It's Well Known: An Absolute Victory

I'm not sure I've ever seen a more lopsided debate; including that last one.

Hello,

Kamala Harris totally outclassed and outperformed Trump in a way that I thought was going to happen. But to see it was really something. From memory, I can’t recall a more effective performance or a more lop-sided showing in a presidential debate since at least 2008. And that is including the previous debate which was the catalyst for the literal withdrawal of one of the candidates.

The debate was mostly about messaging, character, and highlighting just how bad Trump is. Harris didn’t take any baits and Trump showed what and how he thinks. It was all on display. His comprehension is pre-literate. And his only move is to fearmonger and lie. He tried to rehash certain out-of-context comments from Ralph Northam that took place in 2019. And his whole “we are a nation in decline; we are a nation that is dying” is literally so far from the truth that it’s hard to even fact check. It’s not even an opinion; it’s simply mouth noises at this point.

The first topic was about Trump’s proposed tariffs of 10% on all imports and 60% on Chinese imports. Let’s get this straight one more time: tariffs are border taxes that absolutely do amount to increased prices for consumers. According to the Tax Policy Center, if enacted as proposed, this would amount to costing the average family $1,800 per year in after-tax income. I would have liked to see Harris explain why Biden chose to keep tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, metals, and computer chips. But either way, the percentage of Chinese imports subject to tariffs under Biden is 3.5% of the $420 billion of Chinese imports.

I’m glad the moderators tried to pin Trump on his mass deportation regime but Trump mostly squirmed out of it. Though he did say “yes” to the idea that cops would be knocking on people’s doors. We should believe Trump and MAGA on immigration: they absolutely are gearing up to deport millions. This will deserve mass protests, civil disobedience, and anyone with moral commitments should be ready to fight this legally, in whatever way they can. The negative impact on the economy, national security, civil rights, the rule of law, and human rights would be horrendous.

Overall, there wasn’t much policy substance. Harris was smart to point out that Trump doesn’t care about any one other than himself. She briefly mentioned her housing plans and her small business tax credit. (Small business pandering does nothing for me. Small businesses aren’t as desireable as people think, in terms of labor, health care, and benefits to local economies.) Harris, expressed before, would pass into law a bill codifying abortion protections similar to the status-quo ante. And she would give first time home buyers $25,000 tax credit, tax breaks for builders, and would focus money on rehabilitating old stock. If supply is actually increased, this could help; if supply is not increased, this could backfire. But one thing we know: it’s a popular policy idea. I would have liked to hear more on childcare.

On foreign policy, the big focus was Israel. I am skeptical that a Harris admin will be substantively better than Biden, though Trump would be even worse. Harris did say “two-state solution” and the more normalized that becomes, the better the chances that one party will truly commit to making that happen. Trump and his family want to forcibly remove Gazans and are lock-step with Netanyahu’s criminal government. Both parties are terrible on Israel-Palestine. Voters and coalitions are moving one of these parties to be better. And younger voters know more about Israeli’s treatment of Palestinians than older generations.

I’m glad Harris expressed that she agrees that the U.S. military should have pulled out of Afghanistan. But I also really liked how she detailed just had bad the Trump’s peace deal with the Taliban was in the first place. There is no reason to believe that the pull out would have been conducted any better under Trump. Read Thomas E. Rick’s Fiasco: the American Military Adventure in Iraq (2006) about just how bad the U.S. military is in terms of planning, executing, and exiting wars. And read

In terms of Ukraine-Russia, it’s weird that Trump often brags about violating the Logan Act.

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What was missing? No real substance on most policy domains. No real foreign policy discussion. No real conversation about public health strategy designed to prevent the next pandemic, health care, climate change, or guns. On the latter, all we got was “yay, Walz and I own guns” so we wouldn’t take them away and Trump just wanted to try to focus on that issue since it’s one of his only popular positions/mouth noises he holds.

We won’t solve our guns crisis without a moral revolution. But at least there are organized coalitions around this issue. The trouble is the industrial-complex of the other side, spreading another big lie throughout our culture and society.

Harris said that it’s a tragedy that Trump is her opponent because of how divisive he is on race and for his refusal to come to terms with 2020. He has been terrible on civil rights his entire life. He’s absolutely had a racist past and is currently spreading race-based lies right now when it comes to immigrants. He lives and breathes in cliches, nonsense, bitterness, personal vendettas, propaganda and, as Harris so poignantly points out, it’s a serious problem that either (a) Trump believes in the Big Lie or (b) is so confused with how to navigate the real world that he is unfit to be in the position he is in right now.

I hope that point didn’t just fly by people. In the back and forth about the 2020 presidential election which Trump lost, Harris said, and I quote, “it leads one to believe that perhaps we do not have a candidate that has the temperment or the ability to not be confused about facts. That’s deeply troubling and the American people deserve better.” In a time where confusion, manufacturing fake doubt where none deserves to be, and “just asking questions” is the rumor mill plank of the dis- and mis-information machines, excellently discussed in Invisible Rulers: the People Who Turn Lies Into Reality by Renée DiResta.

What will be a tragedy and farce is if Trump wins again. That’s a fact.

Vote,
Patrick M. Foran