were introduced by moderators David Muir and Lindsey Davis the Vice President immediately walked over to Donald Trump and stuck out her hand, "Kamala Harris," she said. Trump reluctantly shook her hand after seemingly backing away from her, completely unsure of what was happening. It was the last thing he had expected and it was Harris' way of saying, that's right, Big Boy, I'm strong and you don't intimidate me in any way, shape, or form. 

From this living room It appeared Donald J. Trump never fully recovered from that initial shock.

When Trump began to completely unravel--Immigrants are eating American's pets in Ohio--some later said she gave him a, "How sad for you," look. I felt it was more of a, "I can't believe you are stupid enough to actually talk about this insanity " look. In either event, when moderator, David Muir pointed out the Springfield City Manager and police have said there is no evidence of dog and cat dining, Trump's only response was, "There have been a lot of people on TV saying it is true." (Hey, Don, earlier in the day I saw a lot of people telling me the only way places like Machu Pichu and the pyramids exist is because pre-historic space travelers built them. Trust me, not everything said on TV, or social media is true}

After it was done last night the Harris victory was so complete people like Sean Hannity and Ted Cruz were reduced to bitterly complaining the disaster was caused by the bias of Muir and Davis. Hannity claimed, "Donald Trump had to debate three people tonight, not just one." According to Cruz the bias was obvious because they fact checked Trump, but not Harris. Well, in all fairness Senator it was Trump not Harris who accused Haitians of serving up Fido in their evening stew. But let's not quibble about details.

The fact is, Trump got significantly more speaking time than the Vice President by the end of the night. It didn't seem to matter to the Vice President though. She kept serenely calm and smiling as her opponent's face flushed red and he raged on. And make no mistake about it, it was exactly what she wanted. Every time Kamala Harris was asked a question she responded with who she was, where she came from, and what she was going to do about the issue. At the end of each of her two minute allotments she would, without fail, drop a line in the water armed with a barbed hook. Then, equally without fail, Donald Trump would take the bait and immediately go off the rails. In the end, Donald Trump had displayed a stunning lack of self control. Or to put it another way, he showed us he isn't the sort of guy we want walking around with the nuclear launch codes.

Yes, Kamala Harris won the debate last night. She didn't need any help from ABC moderators to do it either. All she had to do was give Donald Trump enough rope to hang himself with. That's exactly what she did and he obliged her by doing it every time he opened his mouth.

9-11-24