Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump met for the first time face to face on the debate stage on Sept. 10.
The night began with Harris approaching Trump for a handshake, cementing herself immediately as the more professional and collected candidate, as this gesture was met by a simple “nice to see you” from Trump. Shortly after the moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News, introduced the rules of the debate, the candidates began to give their platform. Or at least Vice President Harris did.
From the very first question posed by Muir and Davis, Trump refused to give any straightforward answers. Rather than displaying his platform, he chose to attack the “millions” of migrants illegally entering the country “every day,” whom, in the most stark moment of the debate, Trump claimed that illegal aliens, specifically Haitian migrants in Springfield, OH, are entering the country and eating the dogs and cats of American citizens.
It was at this moment that Donald Trump lost the debate.
If this debate were against Joe Biden, Trump would have prevailed, as we saw in the last debate that President Biden simply cannot keep up with the unintelligible rambling and childish jabs of Donald Trump.
However, this was a debate against former prosecutor Kamala Harris.
Harris admirably refused to put up with the constant lies of Donald Trump, who while attacking Kamala Harris for having “no policy” and stating that “she is Biden!” said that he has only “concepts of plans” because he isn’t president right now.
The American people know that despite his denials, Donald Trump will enact the fascist and regressive policies of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 if he is elected President of the United States.
The American people aren’t as dumb as you think they are, Donald.
Trump had the opportunity to come out on top in this debate by continuing his criticism of Harris’ policies, which he said were the exact same as the Biden administration and that she changes her policies based on what is the most politically expedient at the moment. Trump could have grilled Harris in order to win over the undecided vote and convince voters that he is the more qualified candidate, but instead, he chose to double down on racist rhetoric and refused to lay out any actual policy besides a 10% national sales tax.
That being said, Vice President Harris did not win the debate, Donald Trump simply lost the debate. Harris repeated the same phrases about her policy, specifically her tax credits for first time parents and small business owners.
If Kamala Harris truly wants to separate herself from the Biden administration, she must cement herself as a new and different candidate who will bring a more progressive perspective to the Oval Office. This is not the message she sent on Tuesday night.
If you are still undecided in this election, I implore you to compare the policy platform of Kamala Harris to the 922-page Project 2025, ask yourself which will move this country forward and cast an educated vote.
There is only one candidate who will fulfill this promise, and that is Kamala Harris.
Jackson Small is a columnist. Contact him at [email protected].
