The polls show Vice President Kamala Harris winning the debate with Donald Trump last night. Part of it was due to low expectations and another element had to do with media bias. But make no mistake, a good deal of it had to do with the fact that Harris put in the prep time and apparently Trump did not.
A good debater will sit with his team and anticipate the questions that will come to them. They will have their canned responses with their talking points ready to go. They will seek to always be on the offensive and put their opponent on the defense. When their opponent or the moderators pose a question directed toward his or her weakness, a good debater will quickly answer the question and then pivot back to the issues that he or she is strongest on.
The pundits will want the debater to answer the question directly, but good debaters will use their two minutes to accentuate their positives and their opponents’ negatives. Harris did that well last night. Trump did not.
One senses that there was a level of hubris within the Trump camp, or at least with Trump himself — thinking that he’s got this in the bag. He’s debated many times and came out still standing, with the exception of his first debate against Joe Biden in 2024, which might have helped cost him that election.
But Trump has never been impressive with his command of the subject matter, especially when it gets into specifics to sell his case.
He relies on hyperbole such as “we had the greatest economy ever” and “they gave you the worst economy ever.”
How about being specific? The facts are on his side. He could’ve said, “My tax cuts were across-the-board, helping not only the wealthy, but the middle class and working class as well.”
“I inherited a tepid 1.6% growth in Obama‘s last term and nearly doubled that, despite the fact that we put in place tariffs to create a level playing field with China that led to a doubling of wage percentage increases for our residents while we kept inflation to a mere 1.8% that Harris inherited. That amounted to a net gain of $6000 in real growth for the average family.
“The inflation was caused by the specific votes of Kamala Harris. Democratic economists Larry Summers and Steve Rattner warned that going on the Biden spending spree would lead to inflation being out of control. Biden and Harris ignored them. The 1.8% inflation rate I gave them ballooned to to 9% and totals nearly 20% over their tenure.
On immigration, instead of talking about immigrants eating dogs, he could’ve noted how New York City spent $10 billion over a three-year period caring for Harris’ Immigrant surge. He could have noted how veterans were kicked out of their housing units and kids were removed from their ballfields to accommodate the illegals encouraged to come in by Harris. He could’ve countered Harris’ talking point that he blocked a great Immigration bill. First off, it wasn’t bipartisan since only three Republicans out of about 250 signed onto the bill. But more importantly, that atrocious bill would allow 2 million illegal immigrants a year to come into the country before the president would need to take action.
And when Harris touted being a prosecutor, Trump could’ve put her on the defensive by noting that Manhattan’s Alvin Bragg and Los Angeles’ George Gascón are also prosecutors, but they were brought into office with George Soros money for the purpose of ending prosecution against violent criminals. Harris was all in on that, having supported propositions that decriminalized shoplifting.
It doesn’t take much to memorize this and have these facts ready to be rolled off your tongue. Most importantly, every debater will have their opening and their closings memorized. Harris is asked a question about whether people are worse off today than four years ago due to her policies. She ignored the question and went into a statement that accentuated her positives, including her so-called middle-class upbringing (which is not true).
It was tight, memorized and effective.
While Trump’s closing wisely mentioned that Harris had three-and-a-half years to implement the things she wanted to do, it was still rambling and disjointed. He could have mentioned what she wants to do in the future, such as doubling the capital gains tax or taxing people for unrealized gains in their 401(k)s.
Most importantly, a good debater knows how to pivot and not keep speaking on the opponent’s terms. But that’s exactly what happened when Trump took the bait about the size of his crowds. Who cares?
He spent the entire two minutes trying to defend his elimination of Roe v. Wade. He should’ve answered it by saying, “This is now a matter for the states and I will not sign a national abortion ban, but let’s get down to what the women of this country really care about.That is the incredible price increases of the Biden administration, the fact that their cities are being overwhelmed by illegal aliens, and that women are not safe to take a subway any longer.”
All that requires preparation and a willingness to do one’s homework, to memorize and to have your facts ready in your head. Trump too often likes to improvise. That may go over in a rally, but it doesn’t go over in a convention speech or a debate that requires a two-minute answer.
The debate was a loss for Trump, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into a loss in the polls.
It was a win for Harris in that the perception that she was a cackling moron who couldn’t think on her feet could be somewhat mitigated. It’s the same advantage Reagan got from the 1980s debate where he allayed the fears of many that he was going to start World War III.
At this point, the Trump campaign is going to have to hope that they have enough money to flood the airways in the battleground states with ads reminding people of what Harris has done to the country while also warning them with specifics as to what she plans for the future.
Actually, we were surprised to hear that the Harris camp immediately wanted another debate. If they were smart, they would wrap it up and move on on a high note.
If there was a second debate, Trump could use the time to actually prep and not rely on his instincts and improvisational abilities.
He learned from 2020 how to control the interruptions. Now he has to learn how to properly prepare.