Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

~~~

General John Kelly: "He said that, in his opinion, Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law."

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

"All he had to do was not look crazy. He failed."



Kimberly Atkins-Stohr 
 "She had a much higher bar to clear, and a much harder job to do. She had to introduce herself to voters, many for the first time; explain her agenda in a forward-looking way; be inspiring, not disparaging; deflect and debunk Trump’s lies; and bait him into showing his true, unhinged self. She accomplished all of those things and made it look relatively easy. 

 His bar was on the floor. All he had to do was not look crazy. He failed. I didn’t think it could get worse than Trump lobbing lies like Democrats supporting post-birth abortions or immigrants eating house pets in the Heartland. But I was wrong. Trump said that on Jan. 6, 2021, after he sicced an armed mob on the US Capitol: “Nobody on the other side was killed.” Elected officials carrying out their constitutional duties are not “the other side.” He proved himself unfit in less than an hour."

 


Harris kept Trump on the defensive; she got under his skin; she spoke about the future; he attacked her and her race, repeated lies, and told whacko stories about immigrants in Ohio eating people's pet dogs and cats! (a lie.)

Harris kept her composure, mostly had a good command of facts, she avoided some answers, but all pols do that, and she looked strong and confident, while Trump was angry and petulant.

These debates aren't really about policy (Trump said he had a "concept about a health care plan"); they're mostly about how the candidates handle themselves and how they look (unfortunately).

In those instances, Harris walked all over Trump, and she won the debate. She was strong, confident, and focused on the American people. Trump had a poor performance. He was rambling, whiny, and obsessed with random, weird details. Harris came across as far more presidential.




Harris Put Trump on Defensive, and Kept Him There 

Vice President Kamala Harris shook the hand of former President Donald J. Trump as she walked onstage, then spent the next 90 minutes making every effort to burrow under his skin.



"Throughout the evening, in moments just like that, Harris was able to do something that Biden had failed to do when he was campaigning for re-election: Push Trump in ways that exposed his spattering of lies and wild fantasies."

[skip]

"The debate was an unqualified success for Harris, not just because she was able to define herself and her plans, but because she was able to push a few buttons and let Trump show off his truest self."

18 comments:

Sam said...

Did you have fun watching the debate Shaw? Everyone has their opinion. I put mine in my post today. In short, it was typical BS from Trump. The polls are close, which I cannot understand. The thought of Trump being president again sickens me. Keep up the good work. Your blog is great.

Shaw Kenawe said...

I watched bits and pieces because there's only so much of Trump that I can stomach at a time. From what I saw, he was his usual bullying, loud-mouthed, anti-American self -- he kept up his mantra that America is in decline and the country is a mess -- an apocalyptic vision of my country that is a lie!

I have no idea what other Americans see in that human wreckage. Perhaps themselves??

Dave Miller said...

How bad was it?

Both campaigns have what are called "dial groups". Those are voters who register their "feelings" on how the debate is going for their candidate in real time, as the debate is happening. All media is reporting the same thing...

The dial groups, as they are called, all registered Trump getting crushed at the same time as he railed about people eating dogs, refused to stand up for Ukraine and other points in the debate.

Last night before the debate, Trump advisor Jason Miller said "Harris won't know what hit her after the debate". This after other Trump apologists blared before the debate that he was "The Greatest" and "the Muhammad Ali of debaters".

Then after the debate, Trump, clearly knowing his performance was terrible, went into the spin room himself to brag and said this...

"It was my best debate ever!"

Trump is clearly not well, not up to the job and not fit for the presidency.

And yet half of America is still going to vote for him.

Les Carpenter said...

Nearly 50% of the country will vote for him. It says much about the country. 1930's Germany perhaps?

JoMala "Truth 101" Kelly said...

I personally thought it was a great success for Trump. Maybe the greatest success ever. May well have set the success record. Many people are saying it was the greatest debate they'd ever seen or will see. Seriously, Trump gave his magats what they wanted. Truth and sane policies are not what they want. Had Trump presented himself as a thoughtful person nobody would have believed it and his magats would rethink their support of this clown. So Trump didn't lose anything. He didn't gain anything but he's still got 43% of the electorate behind him. Doesn't say much for nearly half our country that they still blindly support this kook.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Trump lied about his claim (that is documented on video), that he lost the 2020 election "by a whisker." He spun the truth he spoke by claiming he was being sarcastic. He wasn't being sarcastic. I watched Trump tell the podcast host that he lost by a whisker without a hint of sarcasm.

Trump had to walk back his truth-telling so that he can keep his easily duped cultists believing his lie.

That this race is as close as it is tells us a lot about how easily manipulated a con man's marks can be.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Frank Bruni: "In Kamala Harris’s big general-election debate four years ago, she faced off against an opponent with a fly on his head.

In her immeasurably bigger debate on Tuesday night, she confronted an opponent with bats inside his.

And out they came, flapping and screeching, when he brought up cats and dogs."

Best analysis so far! LOL!

Shaw Kenawe said...

Best newspaper pundit analysis, that is!

skudrunner said...

trump was trump, aggressive and on the attack. kamala was kamala lots of words with little facts and abc was abc, we don't believe in follow up or clarification.
I didn't watch it but listened on the wireless and kamala was prepared and articulate. trump was bombastic and lost any momentum he had. She did a nice job.

Shaw Kenawe said...

The part of America that can't see how nuts he is, is hopelessly blind . There is no cure for this kind of fanatic devotion.

It's a cult.

Anonymous said...

She was calm- measured and presidential. Well done

Dave Miller said...

Direct from Fantasy Island, here's our problem, perfectly illustrated by one blogosphere clown intent on defending Trump’s showing last night.

”…he [Trump] charged her [Harris] on Ukraine, he charged her on the economy. He charged her on the border. More than once. He got continually sandbagged by the “moderators” and rose up fighting like he did after he was shot. He did not back down. He did not have his ass handed to him.

Everything this "expert" says is simply wrong. And that's not just my opinion, it's the opinion of a majority of Trump's backers, the FOX News crowd, opinion polling after the debate, his debate prep team and even about half the sailors on the HMS Mothership of Denial.

Heck, even Skud disagrees with that assessment.

You see, we have a substantial number of people in the US who are averse to facts they do not like. I may not like that Harris changed her position on some issues, or even, as some charge, flip flopped. But I sure won't deny those changes.

But the Trump crowd?

They're mad about Trump being fact checked regarding people eating dogs in Springfield, Ohio.

They're mad about Trump being fact checked when he said he won the 2020 election.

They're mad about Trump being fact checked when he said 20 million ppl come into the US everyday, when he claimed everyone wanted Roe v Wade ended and more.

Newsflash folks... those are all lies. And deserved to be fact checked.

And they’re not political lies in the sense that we can argue over potential numbers in a budget, causes of global warming, etc or even lies of context and omission, which are always rampant in political discourse.

They are flat out provable lies as shown by the facts.

Haitians are not feasting on pets, dogs or cats in Springfield. Trump lost the 2020 election, as he admitted recently, by a whisker. We've never had 20 million illegal immigrants come here in a day and we don't have that many here now. And of course, anyone who claims "everyone wanted Roe overturned" as Trump repeatedly claims, is a stark raving lunatic.

His realistic supporters realize he screwed up last night.

But there are still millions of others who have simply chosen to believe the lies, because to admit you are wrong, have been wrong and have followed a false savior, is simply soul crushing for members of a cult.

BB-Idaho said...

I kept watching for the orange Trump nose to start growing like his cousin
Pinocchio. Must have missed it when i rushed out to save the family cat from
being eaten by hungry immigrants. And, damn, I missed Jeopardy again!

Les Carpenter said...

Put faith in the 'Swiftology Professor" who has 285 million fans. If 80,000 of then reside in the USA she just might have a lot of influence on her fans. Especially the younger set.

Shaw Kenawe said...

BREAKING: In a stunning moment, Republican pollster Frank Luntz just announced that he believes Donald Trump will lose this election because of his disastrous debate performance. Retweet so all Americans see this.

Les Carpenter said...

80 million not 80 thousand.

Watch the performance of the S&P between August & October. If it does well and us strong during this period the incumbent party has won the White House since 1984.

Fingers and toes crossed.

Howard Brazee said...

She got him for something he cared about — his crowd size.

Shaw Kenawe said...

VP Harris knew how to handle the narcissist!