Ryan J Rusak
If this was the only Kamala Harris-Donald Trump debate, the country was the ultimate loser.
One candidate blustered and took the bait on every attack and diversion offered up. The other papered over her entire political record and faced no challenging questions in one of the most one-sided moderating jobs in presidential debate history.
The bottom line, however, is that most voters have decided. The few who haven’t? Well, if they stuck with it, they might have decided all right -- to stay home on Nov. 5.
Here are some winners and losers from Tuesday night’s showdown:
WINNERS
Kamala HarriscTypeface:> She landed the most persuasive arguments of the night: That it’s time to move on from the Trump era and that she is focused on the issues concerning voters. She got a huge assist from moderators who never once fact-checked her or asked a tough follow-up, however, and surely some voters noticed.
Time travelcTypeface:> What year are we in? Which candidate is part of the administration currently in power? The debate focused much more on Trump’s term, which ended more than three and a half years ago, than the record of the administration that Harris represents. And you would barely know from the questions and topics that Harris ran for president herself as one of the most progressive candidates ever just four years ago.
"Run, Spot, Run”cTypeface:> Perhaps the only genuinely funny moment of the night was when Trump trotted out this classic to describe the simplicity of Harris’ recently unveiled policy proposals. But in typical Trump fashion, it was only a glancing blow. He didn’t fully explain that she hasn’t answered questions about what she wants to do and has accounted for a rapid string of flip-flops.
Joe BidencTypeface:> Yeah, he doesn’t get the career-capping achievement of seeking a second term. But he also didn’t have to participate in this mess, and he mostly came out unscathed, in spite of a record marred by rampant inflation and illegal immigration.
LOSERS
ImpactcTypeface:> It was going to be hard for this debate to match the fallout of the last, which eventually ended Biden’s career. And in a normal political environment, Trump’s thin skin and wandering answers would hurt him. But the ABC News moderators were so noticeably one-sided, plenty of people will discount the whole thing.
Donald Trump’s demeanorcTypeface:> The former president seems to have lost the ability to speak to voters beyond his base and, worst of all, he indulges in the shorthand and grievances of the portion of it that thinks X (formerly Twitter) is the real world. He took the bait on every personal attack from Harris, and his attempts to call out her shortcomings were unfocused.
The American futurecTypeface:> Things you wouldn’t know from watching this debate: We have an education crisis. We need smart policies on artificial intelligence that encourages development but sets up guardrails. Housing is increasingly unaffordable. Most of that barely came up, but we once again relitigated the 2020 election.
Immigration policycTypeface:> There were plenty of words around immigration, but there was little detail about how the situation got so dire and what it will take to fix it. Instead, all anyone will remember is Trump invoking a ridiculous story about migrants stealing and eating household pets in an Ohio town. The underlying fact, that a city of 60,000 is inundated with thousands of Haitian migrants, should be a lay-up for Trump. He missed the shot.
(Ryan J Rusak is opinion editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.)