Debate Night: Baiting a Criminal With a Smile

Kamala Harris baited, mocked, ridiculed, humiliated, and dissected Trump in front of an international audience during their first debate, and this absurd country will still be divided.

(Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

The prosecutor vs. The convicted criminal.

A Black-Indian woman vs. A racist white man.

A child of middle-class immigrants vs. A spoiled narcissist born with a silver spoon.

An accomplished public servant vs. a rambling, angry, old man shouting at the clouds.

If we weren’t living in an utterly broken country which has been hijacked by right-wing media and complicit corporate institutions, this debate would be the equivalent of a poster slam dunk for Kamala Harris.

On every subject, whether it was the economy, women’s rights, national security, immigration, or foreign policy, Kamala Harris - whether you agree with her or not - gave reasoned answers in a measured, cool manner reflecting thought and lucidity.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump talked about immigrants eating pets, winning the 2020 election which he lost, and pontificating about “The Hooties” which I assume is either a reference to Houthis in Yemen or Hootie or The Blowfish. While he was ranting, these were the trending topics on Twitter (I refuse to call it by its stupid name “X”):

• Eating Pets.

• Hannibal Lecter.

• Run Spot Run.

• Eating Dogs.

• Charlottesville

• Abdul

• Abortion in the 9th

Although it didn’t, thankfully, trend, we also got this whopper: "Transgender operations on illegal aliens in prison.” This is what happens when Republicans voluntarily choose to make the Faustian bargain with Donald Trump for the sake of power. This is what happens when an incompetent, racist, aging cult leader has taken over the entirety of the GOP. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris leaned into her strengths as a former district attorney and brought all the receipts to humiliate, weaken, mock, ridicule, and cut down a twice-impeached vulgarian who is used to being the loudest bully in the room.

It also helped that the ABC Moderators actually did some fact checking and did a few follow ups on Trump’s firehose of lies, something that was entirely missing in the embarrassing CNN debate. Credit to Linsey Davis for finally debunking the hateful lie that Democrats allow babies to be executed after birth and for bringing up the receipts about January 6th and Trump refusing to accept the 2020 election results.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris understood the assignment and she knew her opponent’s weaknesses. She kept baiting him, and he took each and every single one. Here are some gems:

• “World leaders manipulate you with flattery and favors. You are a disgrace.”

• “World leaders are laughing at you.”

• “We cleaned up Donald Trump’s mess” - 

• “Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people"

• “He is weak and wrong on national security”

• “A dictator who would eat you for lunch”

Donald Trump couldn’t explain his policy, or rather his “concept of a plan” for health care, so each and every time he tried to pivot to crime and immigration. Thankfully, Harris parried and brought up his criminal record, the January 6th insurrection, and his thoroughly stacked record of extremism and kissing up to dictators.

The proof that Donald Trump, and the entirety of the GOP, lives in their information ecosystem was when he repeated the absurdly racist lie spouted by his VP JD Vance that Haitian immigrants were eating pets. He also repeated the election lie. He boasted voluminous bullshit about his economic policies and January 6th. Most shamefully, he took the bait of “the Central Park 5” and doubled down on his odious record of demanding the death penalty for young Black and Brown teens who were later exonerated. For most of his flubs, Kamala was right there with the receipts and she responded by bringing up his history of racism, including Trump promoting the Birther conspiracy and praising Nazis in Charlottesville.

It was clear that Trump was visibly frustrated as soon as she baited him with a jab about his empty rallies. That moment came within the first 15 minutes, and he proceeded to melt down for the next 90 minutes. He refused to look at her but she kept looking at him, often laughing at him and his idiocy. But, most importantly, she came off as a measured, empathetic, sane human who was able to competently deliver her message and policies in a way that Biden, due to his age and limitations, could not. She also seems like a normal adult compared to Trump, an old, boring carnival barker who has nothing except grievance and rants.

Of course, I wish Kamala Harris wouldn’t double down on fracking, gun ownership, being tough on immigrants, and the Biden Administration’s asinine, failed Gaza talking points. Democrats always play scared on issues of “national security” but thankfully she is facing Trump, who is such a monumental failure on all these issues that she comes off as sane and moderate.

It also helps that he literally fell for every trap she set up for him. Kamala Harris understood the assignment: When your opponent is failing, you let him. When he is looking over a giant hole, give him a nudge and push.

When they go low, you take them down.

Also, it doesn’t hurt when the most popular and influential childless cat lady on Earth, Taylor Swift, decides to endorse you after the debate.