A few observations about the debate, written in the hour after it ended, so this is unspoiled by whatever consensus coalesces around it in the subsequent 24 hours. And there will be a consensus, driven by the regime media, that Trump was destroyed. He wasn’t, but he didn’t destroy Kamala either.
First, Kamala Harris was not a total trainwreck. Joe Biden was, and if that was the standard it would rarely be attained. She was not good by any means. She was programed and at times confused, but the bar was so low she tripped over it. I viewed this debacle with a large group of Trump fans at a bar – which is the only way to go – and women seemed to think that she presented better than men thought she did. Some women with us were worried that she did well, but again, we set expectations at “subterranean” and she exceeded them simply by not soiling herself.
It was a very feminine performance, with a girl boss vibe, and while women appreciated it, it seemed that men found her tiresome. If you recall, Hillary was very much the same, and she had the effect of turning off men. Kamala reminded me of my ex-wife and I was never married before. Men are not going to want to endure four years of her schoolmarmy condescension.
Second, Trump was undisciplined as usual, and that’s very annoying to those of us who appreciate traditional argument with focused points and concise statements. He took long, meandering paths to get to what he wanted to say and it is irritating to people (like me and most pundits) who are direct and succinct when arguing. He will be crucified by such people. But does Trump’s unique style resonate with normal people? It has before. See, he is not bereft of facts; he just can’t be focused and direct when presenting them.
Still, Trump did manage to highlight her policy failures. He kept hitting her on her screw-ups – the border, bail for thugs, banning fracking, confiscating guns, and the terrible economy. That part seems to be underappreciated by the cognoscenti. Normal people will remember it and how Kamala has no real response. The part where Trump took her bragging about going to Ukraine on a peace mission and slammed her by pointing out that three days later Putin invaded was potent. Even her network accomplices couldn’t save her from taking a hit on that.
But Trump did not sink the S.S. Kamala; it’s still afloat, as he is. We cannot expect Trump to not be Trump. That’s always going to end in sadness. It would be nice to have Trump argue like, say, lawyer JD Vance, but that’s never going to happen. It isn’t Trump, and maybe it does not need to be. It would also be nice if he could pass up obvious bait – he should have avoided the tangents about rally attendance and John McCain. He was more disciplined than he has been in the past. His ending statement was sharp – “Why haven’t you done all these things in the last four years?” Those calling Trump’s performance a disaster – one panicked pal said he “blew chunks” before walking it back – are wrong. It was not great, but it was not awful even though the regime media is going to declare it was.
Oh, the regime media…
Say, when did Candy Crowley transition into a thin, feminine male-identifying moderator? David Muir and his unilateral fact checks were a disgrace. Linsey Whatshername was on Team Brat too. It was three on one, with ABC going all in to help their girl. And their fact checks were neither factual nor checks. Nor were they applied to the Democrat. Cops got killed on J6 (good on Trump to not soft-pedal the inexcusable killing of Ashley Babbit)? No troops are facing hostile fire in combat zones around the world? Wait, wut? No fact checks were forthcoming, but then the purpose of the fact checks is to try to cast doubt on true but damaging things Republicans say. The ABC hacks knew their job. You think you despise the regime media enough, as the meme goes, but you do not.
So, Trump had to fight Kamala and her lies and her dodging of the answers to the questions. He had to contend with two hack reporters who were clearly under orders to do everything they could to stop him – with those bogus fact checks and by announcing they were moving on when Trump was scoring points. He also had to contend with his own bad habits and undisciplined mode of debate. Now, the consensus by the regime media, I expect, will be that this was an epic disaster for Trump and that Kamala Harris is Cicero reborn. That’s silly. He made a lot of good points that will go unappreciated and unremarked upon and she was intensively prepared and unimaginative. It does not appear that she got out all the zingers and hits on her favorite topics she wanted. She spent relatively little time on J6 and the criminal cases (which Trump pushed back on well), and the bogus internet memes we all deal with on the Twitters like “suckers and losers” and “very fine people” did not seem to score. She did not explain them so normal people knew what her shorthand references were referring to.
So, what will be the result? A giant sigh of relief by Kamala’s people that she did not totally destroy herself. They are already feeling their oats, demanding a second debate within an hour of the first ending. They are confusing “adequate” with “excellent” – this was not a triumph. She did okay and accomplished what she wanted. Trump did okay too. He did not destroy her, but then he does not really destroy people in debates. As the one with Biden showed, he let’s them destroy themselves. In the end, nothing much changed. No one who loved Kamala or loved Trump changed. As for the few swing voters who are left, if you can’t afford groceries, this debate will not make you forget that. But it will give pundits lots to talk about. And by the time election comes, there will have been a hundred new things to replace our foggy memories of September 10th. The best we can probably say about the debate was that it happened.
Follow Kurt on Twitter @KurtSchlichter. Get the newest volume in the Kelly Turnbull People’s Republic series of conservative action novels set in America after a notional national divorce, the bestselling Amazon #1 Military Thriller, Overlord! And get his new novel about terrorism in America, The Attack!
Look, you need to keep up the fight by joining Townhall VIP right now. You get access to a bunch of great stuff, not the least of which is my extra Wednesday column, my weekly Stream of Kurtiousness videos every Friday, and the Unredacted podcast every Monday! Plus, some stuff from Larry O’Connor – and a bunch of other stuff.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member