Well, that was different from the between President Biden and Donald Trump.
If that June debate was a five-alarm fire for Democrats that eventually forced Biden from the race, after Tuesday鈥檚 debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump鈥檚 proponents should probably check the temperature in their own house.
What happened 鈥� and what could it mean going forward?
Here are 5 takeaways:
1. This debate wasn鈥檛 close.
The majority of the focus coming into Tuesday was about how Harris would handle her first-ever presidential debate with someone who had been on this stage many times. Could she answer questions about her position shifts; parry attacks from Trump, someone who tries to be the alpha on these stages; could she answer the attack that she鈥檚 light on policy; and could she appear 鈥減residential鈥�?
She may have seemed nervous at first, but she quickly found her voice and more than acquitted herself well. All of those questions were quickly dispatched:
- She explained her shift on fracking (鈥淢y position is that we have got to invest in diverse sources of energy, so we reduce our reliance on foreign oil鈥�).
- Harris was far more dominant than Trump, from beginning to end. She called him 鈥渨eak and wrong,鈥� inverting the political clich茅 that 鈥渟trong and wrong鈥� beats 鈥渨eak and right.鈥� Harris answered questions, then redirected and baited him on a host of issues.
- She got under Trump鈥檚 skin 鈥� something he usually tries to do 鈥� by saying that people at his rallies leave 鈥渆arly out of exhaustion and boredom,鈥� painting him as out of touch and a bad businessman for inheriting $400 million 鈥渙n a silver platter and then filed for bankruptcy six times,鈥� and chiding him for being 鈥渇ired by 81 million people鈥� in the 2020 election and now being 鈥渃onfused鈥� about losing.
- Harris addressed policy, including tax breaks for small businesses and parents and touting her idea for a first-time home-buyer credit for down payments. She repeatedly said, 鈥淚 have a plan,鈥� while Trump was left saying, 鈥淚 have concepts of a plan鈥� when it comes to replacing the Affordable Care Act.
- And on the presidential question 鈥� Harris was calm, in command and in control and looked to the future, distinguishing herself from both Biden and Trump.
Trump鈥檚 team ahead of the debate equated the Republican standard-bearer to boxing great Muhammad Ali. If he was a boxer, Trump was cut and bleeding in the middle of the fight, and by the end, was TKO鈥檇. Or as a Democratic strategist texted afterward, it was more like Ali vs. Berbick, Ali鈥檚 last fight, decided unanimously 鈥� for Berbick.
Trump made the unusual move for a presidential candidate to go into the spin room after the debate and talk to reporters. That鈥檚 not something that鈥檚 normally done when someone has a good debate. That鈥檚 usually reserved for low-polling primary candidates, who felt they didn鈥檛 get enough time or attention during the debate.
2. The spotlight should now be on Trump鈥檚 incoherence and general lack of any serious grasp on policy.
Coming into the debate, that if Harris is 鈥渁ble to acquit herself passably, the spotlight and scrutiny should be heavily on Trump.鈥�
That鈥檚 because Trump did not have a very good debate against Biden in June, but his serious problems 鈥� his lack of substance and repeated lies 鈥� were overshadowed by Biden鈥檚 disastrous performance, of any presidential candidate in history.
With a more-than-competent performance from Harris Tuesday, Trump鈥檚 lies, meandering, conspiracies and often general incoherence was made even more glaring.
He wandered through conspiracies about, not just the election, but also about who is currently president (Joe Biden), the usual about immigrants who (aren鈥檛 actually) coming from 鈥渕ental institutions and insane asylums鈥� and the newly unusual () about immigrants who (are not) 鈥渆ating the dogs鈥� or 鈥渃ats.鈥�
Trump got the conspiracy wrong, though, because it was about ducks, not dogs.
Trump even got wrong the actual facts of Harris鈥� misleading charge that Trump predicted 鈥渁 bloodbath鈥� if the outcome of this election is 鈥渘ot to his liking.鈥�
鈥淚t was a different term,鈥� Trump said, 鈥渁nd it was a term that related to energy because they have destroyed our energy business.鈥�
It was the correct term. He did say 鈥渂loodbath鈥� , but he was talking in the context of Chinese tariffs, the auto industry and a transition to electric vehicles 鈥� not 鈥渙ur energy business.鈥�
It鈥檚 the very kind of thing that would have had Democrats nervous about their octogenarian former candidate and Republicans 鈥渙utraged鈥� on cable news about Biden鈥檚 mental state.
3. Trump was on the defensive and evasive, even on issues that should benefit him 鈥� and didn鈥檛 land much, if anything, that stuck.
Harris had Trump on the defensive from the get-go on the economy (about his tax cuts and tariffs), his jobs record, his handling of the pandemic and Jan. 6. There were times, even on immigration, when Trump decided to address a Harris attack instead of talking about the issue he ostensibly wants to talk most about.
For someone who likes to bill himself a straight shooter, Trump didn鈥檛 answer questions directly and dumped a greatest hits of lies from this campaign. He declined to say if he wanted Ukraine to win against Russia, wouldn鈥檛 answer if he had any regrets about his response to the violence on Jan. 6, and he twice refused to say if he would veto a national abortion ban, like his vice-presidential running mate said he would.
In fact, he went out of his way to say essentially that Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance doesn鈥檛 speak for him 鈥� in a clumsy and meandering way that led him to student loans:
鈥淲ell, I didn't discuss it with JD in all fairness. JD 鈥� And I, I don't mind if he has a certain view, but I think he was speaking for me, but I really didn't. Look, we don't have to discuss it, because she'd never be able to get it, just like she couldn't get student loans. They couldn't get student loans. They didn't even come close to getting student loans. They taunted young people and a lot of other people that had loans. They can never get this approved. So it doesn't matter what she says about going to Congress. So wonderful, let's go to Congress, do it.鈥�
Never mind that Republicans in Congress would not act to help relieve student loans or that Republican-led states sued to end Biden鈥檚 executive action on student-loan forgiveness. But Trump was digging the hole even deeper for himself on abortion rights.
鈥淚 did a great service in doing it,鈥� Trump said about the overturning of Roe. 鈥淚t took courage to do it. And the Supreme Court had great courage in doing it. And I give tremendous credit to those six justices.鈥�
Nearly the overturning of Roe.
Trump was also outside the mainstream of public opinion in talking about the Affordable Care Act. He called it 鈥渓ousy鈥� and 鈥渘ot very good today鈥� when of people have a favorable opinion of it.
Trump鈥檚 best attack was probably this:
鈥淪he's gonna do all these wonderful things,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hy hasn't she done it? She's been there for three-and-a-half years. They've had three-and-a-half years to fix the border. They've had three-and-a-half years to create jobs and all the things we talked about. Why hasn't she done it?鈥�
But a coherent attack line was rare from Trump Tuesday night. And even this one was nearly a concession.
4. The moderators fact-checked unlike in the previous debate.
CNN said it was going to leave the fact checking to the candidates during the June debate between Trump and Biden.
ABC took a different approach. Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis interjected with fact checks four times 鈥� all were of Trump.
That was not a reflection of bias; it was because of just how many things Trump said there were blatantly false, like on crime statistics, the dogs and cats conspiracy and the 2020 election.
They did it with a mild, but clear tone and maintained control of the debate throughout the evening, getting to lots of topics and not letting either candidate run over them.
Their approach was notable, particularly with viewership expected to be high. When he went to the spin room, Trump added to his pile of grievances, claiming the debate was 鈥渧ery unfair鈥� and called it 鈥渢hree on one.鈥�
5. Harris has done everything right 鈥� and could still lose.
Harris arguably handled Trump better than anyone has at a debate, whether it was Hillary Clinton in 2016 or Biden in 2020 鈥� even though most concluded that Clinton and Biden won most, if not all, of those face-offs.
Since getting into this shortened campaign, Harris has done pretty much everything right. She鈥檚 tacked to the middle, raised more than half-a-billion dollars, staffed up and opened field offices across the swing states, fired up the Democratic base and now even out-debated Trump.
But the political reality is Harris could still lose.
Trump has a strong and devoted base, and the seven swing states 鈥� Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada 鈥� are more conservative than the country at large.
People still are more pessimistic than optimistic on the economy, even if that鈥檚 improved some lately, and polls 鈥� including the NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll out Tuesday 鈥� have shown people trust Trump to handle the economy, immigration and the war in the Middle East more than Harris.
Could this debate have changed some minds? Maybe. But views of Trump have been ingrained. This race is very much a coin flip, according to the polls, and that鈥檚 unlikely to change very much even after this debate, because of how hyper-polarized this country is.
Copyright 2024 NPR
