Election debates are not an exact science, but there are indirect elements that allow many hypotheses to be falsified. The conclusion of analysts, commentators and political strategists is this Kamala Harris has clearly won her first face-off with Donald Trump. And the first provisional findings confirm it. But beyond that, the reactions of the parties and the electoral campaigns indicate that the perception is correct. A few minutes after the lights went out, the Democratic candidate’s team began telling anyone who would listen They wanted a new face-to-face meeting and as soon as possible. A few minutes after the live broadcast was interrupted, President Donald Trump took to his social networks to assure that he had had the best debate of his life and that this had many merits given that It was «three against one», in reference to Harris and the ABC moderators. And if that wasn’t enough, the billionaire did something that is never done on these occasions: go down to the press room himself to activate damage containment mode.
Presidential debates are a grand spectacle that mobilizes hundreds of journalists, but also hundreds of political workers, including representatives, senators and governors. Tuesday’s meeting took place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of the swing states where the election will be decided. Typically, both before and after the face-to-face meeting, figures from both parties, the established ones and the emerging ones, roam the press center and what is called game room do just that: lobby, spread the word, promote your candidate and yourself. But what is not normal is that one of the two contenders goes down in person to do that work himself.
After 11:30 p.m., Trump appeared to attack Harris, defend her performance, and remove the irony, assuring that Democrats wanted another debate because «she did a terrible wrong.» Before sending the second, J.D. Vance, do the dirty work. And at the main beach of the new GOP, from the governor of North Dakota Douglas Burgum to the Florida Senator Marco Rubio, passing through all sorts of deputies and governors. But the room exploded in rushes, a monumental circle and hundreds of flashes. when the great leader takes the stage. Asked why he showed up if he was so confident he had won, the former president simply replied: «Because they asked me to.»
The co-chair of the Republican National Committee, Lara Trump who is also her daughter-in-law, assured that they are ready for another round. «I would like to have two more debates. Normally we have three presidential debates. Kamala Harris said she only wants one for now. «Donald Trump would certainly be willing to do another one,» he said. But his boss and father-in-law was less specific, leaving everything up in the air. «We will see» very open.
Kamala Harris addresses her supporters after the debate with Donald Trump.AP
The Republican campaign was trying, somewhat desperately, to plug the waterways, symbolized best by one of the FOX network speakers who agreed that «the former president had a bad night» and had been passed. Or from the senator’s summary Lindsey Graham in conversations with journalists at the foot of the track, describing the night as a «disaster» and calling for the firing of Trump’s aides. The president, accustomed to dominating, was never in control at any point, quickly went on the defensive and was cornered by Harris, who was very comfortable all night.
Not once did I manage to do it, very disciplined, organized but not at all robotic, and who as soon as she entered the set approached an uncomfortable rival and held out her hand introducing herself, she lost heart, despite having been close on one occasion, wanting to respond to the attacks. Harris started with a bit of nervousness, but gradually calmed down and seemed more relaxed, far from the caricature that her rivals painted her as. Constantly looking at her opponent while Trump, with force, also avoided eye contact, keeping his gaze forward, towards the presenters, for almost the entire night.
Viewers didn’t see the «pathetic and completely useless» vice president he portrayed in his rallies and social media posts. But they did see a nervous former president, who sometimes shouted, to be scolded for not wanting to respect the time and subjected to live fact-checking by moderators, unlike in June, when Joe Biden won in a landslide. «Tonight, America got to see the leader I’ve been proud to work with for three and a half years. He wasn’t even laughing. Vice President Harris has proven that she is the best choice to lead our nation forward. We will not let him back down,» the president responded accurately.
Republican party brass insisted late in the evening that Trump had «tried to talk about public policy,» but Harris had made it impossible. Where «the frustration expressed by President Trump is the frustration of millions of Americans with Vice President Kamala Harris’s attitude that everything is fine,» according to the Florida congressman Matt Gaetz a regular at Mar-a-lago, the billionaire’s headquarters. But Trump’s presence was widely seen as a concession of defeat, especially when he repeated numbers without context, alluding to alleged internal polls on debate perception: «They say 90%, 60%, 72%, 71%, 89%,» he assured.
“What we learned tonight is that Kamala Harris is actually pretty good at provoking people,” he admitted. Byron Donalds, African-American Republican Congressman. “Trump’s use of Orban, an actual autocrat, as a personal reference is too perfect. Like his praise of Xi and Putin for being ‘strong,’ his blatant envy of the unaccountable power they ‘have’ is one of his few sincere expressions,” criticized Russian chess player and opponent Alexei Kasparov, referring to one of Trump’s strangest attempts to defend his legacy. When Harris told him he was a “laughing stock” on the international stage, and among world leaders, Trump had no better idea than to rely on Orban, a second-rate leader and pariah in the European Union.
In the three hours since the debate, Democrats have raised $24 million through their ActBlue donation platform, a very important sum as the final weeks of the campaign approach and advertising in swing states becomes more necessary. And expensive. A happy night with an unbeatable final touch: the explicit support of Taylor Swift, a singer followed and adored by millions.
