The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Yes, Kamala ‘Won’ That Debate (and Why It Probably Won’t Matter in November)

Posted on | September 11, 2024 | No Comments

If any of your Democrat friends try to provoke you into an argument about who won Tuesday night’s debate, avoid the provocation by agreeing that Kamala “won,” and end the conversation immediately.

“Never smarten up a chump” — don’t let them in on the secret that Harris’s debate “victory” is unlikely to make any difference.

This is why Democrats were caught by surprise in 2016. They were paying attention to the media and didn’t understand that Trump voters were not deterred by any of his scandals or “gaffes.” This was a mistake that I myself made. After the “Access Hollywood” tapes went public, I declared in early October 2016 that there was no way Trump could win — how could anyone survive that? On Election Day, I went out and voted for Trump, then came home to watch the results on TV and was amazed to see state after state turn red on the map. Incredible!

Was any voter really undecided before Tuesday? I suppose that all the regular readers here had made up their mind to vote for Trump long ago. Your choice was not in the least changed, was it? Ditto all the Harris voters — they were never going to be persuaded to vote for Trump, no matter what. They’d vote for a turnip if it had a “D” next to it. Who were the “undecided” voters, and why were they undecided? I have trouble imagining such people exist, and can’t begin to explain the motives for their indecision. But if they were leaning toward voting for Trump, why would they change their minds simply because he was extra-Trumpish during the debate? The man is a known quantity, for good or ill.

Like a lot of other Trump voters, I was disappointed by his performance, but not really surprised, and certainly was not persuaded to vote for Kamala. I am against the Democratic Party, period, and my chief regret is that not every one of the 74,000,000 Trump voters are as staunchly anti-Democrat as I am. I voted for Trump despite Trump being Trump, and will do it again, and am therefore not an accurate bellwether of how an “undecided” voter might react to Trump being Trump.

My point is that I don’t think any Trump supporter should feel discouraged about the election because of Tuesday’s debate. If you have liberal friends who are whooping it up in celebration, the thing to do is to pretend you don’t notice. Don’t start any arguments, and don’t let yourself be baited into any arguments. Democrats are going to be Democrats, and why waste time arguing with fools?

Here’s Reagan Reese reporting at the Daily Caller:

Former President Donald Trump came out hot during his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, while ABC’s moderators fact-checked just one side of the stage.
Trump and Harris met for the first time in their political careers on ABC News’s debate stage in a 90 minute contest that featured no live audience, muted mics and moderators that left many conservative viewers frustrated. As ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis continuously corrected Trump and left Harris un-checked, the vice president baited the former president into fiery moments by teasing him about rally crowd size and his 2020 loss. . . .
Though Harris dodged questions on her numerous policy flip-flops and whether Americans are better off under her administration than Trump’s, pundits and media personalities suggested that the vice president presented herself better than her opponent. A CNN flash poll of debate watchers found that 63% said Harris had won the debate, compared to 37% for Trump. The same sample of individuals said pre-debate they were split 50-50 on who they expected to win.
Her campaign apparently thought so too, because minutes after the forum ended, they began calling for a second debate in October.
Trump, meanwhile, was noticeably louder and more aggressive than in his debate against President Joe Biden, where the Republican nominee largely stood quietly by while his opponent imploded.
“She conveyed the calm. Did she answer all the questions about the switches? No. But I thought he would’ve raised that,” former congressman Harold Ford said in Fox News’ post show.
“She came out ahead of him in my opinion, no doubt,” Brit Hume, Fox News political analyst, responded to Ford. “She was calm, she was prepared.”

So there’s the “objective” take, such as it is.



 

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Category: Debates, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris

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