THE SHOW NOTES: The Debate
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The Debate
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump met for the first time in an empty arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on ABC last night.
Trump supporters are leaving the debate underwhelmed at their candidate’s performance and infuriated at the lopsided fact-checking from David Muir and Linsey Davis. On five separate occasions, the moderators forcefully fact-checked Donald Trump while refusing to correct Kamala Harris on a single issue during the heated 90-minute debate.
Crime: One of the most egregious moments came when Donald Trump said that crime was through the roof and Linsey Davis quickly replied, "President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is coming down in this country." While this is true on a year-over-year basis, violent crime is still significantly higher than before the pandemic.
Abortion: When discussing late-term abortion, Donald Trump recounted the story of the former Democratic Virginia Governor who infamously endorsed the idea of a post-birth abortion by claiming a “discussion would take place” between a doctor and mother about what to do with a newborn baby. Davis again quickly replied, "There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.”
The most unbelievable lack of fact-checking came when Kamala Harris claimed that there was not a single American in an active combat zone around the world.
“Well, I will tell you, I agreed with President Biden’s decision to pull out of Afghanistan. Four presidents said they would, and Joe Biden did. And as a result, America’s taxpayers are not paying the $300 million a day we were paying for that endless war. And as of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world, the first time this century.”
Donald Trump repeatedly took the bait from the moderators and his opponent on topics ranging from the size of the crowds at his rallies to the authenticity of the 2020 election to widely disproven claims that immigrants are eating pets in Ohio.
Stolen election:
Crowd size and eating pets:
Here are the top media quotes from last night:
Brit Hume: “She was composed. She was prepared. She kept her cool. She saw advantages and took them. She baited him successfully which is the story of the debate in my view. So she came out ahead in this in my opinion… no doubt.”
Dana Perino: “Trump took all the bait and none of the opportunities.”
Dan McLaughlin: “The moderators were bad, and deserving of all the criticism coming their way. But they weren't so bad that it should have prevented a better candidate from working through it.”
Pradheep Shanker: “The worst part about all of this is, even after this debate, we really don't know what Kamala Harris would do as President. Nobody knows. Hell...I am not sure she knows.”
John Podhoretz: “Look, you can complain about the refs. But if the pass is incomplete, the play is dead.”
Mark Hemingway: “ABC news is following up their craptastic debate by airing Jimmy Kimmel with special guest... George Conway, in case you're wondering whether or not the network deliberately planned to go after Trump tonight.”
Josh Kraushaar: “In recent years, Democrats have usually been the party that's too online and stuck in a left-wing bubble. At this debate, it was Trump who relayed a (false) online social media meme about migrants eating cats that showed his team in its own bubble.”
AGHamilton: “It really is crazy that we went from the best-moderated debate we've seen in years via CNN to one of the worst. And I suspect a lot of it had to do with anger within some newsrooms about the outcome of the CNN debate.”
Chris Christie:
Read my full take here.
Presented Without Comment
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Market snapshot:
You have to begin now, asking yourself, what goes first? Your 401k or the Bill of Rights?
Thanks DJT, you moron!
The bar was high for Trump and low for Harris. She got under his skin with the help from the dishonest and unethical ABC moderators.
She was better prepared, and so much so... I would really challenge that she did not get the exact questions in advance. This is ABC... it is so filled with woke Trump-haters that one of them involved in the debate planning process would have easily slipped a note to the Harris team. Come on man, they have so brazenly lied about everything... so clearly been in the tank for the Democrats... why would we consider this a conspiracy stretch. Her performance was almost like it was a scripted act she memorized.
But it remains to be seen if this is going to bump Harris. The two big voter issues are the economy and immigration. What did Harris do last night to convince anyone that she is better than Trump on these issues? I think Trump did a solid job of pinning her with the mess, and reminding people that he is the much better candidate to deal with those issues.
The infuriating thing with Trump is that he missed the wide open field to destroy her because he spent so much time in defense of his ego over fake news BS. Jan-6, Charlottesville, felonies, money from his daddy, etc. He is so damn undisciplined with his ego. However, that is Trump. We know him. We know that he is that way. Nothing changed last night except we have yet another Harris personality delivered. But this Harris was very unlikeable. She has gone from a babbling and cackling school girl with fake accents to a nasty and cold witch like we saw at the Kavanaugh hearings.