How Donald Trump lost it
Like Taylor Swift, Kamala Harris did her research, plus: A champion debate coach grades the night
When Taylor Swift capped Kamala Harris’ winning night with a full-throated endorsement Tuesday, the megastar posted on Instagram, “I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice,” wrote Swift. “Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make.” She signed her post, “With love and hope, Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady,” a dig at Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance.
Kamala Harris did her research too. And it showed.
From forcing former President Donald Trump into a handshake to nailing her closing statement, Harris dominated the debate at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center.
Harris had clearly taken a deep dive into the world of Donald Trump — and she crafted a series of assertions that seemed surgically designed to prod the former president into damaging his own cause. Throughout the evening, Harris glanced over at Trump to see if her strategy was working, and came away smiling, pleased at the way her goading was stoking his anger.
Trump, who seemed unsure at times whether to attack President Joe Biden or Harris, seemingly had done little preparation and focused as much on defending the controversial parts of his record as on landing punches. He validated Harris’ point on Obamacare when he said, after nine years of trying, he only had “concepts of a plan” to replace it. It was perhaps even more damaging than Mitt Romney’s promise at a 2012 debate that he had “binders full of women” to fill spots in his administration.
Throughout the evening, Harris glanced over at Trump to see if her strategy was working, and came away smiling, pleased at the way her goading was stoking his anger.
By contrast, Harris adroitly deployed an array of attacks:
On the 2020 election: “Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people … clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that.”
On inflation and the economy: “What we have done is clean up Donald Trump’s mess.”
On world leaders’ real view of Trump: “these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again because they're so clear, they can manipulate you with flattery and favors. And that is why so many military leaders who you have worked with have told me you are a disgrace.”
On Trump’s crowds: “People start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom….And I will tell you the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you.”
On the former Trump officials who now back Harris: “His former chief of staff, a four-star general, has said he has contempt for the Constitution of the United States.”
On the future: “Let's chart a course for the future and not go backwards to the past.”
On Biden and Trump: “Clearly, I am not Joe Biden, and I am certainly not Donald Trump. And what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country.”
A debate coach grades the candidates
Todd Graham, who is the director of debate at Southern Illinois University and has coached teams to five national debate championships, told me that “Harris was effective. She had clearer policy proposals and defended her arguments with evidence. She was the only one with a plan for how to move forward.”
“Trump's lying was out of control, making most of his answers meaningless. He even had some new ones that made me laugh out loud. The whole Abdul story was pure Trump through and through.”
“More than dishonesty, Trump rambled to the point of confusion. For example: He claimed he saved Obamacare during one period of the debate, which is the opposite of what he was doing as president.”
The moderators pushed back at some of the falsehoods from Trump but Graham said, “a bunch of stuff got by without any pushback...including claiming the current president of the United States is somehow taking bribe money from the Moscow mayor's wife. “
“And the whole ‘immigrants are killing and eating our pets’ was known bullshit. He had to have known that because it was immediately disproven. But there he went anyway.”
“The debate was summed up perfectly when on the final try to get Trump to tell us what his health care proposal would be to replace the Affordable Care Act, after nine years of talking about it, Trump replied, ‘I have concepts of a plan...’”
“Same old Trump. We will be hearing about his plan in the ‘not too distant future.’ Like infrastructure week I suppose.”
The coach’s conclusion:
“Harris had a good, but not perfect debate (she got off topic several times), but was strong.
Trump had an incoherent, dishonest, hyperbole-filled debate.
Harris gets a B+.
Trump gets an F.”
The Constitution
It took more than 100 years for a memorial to the US Constitution to become reality. First proposed at the 1887 centennial of the constitutional convention, the limestone and granite National Constitution Center sits facing the brick building now known as Independence Hall, where the convention took place.
The center was built thanks to the Constitution Heritage Act of 1988 signed by President Ronald Reagan on September 16, 1988.
It hosts life-sized statues of 42 delegates to the constitutional convention and an original version of the September 19, 1787 issue of the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, the newspaper that was the first to print the text of the Constitution. (And the center’s FAQs assures future visitors that it does serve Philly cheesesteaks.)
In some ways, the center was a fitting venue for a debate that touched on many constitutional issues, including abortion, presidential immunity and checks and balances on executive power.
When Trump accused the Biden administration of weaponizing the Justice Department to prosecute him in several venues, Harris had a ready answer:
“Well let's talk about extreme. And understand the context in which this election in 2024 is taking place. The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that the former president would essentially be immune from any misconduct if he were to enter the White House again. Understand, this is someone who has openly said he would terminate, I'm quoting, terminate the Constitution of the United States. That he would weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies. Someone who has openly expressed disdain for members of our military. Understand what it would mean if Donald Trump were back in the White House with no guardrails. Because certainly, we know now the court won't stop him. We know JD Vance is not going to stop him. It's up to the American people to stop him.”