As I See It
Who won the debate? Depends on who you ask
So, who won Tuesday’s presidential debate? It depends on who you ask of course. Both political parties declared their candidate the winner. The chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party declared Kamala Harris the winner, “hands down.” The head of the state’s Republican Party called it a “decisive victory” for Donald Trump. Of course what matters is what average voters think. A poll immediately after the debate ended found 63% of respondents considered Harris the winner. She certainly seemed the more poised of the two, and had a lot more pep in her step that Joe Biden did in his debate. Neither candidate did a very good job answering questions from moderators, and both candidate’s answers were short on specifics. But most pundits agree Harris was the more composed of the two, and Trump clearly got angry on several occasions, often after baiting by Harris. There were plenty of cringe-worthy moments, with Trump spinning some tale about people eating cats and dogs, and he refused to say he sides with Ukraine in the war against Russia. Will any of what was said at the debate, or even who won, matter? In 2016, there was consensus that Hillary Clinton won the debate against Trump, but Trump won the election. We will find out in just 53 days how much of what was said on the latest debate stage matters to voters in November.
Kevin
September 12, 2024 at 6:33 am
I would quantify winning as who is telling the truth.
Kamala – Donald Trump will institute a nationwide abortion ban – Blatant lie
Kamala – Donald Trump will monitor your miscarriages/births thru project 2025 – Blatant lie
Kamala – Donald Trump said there were good neo-nazis (good people on both sides) – Blatant lie
Kamala – Donald Trump handed over a bad economy – Blatant lie
Kamala – Donald Trump will ban IVF – Blatant lie
Kamala – Donald Trump is guilty of promoting the J6 riots – blatant lie (peacefully & patriotically march to voice your concerns. Nancy Pelosi and the uni-party are responsible for the J6 debacle. We all know it, one just needs to be a bit intellectually honest.
And Kamala voiced so many other lies, we won’t even get into the lies about the legal issues.
Donald Trump – Illegal immigration is killing the republic; counting them as citizens skews the representations in congress artificially inflating number of federal reps per state, depresses wages, causes increased taxation per ‘citizen’
Donald Trump – Abortion question belongs in the hands of the states. Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself said Roe v Wade was bad law. True statement
Donald Trump – Kamala promoted and raised money to release the rioters that burned down STP. True statement
Donald Trump – Walz’s state of Minnesota has promoted abortion without bounds, meaning post birth abortion is allowed. True statement easily verifiable
I could go on and on, but I quite watching as the mediators were clearly in the bag for Kamala. It was three on one.
Trump clearly won – truth/substance. I wish he would have elaborated on his policies more, but it was impossible with both the mediators and the candidate in attack mode. Everyone knew this would happen – the debate from the democrat side was to provoke Trump into bully mode. They failed! They did succeed in drawing attention away from policy though. Smoke and mirrors, race card, sentence parsing, etc….
walden
September 12, 2024 at 9:50 am
Perfect analysis, Kevin. Thank you for doing WIZMs job. I would offer the only clear loser in the debate was the media, once again.
Several times when Trump was speaking about vast portions of the public hurting from inflation, drug deaths due to open borders, homelessness, and the bodies piling up in Ukraine, Harris was smiling and giggling in the split screen. Harris was laughing inappropriately in the face of some serious and dark situations. WIZM unthinkingly refers to that as “being poised.”
The eating of domestic animals was something Trump whiffed on. The issue for that Ohio town was not some duck or cat, it is that the Feds dumped 20,000 foreigners on a town of 50,000 people. La Crosse can’t even manage 150 homeless people; imagine the disaster of dealing with 20,000? Again, Harris giggled. And yes, that annoyed Trump, as it should have. It should also annoy the electorate.
Roy
September 12, 2024 at 2:52 pm
Yes, Kevin’s scorecard is a good one. I wouldn’t close the door on there being some truth behind the reports from Springfield Ohio. The NY Post had an article today that the police there were called after some Haitians allegedly caught and killed some Canada geese in a city park. 20,000 Haitians dumped on a town of 50,000. So much virtue signaling there by liberals that the town must have a halo over Democrat headquarters.
Kamala started talking through her nose when she was admonishing Trump. That was every 3 minutes. She had received some good training from the Obama twisters and she spent last weekend practicing in a mirror and applying tooth whitener.
I don’t think this TV show changed any votes. It just gave liberals their 13th jolt of political Red Bull since late June.
1. Biden stands down from running.
2. Kamala says she wants it.
3. Pelosi endorses her
4. Obama endorses her
5. Delegates endorse her
6. Kamala picks Walz to join her
7. Convention starts
8. Convention hears Oprah
9. Convention hears Hillary and Bill
10. Convention hears Biden
12. Convention hears Walz and Kamala
13. Kamala on TV with Trump, insulting each other
All this excitement! Did it change any votes? Remember, Trump was ahead by 1 point in the NY Times poll a day before the TV show. (I don’t call that TV show a debate) It was another media event hosted by two jackals whose main achievement was causing Kamala to finally relax when, 10 minutes in, she realized that those two were no threat. Anyway, Kamala’s team is measuring the White House curtains and Obama has Beyonce and her former drug dealer husband saving some dates for fun at the House that slaves built, as Michelle called it. I’m sure Kamala is secretly very nervous. I would be.
Sondra Gretzon
September 14, 2024 at 6:36 pm
The stocks never went up.I have believe Mr Trump won!!!! She never won!!! Do you believe, she had a speaker in her earring .maybe Hillary was on this, telling her, what to say?
Roy
September 13, 2024 at 9:37 am
From today’s Wall St. Journal—–
Reuters interviewed 10 swing voters after the event and gave the story an intriguing headline: “Some undecided voters not convinced by Harris after debate with Trump.” That’s one way to put it. “Six said afterward they would now either vote for Trump or were leaning toward backing him,” the piece explains. One remained undecided. Three backed Ms. Harris.
A New York Times interview of eight undecided voters after the debate found two leaning toward Mr. Trump, one toward Ms. Harris, the rest extremely confused. CNN, BBC and Wall Street Journal interviews with uncommitted voters produced similar mixed results.
These voters’ responses highlight Ms. Harris’s problems. She has succeeded in dodging questions about her past and her agenda and she did so again Tuesday night. The press raved over her deftness. But whoops. Five of the Reuters interviewees faulted her for failing to explain how she’d help improve the economy—their top issue. “There was no real meat and bones for her plan,” said a 61-year-old entrepreneur from Florida, who is now leaning toward Mr. Trump. A Nevada resident said he also moved toward Mr. Trump after hearing Ms. Harris tell him “not to vote for Donald Trump instead of why she’s the right candidate.”