
<p>Tonight we saw the first and quite probably the last debate between former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris. The venue was the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia with ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis.</p>



<p>None of the actual issues were new, no need to speak about them. I&#8217;m approaching this from the standpoint of who will benefit from this, the optics, the impressions and the influence.</p>



<p>Of certain things, I am absolutely positive.</p>



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<p>1. Kamala Harris knew the questions specifically before the debate. Why do I say this? Her answers were tailored to specific formations of the questions, she had ready made speeches that had clearly been rehearsed. And they were well executed. Could she have just prepared very well? No, it was too specific. Did Trump have the questions? No, he appeared to be blindsided a bit.<br><br>2. The moderators purposely shifted the debate to Harris. It was interesting that the moderators argued and &#8220;fact checked&#8221; Trump, but NEVER Kamala Harris (whose lies were obvious). In one instance, Davis told Trump (rather nastily) that no state allowed the killing of babies after they were born &#8211; which of course was not Trump&#8217;s point at all. Muir made it a point to say that Donald Trump &#8220;falsely&#8221; claimed that the 2020 election was rigged. Muir argued back and forth with Trump about January 6th (was he attempting to show that Trump was argumentative?) They did none of this with Harris, and Harris got some real softball questions. In fact, they asked Trump about Harris&#8217; black heritage, which set up Harris very nicely to accuse Trump of racism.</p>
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<p>This was not a one on one debate, it was three on one. But, of course, that does not matter in terms of influence &#8211; most people who are undecided will not really notice the bias, they will just be influenced.</p>



<p>I have to grudgingly admit that Kamala was well prepared (easier when you have the questions in advance). She inserted almost every Democrat fake accusation of Trump in the midst of her arguments and was able to draw Trump into defending himself for much of the debate. Also, her body language when she was not speaking was well crafted, laughing and rolling eyes, etc. It was effective. She managed to accuse Trump of lying while lying constantly.</p>



<p>Trump on the other hand attempted to stick to policy, at times his posture was bad. He attempted to say too much, to make too many points within the time limits. I thought he should have focused more on the incompetence of the current administration, but clearly this was not the plan. And yes, as CNN put it, Trump was &#8220;triggered&#8221; several times. He was not able to make clear the folly of Kamala&#8217;s policies as spoken (but did manage to note the absence of policy).</p>



<p>However, Trump hit his points over and over. He was funny, he was specific in his charges and he emphasized why his administration was better. </p>



<p>I believe that Trump won the very first part of the debate and the closing statement. I believe Kamala Harris&#8217; emotional speeches were effective in reaching young women, but likely turned off men after a while &#8211; she did this constantly throughout the debate and after a while it was easy to see through. </p>



<p>My conclusion is that this is a huge win for Kamala Harris &#8211; not because it will sway the voters, but because it wasn&#8217;t the disaster that was anticipated. I do not believe she won a lot of votes with this performance, certainly not from Trump supporters. But it will not cause the free fall that Biden experienced based on this performance.</p>

Trump vs Kamala Debate – Hmmmm…
