Trump allowed himself to be distracted from his efforts to define Harris, while she hammered her core argument that the former president was unfit for the job.
Kamala Harris staked her debate strategy on Tuesday night on trolling Donald Trump before a national TV audience, leaving her opponent on the back foot.
The Democratic presidential nominee baited her Republican opponent into defending his felony convictions, his wealth and his role in overturning the federal right to an abortion. She needled him about the enthusiasm of his rally crowds and his propensity for outlandish statements and conspiracy theories.
It took only minutes for the former president to validate her approach, with Trump diverting a discussion over immigration and border security into unfounded online rumors about undocumented migrants, who he said were now eating people’s pets in an Ohio suburb.
“The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame,” Trump said, even as one of the debate moderators, ABC News’ David Muir, noted that the claims were not true.The moment embodied the former president’s lack of restraint, and defined a clash where the Republican time and again allowed himself to be distracted from his efforts to define Harris. Instead, post-debate analysis and social media was focused on Trump’s outbursts, returning focus to Harris’ core argument — that the former president was unfit for the job.
Harris Baits Trump Into Going Off Topic In Fiery Debate
The performance amounted to a tactical misstep for the Republican, who polls had shown in recent days had begun to blunt the explosion of Democratic enthusiasm in the aftermath of former President Joe Biden stepping aside in favor of Harris. Signs that the night had not gone well for Trump were plentiful: The Republican appeared in the so-called spin room to proclaim victory even as he berated the debate moderators as unfair and suggested he wasn’t inclined to participate in another debate. Harris’ odds of winning the election increased on the betting website PredictIt to 56%, up from 53% before the debate. Given Harris’ aggressiveness and agility on the stage as a former prosecutor, she consistently managed to steer the debate to spotlight Trump’s demeanor and his record rather than Harris’ own not-yet-fully-formed policy agenda. It was a night in which style overtook substance; the debate was more on her terms than his, and afterwards, she challenged Trump to a second debate. Even moments when Trump should have had the advantage, such as on questions of the economy or the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Harris managed to rile him enough that his attacks on her did not fully land. At the same time, her often bemused expression showed she refused to take him as seriously as his previous opponents had.
“He took the bait and it was evident in the increasingly hostile language that he used to describe the people he hates,” longtime Republican pollster Frank Luntz said after the debate. The former president, who bragged that he had not prepped for the contest, appeared less prepared — including when he was asked if he had a plan for replacing the Affordable Care Act.
Taylor Swift endorses Kamala Harris for president
Sept. 11 (UPI) — Pop superstar Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president Tuesday night following the vice president’s televised debate against former President Donald Trump. Swift announced her endorsement of Harris to her more than 283 million followers on Instagram as the debate aired live on ABC concluded. “Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight,” Swift said in the post. “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.” The “Shake It Off” singer described Harris as “steady-handed” and a “gifted leader” while praising Walz, the governor of Minnesota, for standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, in vitro fertilization and women’s access to abortion. “I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos,” she said, echoing Harris’ description of what another Trump term would look like. While broadcasting whom she was to vote for, Swift did not instruct her followers to do the same, but to research both candidates. She signed the post “Childless Cat Lady,” in reference to Trumps’ vice presidential candidate, JD Vance, having said in a 2021 interview that the Democratic Party was led by “a bunch of childless cat ladies.”
