Last night was the much awaited debate between Trump and Harris….so much has been written and said about this event that I feel I will be disappointed…..and yes as a political junkie I will be watching.

The candidates came out and as usual we dressed drably…Trump in navy suit with hideous red tie….Harris in a signature pant suit…black in color….nothing there.

Facial expressions….the split screen offered a superb look at candidates facial expressions at the answer given by opponent….some very humorous.

Did Harris separate from Biden?  Did either candidate bait the other into doing something stupid? 

Harris tried but there was a lot of Biden in her responses….Trump got handed his butt on several issues which angered him and he would swing wildly with false claims and BS.

But the best takeaway is the Harris did a good job at getting under Trump’s skin.

One common early takeaway from Tuesday night’s presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump: Harris seemed to be able to get under Trump’s skin, “rattling” him and putting him on the defensive:

• Harris taunted Trump “over and over” on topics he’s particularly sensitive about, including the size of his rally crowds and how he’s viewed by world leaders, write Adam Cancryn and Myah Ward at Politico. “The result left Trump … struggling to land hits,” they write, recounting how he went from “measured and collected” to “increasingly frustrated as Harris needled him.” At one point, as he was goaded into bragging about the size of his rallies, Harris simply “looked on, smirking and shaking her head.”
• Harris spent the entire debate “making every effort to burrow under his skin, hammering him over his criminal convictions, his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, the size of his rally crowds and the foreign and military leaders who she said have called him a ‘disgrace,'” writes Nicholas Nehamas at the New York Times. And Trump often couldn’t help himself and “took the bait, responding to Ms. Harris’s critiques with a hail of false claims, misinformation and personal attacks.”
• The VP had clearly “prepared extensively for their debate, and peppered nearly every answer with a comment designed to enrage the former president,” writes the team at CNN. The result, they say, was a Trump who was “often out of control.” Harris’ goal appeared to be to “throw Trump off his game,” and, they write, it was “a dramatic success.”
• The former president “was on the defensive over his legal problems, election denialism, opposition from former allies and incitement of an attack on the US Capitol,” writes Zac Anderson at USA Today. He floundered as he struggled to hit back, and “often leaned on familiar and false claims that drew corrections from the moderators.” The result was that Harris had the “upper hand” much of the time, he writes.

• Even at Fox News, Doug Schoen concedes Harris was the “clear winner,” but says Trump’s supporters are well aware of “how much bias ABC News introduced into the process” with the moderators’ seeming “need to fact-check virtually everything the former president said.” Schoen says despite Harris’ debate performance, “Voters remain angry about the direction the country is headed in, about the performance of both President Biden and Vice President Harris, as well as which candidate they trust more on the top two or three issues facing the country: the economy, immigration and law and order.”

The swing-state voters polled by the Washington Post also agreed Harris won, even if they personally plan to vote for Trump.

As for whether the two will debate again before November, that remains unclear. Per USA Today, Harris’ campaign said after the debate that it wants to “do it again,” and Trump has previously said he’d be willing to debate the VP multiple times. But no firm plans have yet been made.

This debate shows that extensive prep work pays off for Harris and the idea of lackluster prep was the downfall for Trump in this debate.

But for me the telling part of the whole night were the candidates closing remarks….

Donald Trump won a coin toss before Tuesday night’s debate and chose to go last with his closing statement. In it, he called Kamala Harris “the worst vice president in history” and ridiculed her presidential plans by pointing out that she already works in the White House, per the New York Times. “Why hasn’t she done it?” Trump asked, a refrain that might become a common one in the final stretch of the campaign.

Harris, for her part, struck a more moderate tone in her closing remarks as she made a plea for unity, per the Hill: “That’s the kind of president we need right now. Someone who cares about you and is not putting themselves first,” she said. “I intend to be a president for all Americans and focus on what we can do over the next 10 and 20 years to build back up our country.” The debate began with a handshake between the two rivals, but it ended without one, notes Politico.

The night was not a total waste but it was a bit of a bore.  Will there be a next debate?

If I was Trump I would cut my loses and walk away from the promise of yet another debate…..or if he accepts another one then do a bit more prep work so you do not look like a complete dullard.

Now are you glad that I am here so you did not have to suffer through this fiasco?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”