A Post-Debate Diatribe
Finally, the country can heave a sigh of relief. The drama leading up to the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is over. Both sides have had their fair share of mud slinging before, during, and well after the debate. To help those who may be still stuck on the fence, I saved a number of articles and post leading up to and after the debate.
What to Watch?
As a kind gesture, let's get into these, talk about them, and see what the next level is for the fast-paced decline of the democratic experiment we have fondly come to know as the United States of America. Here we go!
Starting on "game day," The Hill compiled a number of things to look for at the debate. Here's the breakdown list,
What to watch for as Trump and Harris take the stage together for 90 tense minutes in Pennsylvania, the most important swing-state on the map:
How will Harris perform under the bright lights? Trump is a known quantity, and his dismantling of President Biden at the debate in July ultimately led to Harris becoming the nominee. This will be Harris’s first debate since the 2020 presidential cycle during the vice presidential debate. Harris’s background as a prosecutor should be an asset against a rival who's been convicted on felony charges. But Harris's campaign has largely shielded her from interviews, press conferences and unscripted moments, raising the stakes for her on the biggest stage imaginable.
How will Trump attack Harris? The former president has been criticized by many in his own party for his personal attacks, including inflammatory remarks about Harris's race and intelligence. Polls show the gender gap is a huge problem for Trump.
How does Harris explain her policy changes? Harris has been dogged by the many left-wing positions she took during the 2020 primaries. CNN dropped the latest retrospective Monday, finding that in 2019 Harris came out in support of cutting funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and supported taxpayer funding of gender transition surgeries for detained immigrants and federal prisoners. Because Harris has avoided interviews, she might be asked about some of these positions for the first time Tuesday evening. Polls show many voters currently view Trump as more moderate, and Harris's goal at the debate is to win the middle.
Will Trump be dogged by his convictions, threats and conspiracies? Trump may have to answer for his recent inflammatory rhetoric around claims of fraud and threatening to jail his political opponents. Those remarks could draw attention to Trump’s myriad legal troubles and his crusades against the prosecutors who have charged him with election interference, mishandling classified documents, and other crimes.
Does the media play a role? ABC News will be closely scrutinized over what they ask, what they don’t ask, and how they moderate the high-stakes debate. Trump has been railing against the network over allegations of bias. The Harris campaign has fumed that the microphones will be off for the candidate who is not asked a question, limiting the back and forth between the two. Anchor David Muir is well known, but many Americans will be introduced to co-moderator Linsey Davis for the first time.
Then there's the Campaign Report from the Hill. Another slam on what to look for at the debate. What was important from that short article was the stats on who was poised to watch the debate and how influential it is for those in the Undecided camp.
A Popular Event
Nearly a third of registered voters surveyed in a recent NPR/PBS News/Marist poll said they are looking to the debate to help decide which candidate gets their vote. The rest said the debate wouldn't have an impact.
But the poll still found that most voters (70 percent) said they will tune in, while about 23 percent said they won't watch it live but will likely keep up with news coverage from it.
Then Axios had to get into the game. The headline said it all,
The fireworks started to flare as Harris and Trump began to voice their differences regardless of mics on or off.
The Hill stated it like this,
Narrowing down the debate to 5 Moments was a high task, but here it is!
For those who are more interested in a video display of a post-debate analysis, here's what a presumed unbiased analysis looks like.
Takeaways and a Quick Blooper
There was too much good stuff from a post-debate analysis. Axios put some together. Here's the article.
The we get some minor high points from different news sources,
The Wall Street Journal: Harris said she agreed with Biden’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan in 2021 but pointed fingers at then-President Trump for a 2020 deal with the Taliban.
NBC News: Harris emphasized the need for a cease-fire deal and hostage agreement to end the war in Gaza and lead into a two-state solution, while Trump accused her of “hating Israel.”
The Hill: Trump said he was interested in trying to repeal ObamaCare again but doesn’t have a plan of how to do it. “I have concepts of a plan,” he said.
A debate is nothing without a Blooper Reel. Here's some of the fun moments.
The news really should be about the ratings! It's no wonder the broadcast company would only allow two commercial breaks. Can you imagine the cost per ad for that airtime! Incredible numbers to say the least. The Hill states the following numbers,
At least 58 million people watched last night's presidential debate, according to preliminary Nielsen figures released today.
That's about 6.5 million more than watched the debate between former President Trump and President Biden.
And the numbers will probably rise once Nielsen finishes a more comprehensive tally.
Context: The highest-rated game in the NFL's opening week averaged 29 million viewers. The debate roughly doubled that.
A Swift Bombshell
Then there was the final nail in the proverbial coffin. Taylor Swift had to get her head involved and endorsed Kamala Harris. Axios reported this,
"Taylor Swift, identifying as a "childless cat lady," endorsed Harris on Tuesday, minutes after the debate with Trump concluded."
"Taylor Swift is endorsing Vice President Harris’s presidential run, saying she’s backing the vice president because “she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”
The singing superstar — who called herself a “childless cat lady” in a reference to past remarks from GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) — issued a surprise endorsement of Harris immediately following the first presidential debate between the vice president and former President Trump.
“I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” Swift wrote to her more than 280 million Instagram followers."
The morning announcement on September 11 just continued to flood as the news sources weighed in on this happening.
The nearly "ouch!" moment comes as Political Wire writes,
Is It Over Yet?
The only last question to ask from the debate and the post-debate confusion is, "why?"
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