By Sushil Kutty
Who won Tuesday’s Trump-Harris debate and the answer was in the media’s pocket. Democrat Kamala Harris had to just show up while Republican Donald Trump had to field pointed questions. Harris owned the media and Kamala wasn’t late at the ABC show. Kamala’s highlight of the debate was her quip that Trump’s “bored fans were leaving all his rallies.”
The media controlled the spin and the after-debate conclusions left the debate behind. Was it a huge disappointment for Trump or was it like the shooter on the roof, a miss to the head and a nick to the ear, such that all one could hear was “Trump lost” and “Harris won” by a mile.
Democrat Harris couldn’t do anything wrong was the post-debate dessert served by the Harris-friendly media. Head to head, the former President refused to glance at Kamala, who in turn couldn’t take her eyes off the former President’s mein. This was the first time Donald Trump and Kamala Harris met. They shook hands before the debate but wouldn’t at the end of the debate.
All the media spoke of the “fiery debate” but the discerning couldn’t feel anything sizzling about the debate. The Donald kept his cool, which didn’t find mention in the media coup after the debate. Philadelphia on Tuesday night, Wednesday morning in India, was pretty cool for all the heat generated by the two Presidential candidates.
The “fiery 90 minutes” was bereft of any dramatics and neither candidate rattled the other though post-debate, media world over spoke of the former President wilting and throwing off-message. To be honest, Trump’s biggest accomplishment was in his cool demeanour. The contest never rose to great heights nor did it touch a sore bottom.
Come to think of it, neither of the two “anchors” had to raise their voices or chide the candidates. Nothing went horribly wrong for them to remember for the rest of their lives or tell to their grandchildren. Kamala Harris will have to beat Donald Trump through the vote. Until then no media can declare her “Queen”.
The Donald must have surmised the questions set for the debate, covering all the issues the media has been harping on ever since President Joe Biden was kicked off the Democratic perch and Kamala took his place. The media completely ignored that Kamala posted her policy platform only on the eve of the debate.
The media might shout from the rooftop but Democrat Kamala Harris is not as damn sure as the New York Times and Washington Post are. Kamala Harris’s “pointed digs” failed to fluster the seasoned Donald Trump who is no newcomer to female opponents. Trump was not once pushed to the “back foot”, not that Harris didn’t try to goad her Republican rival.
Donald Trump refused to trip over the “pointed questions”. And Kamala Harris spoke of everything that she would be doing while Donald Trump wasn’t willing to be drawn into “making extended defences of his past conduct and comments.” If anybody heard him raise his voice, that person doesn’t need a hearing aid!
There were no people other than the two debaters and the two anchors with their biases firmly in place at Tuesday’s ABC debate. Journalists watched the debate live on TV, just like any of the millions of Tom, Dick and Harry. Shouldn’t the media fact-check Kamala’s claim that “people start leaving the (Trump) rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.” Kamala wasn’t there at Trump rallies and yet claims that people went home “early out of exhaustion and boredom”.
Was she a fly on Donald Trump’s now famous ear? Kamala Harris was addressing one of Trump’s strengths, his rallies. The extraordinary numbers of attendees at Trump rallies is a known thing. Kamala Harris might have bested Trump at the debate but ask the two ABC talking heads and Trump’s rallies weren’t part of the Philadelphia presidential debate.
Trump went off-kilter with his unfounded claim that “Haitian immigrants in the town of Springfield, Ohio, were abducting and eating their neighbour’s pets”, inviting a barrage of accusations of “sensationalizing” with conspiracy theories. That was the only time Trump lost the plot, though it is hard to fact-check “cats and dogs”. For a moment there, however, Donald Trump was the cat on the hot tin roof!
“Tuesday night” went to Kamala Harris. “The Vice President scored a victory,” say most after-debate write-ups. The questions were made-to-order for Kamala to take advantage of and if she didn’t take, it’s her fault. Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday night, Wednesday morning in India, was given the best conditions and questions possible to fulfil her American Dream, for which she should be thanking President Joe Biden from the bottom of her heart.
Now, after the debate, everybody who is Democrat is affirmative that Kamala Harris harassed Donald Trump to the point, the “advantage tilted in favour of the Vice-President.” Even straw polls and betting markets placed their dollars on Kamala Harris. Did Kamala’s tactics, helped by the ABC questions, succeed in putting Donald Trump on the defensive right from the word ‘Go’?
Compared to Trump, Kamala Harris had it relatively easy though President Trump said soon after the debate that it was his “best debate, ever”. Question is, what does the average American Joe think, did Kamala Harris win the debate or did Donald Trump save his third-time bid for a second presidential term?
The media conclusion is that Kamala Harris kept her eyes on Donald and Trump couldn’t look at her and make eye-contact? There are around 50 odd days left for the voting and whichever of the two candidates, Kamala or Donald, asks for another presidential debate lost this one. Democrats on the whole want a second presidential debate ASAP, such is their confidence. Democrats think Tuesday night Harris ruled the roost. But the Average Joe in the street wouldn’t bet on either of the candidates, Kamala or Donald. The race is still wide open. (IPA Service)