If there’s one thing I thought I loved more than a good pizza, it was a good presidential debate.
So, I couldn’t wait to watch Donald Trump and Kamala Harris go at it on ABC this past Tuesday night in Philadelphia. I wanted to taste the sweet sauce of their policy positions. I hoped they would reveal intellects that were as crisp as the dough of a well-crafted artisanal pie.
I watched the entire 90-minute debate. I ate the whole thing, so to speak. I probably should’ve stopped at one slice. Because, at the end, I had a big stomach ache. We have two candidates competing for the highest office in the land, who are deeply flawed and frighteningly ill-equipped to lead us.
Kamala Harris’ answers were full of rehearsed lines, platitudes and non-answers. She wants us to turn the page with her. She pledges to be a president for all Americans. What Hallmark card did she get that from?
She was asked if she would have done anything different from Joe Biden on stemming illegal immigration? No answer. When asked if she believes Americans are better off now than they were four years ago? No answer. Why did she change her positions on fracking, a mandatory government buyback program for assault weapons, and support for decriminalized border crossings? No answer. Does she support late term abortion? Zip.
Her plan to improve the economy, the number one issue among voters, is apparently to give away money. A $6000 child tax credit and a $50,000 tax deduction for small business start-ups. And she threw in the Democrat’s favorite revenue-raiser, an increased tax on so-called billionaires. Can’t have a Democrat campaign without that billionaires’ tax.
She wasn’t asked about what Senator Bernie Sanders revealed on Meet the Press before the debate. He said she is really a progressive who’s just cloaking herself in centrist clothing to win the election. Ms. Harris, is that true?
If Harris was asked that question, would she have done what Bill Clinton did to distance himself from Jesse Jackson in 1992, to solidify his centrist creds? That could have been her own Sister Souljah moment. It could have been a game changer. Alas, she wasn’t asked, so we’ll never know.
Is she just a younger, more awake Joe Biden? Or is Kamala Harris truly the rising star of the next generation and gender of American leaders? Does she have a vision for governing? Is she someone who can bring prosperity, peace and unity not only to the US, but to the world?
I dunno. I’ll give her this much, she rehearsed very well. Harris delivered her lines with skill, if not sincerity. She knew how to bait Trump (hell, that isn’t too hard). But did she make the undecideds believe in her presidential bonafides? Post-debate polls aren’t conclusive.
In contrast with Kamala Harris, we know all we need to know about Donald Trump. We’ve now dined on his denials, denigrations, and deceit for almost a decade.
At the debate he said he wants to deport 11 million illegals, but he didn’t offer a clue how he’s going to do it.
He thinks Obamacare stinks, but after all this time he still doesn’t have a plan on how to fix it. He said he has concepts of a plan.
He still says he didn’t lose the last election or that he didn’t play any role whatsoever in the January 6th insurrection.
Hey, thank God I don’t live in Springfield, Ohio and own a cocker spaniel. I’d be petrified it would be served up as Sunday brunch for an illegal immigrant.
Yes, the moderators clearly favored Harris by letting her dodge questions without follow-ups. Yes, ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis did a lousy job. But you know what? Donald Trump had every opportunity to call out Kamala when she bobbed and weaved, misdirected and fibbed. He didn’t. Instead he got red in the face when she pushed his ego button about people walking out of his beloved rallies, or when she bought up all the court cases he’s lost, or the people who once worked for him and who now despise him.
Trump needed to pull up his big boy pants and remind the voters that she’s been veep for three years and can’t shirk responsibility for the Biden-Harris policies.
Oh wait, he did do that at the very end, in his closing statement. Too little, too late IMHO.
Instead of fulminating, he should have done what Lloyd Bentsen did to Dan Quayle during the famous 1988 VP debate. When Quayle compared his experience in Congress to that of John F. Kennedy, Bentsen dropped the mic on Quayle and said, Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.
Or, Trump could have channeled Ronald Reagan from his debate with Jimmy Carter in 1980, when Reagan cheerfully jabbed him with, there you go again, when Carter accused Reagan of opposing Medicare.
As Harris gave her canned domestic and foreign policy answers, Trump should have attacked her where she’s the most vulnerable, with the line Humphrey Bogart delivered to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca; Who are you really, and what were you before?
But despite all his debate blunders, here’s why I’m not willing to go along with the many pundits who say Trump lost on Tuesday.
It’s because America knows Trump and knows (scarily) that he actually believes the shit that comes out of his mouth. We know what we’re going to get with four more years of him in the White House. After all, it’s only four more years.
Maybe that’s enough for some to vote against Trump. But it won’t be enough for Harris to win and be president for possibly eight years. Because even after Tuesday night, we still don’t know what any Harris presidency will look like. And we definitely aren’t certain she really believes the shit that comes out of her mouth.
On Tuesday night on that debate stage in the important swing state of Pennsylvania, Trump was Trump and Harris was ???
Anyway, at the end of the debate I was really hungry and I figured that since Trump and Harris were already giving me heartburn, I might as well go ahead and totally wreck my upper GI. So, I ordered a full-sized, extra cheese pizza, well-done, of course.
I gotta tell you, after devouring that pie and watching that debate, I’m voting for the guy who made the pizza.