A Sloppy Draw

A Sloppy Draw

By Joseph Catena

Now that we have had time to seriously analyze and dissect the long-awaited debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, one thing has remained clear from the time it ended until now: neither was on their best game.

However, there was a stark contrast between them. Harris was well versed in her scripted responses, and she seemed sure about herself. Her tone and intonations were smooth. Missing were her frequent word jambalayas and sentences to nowhere. Nor did we hear her trademark line, “What can be, unburdened by what has been.” Whatever that means. To her credit, the vice president never stuttered or stammered. Her words flowed with eloquence, and her stern demeanor gave her the appearance of confidence and decisiveness. Her time in the bunker rehearsing with her campaign team was well spent

Trump was different than he was on June 27 – the night Joe Biden’s candidacy officially died and the Democrat coup de force was unleashed. On that night, the 45^th President of the United States was measured and focused. His answers were crisp. He stayed on policy, limited his personal attacks and let Biden be Biden. It was a bloody first-round knockout. The Trump of Sept. 10 appeared irritable and angry. His positions were very clear, but his answers were misfired. The president was often on the defensive, and in a very strange way, it looked as though he was the embattled incumbent whose policy flops were under scrutiny. Kamala was crying for change, imploring voters to “turn the page” on these last four years.

In the words of Governor Tim Walz, it was “weird.”

Appearances can be deceiving, however. Harris had numerous glowing, shiny platitudes, yet she answered nothing. A smooth dancer without giving a straight answer, she was. And that was evident from the opening question when her ABC tag team partners, moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, asked her, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” The vice president took the most basic yes or no question and turned it into a preamble. She spoke about growing up a middle-class kid, and she was the only person on stage who had a plan for middle- and working-class people. She then blathered on about creating an opportunity economy, so Americans can achieve their dreams. She went on to add how so many young families need help raising their children. Amazingly, nowhere in her response came the words, “yes, we are,” or “no, we aren’t.”

This was emblematic of the vice president throughout the 90-minute charade. If she wasn’t dodging, she was lying. She reiterated the Charlottesville “fine people” hoax. She fibbed about Goldman Sachs touting her economic plan over Trump’s. And of course, she claimed Trump would sign a national abortion ban, abortion being her pet issue. These were among a plethora of lies that went unchecked and unchallenged by Muir and Davis. The lack of moderating emboldened Harris and gave the appearance of her being in more command than she actually was. Trump was forced to go on the defensive.

Unfortunately, Trump is much more offense than defense. When he goes on defense, he misfires. Much of what Trump said was rooted in fact. Under border czar Harris, illegal aliens stormed through the border by the millions while she watched and did nothing. The economy tanked with inflation hitting more than nine percent at one point. Pets in Springfield, Ohio have gone missing since the Haitian invasion. Whether they were eaten or not is under contention, but many are missing. This of course, turned into a viral meme, drawing laughter, obscuring the real problem at hand. Trump often brought out various points, including these, at the wrong times. He swung hard without directly hitting his target.

Trump’s problem with many answers was that he tried to cram in too many (deserved) criticisms of the Harris-Biden administration, without staying on the topic at hand. For example, when Muir asked Trump how he would deport the millions of illegals already here since 2021, Trump began by saying he would allow local police to work with federal authorities. Then, he vacillated to ripping into Harris about how many illegals she allowed in, how a good number were criminals and drug dealers. He spoke about how crime was down in other countries because those undesirables were coming here. Somehow, the rest of his answer metamorphosized into the fraudulent job numbers the Biden administration announced (800,000 plus was really 142,000).

Harris’ response was sharp. She talked about him being prosecuted for various crimes including those of a sexual nature, national security crimes and election interference. The vice president insisted we must turn the page (her newest mantra) and move forward to address the needs of the American people. She pivoted sharply and spoke in her best prosecutorial voice. And she never once mentioned anything about illegal immigration under her watch. Classic diversion.

For any Trump supporter who watched this debate and not say they were frustrated would have to be lying. Harris was repeatedly left wide open, only to be let off the hook. If Trump’s retorts could have been cut and pasted into different parts of the debate, he would have shined. The unedited version was much less flattering.

On abortion, Harris did her usual demagoguing. She created hypotheticals such as women perilously bleeding to death and facing arrest in states that have banned the practice. Trump’s response began by stating that abortion was a states’ rights issue, and he would never sign a federal ban because of that. He then wandered into how this reminded him of student loans and how the federal government promised they would take care of them until the Supreme Court rightly rejected it. Was there a need to obfuscate abortion with student loans?

Then, after some banter, Trump asked where Harris would draw the line on abortion. He correctly pointed out how it was allowed (in some states) in the seventh, eighth and ninth month. He asked the moderators to ask Harris where she stood. Harris quickly added, “That’s not true.” Trump followed by saying how former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam once suggested post-birth abortion. Davis thanked Trump for his answer, and Muir followed with a question about immigration.

No fact check on Harris’ comment.

According to ABC News, Alaska, Colorado, The District of Columbia, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota (land of Tim Walz), New Mexico, New Jersey, Oregon and Vermont have NO restrictions on abortion. Other states allow abortion up until 24 and 26 weeks’ gestation (just shy of the third trimester). They include:  California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wyoming. This was one of the most glaring omissions of a fact check, perhaps because it played on Harris’ fervent belief in abortion rights.

The vice president’s closing statement was filled with platitudes and campaign rhetoric about dreams and aspirations sprinkled with personal accomplishments. Zero on policy. More importantly, zero on anything in her administration from the last four years. In his closing, Trump correctly pointed this out and admonished the vice president on her failed border and foreign policy. In his tirade, Trump failed to do something substantive; he failed to mention all his successes that Harris-Biden undid. He failed to contrast his amazing feats with those aforementioned failures.

The debate was a huge disappointment. It also wasn’t what it appeared to be. Kamala was all sizzle and style with nothing to really offer in taste. Shiny wrapping and a beautiful bow with nothing in the box. Trump spewed out policies and facts and showed where he stood on everything. But he did it in an uneven, choppy manner. He had far greater substance, but no straight path to present it. To the naked eye, Harris appeared to be the victor.

But look again and listen with trained eyes and ears. Read the transcript. The real verdict, even with Kamala’s two accomplices, was a very sloppy draw.