By John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College
Watching last night, there was one debate winner, and two who lost the debate. Vice-President Kamala Harris won by offering a clear plan, and a contrast with her opponent. Trump lost because he continues to fight the last battle, without updating much since 2015. And ABC News lost because they appeared to show favoritism to Harris on fact-checking, while giving Trump the advantage in speaking time and getting in the last word. It didn’t help the ex-president, though.
I watched the debate with a group of college students on a campus which almost always leans more Republican than Democrat. Those who tend to support Republicans left early, while those who lean toward the Democratic Party stuck it out until the end.
“Kamala Harris had a plan, an idea of what she would do over the next four years,” one remarked. “Donald Trump just continued to say the same old thing, criticizing his opponent and saying how great he was in office. He didn’t give us any plan.”
“Didn’t he give us a ‘concept of a plan?’” another student laughed.
Harris didn’t have as much national experience, having exited early among the crowded 2019-2020 Democratic primaries. She battled the low-key but highly competent Vice-President Mike Pence to a draw, and got the zinger of the evening. Yet she resisted the calls from Democrats to be “the prosecutor.” While she did point out Trump’s weaknesses and shortcomings, she made sure there was plenty of time to say what she would do differently.
Harris also wisely side-stepped the ABC News’ “gotcha” questions, but staying on the subject the moderators asked, which is what I would have advised. I bet one of her most frequently used words was “plan,” and solutions were simple enough to fit in the razor-think margins of 1-2 minutes.
Trump showed little improvement over 2015, when he stormed into a crowded field of overrated GOP frontrunners (Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee) and inexperienced challengers (Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul) and largely unknowns (John Kasich, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina), and won the primaries. He lost every debate to Hillary Clinton, but benefitted from Democratic overconfidence and poor strategizing, and still managed to lose the popular vote. His debate performance was so bad against Joe Biden that it masked the Democratic nominee’s weaknesses.
In July 2024, an older, worn-out Biden lost the debate more than Trump won it. Instead of taking a hard look at his own shortcomings, Trump and his team figured they would do what they always had done, and played the “boxer” role of pummeling an opponent, instead of providing a vision for the future. Time-and-time-again, Trump mangled even his own attack (ducks, not dogs, and cats), and the pandemic (bragging how great his response was, when others know better) and touting praise from the dictator of Hungary. When you fight the last battle, you make the same mistakes, failing to realize you might have won once or twice by luck.
The latest Trump excuse is that ABC News cost him the debate. That’s not true. ABC News wasn’t responsible for Trump’s disastrous performance. If anything, ABC News moderators, consciously or unwittingly, did try to help Trump, but it was to no avail.
First, the moderators gave Trump an estimated five more minutes of speaking time than Harris. Second, they failed to shut off the mikes, giving him virtually the last word on every issue. Third, they did fact-check Trump, who certainly needs it. But that should be Harris’ job, and she certainly ready to do it, and a little annoyed that the moderators were taking away from her rebuttal. Furthermore, the going after Trump bit by ABC moderators turned off watchers somewhat, which could have helped the GOP candidate. But he made so many mistakes that it didn’t matter.
In addition, ABC News moderators asked some long-winded questions, which made me wonder if they weren’t going over their 1-2 minutes allotted to the speakers. We need a question length agreement before the next debate.
In conclusion, Harris not only held her own in the debate, but outlined what she would do over the next four years, which reached the audience. Trump’s only response to her plans was to ask why she wouldn’t do them right away, giving the false impression that the American Vice-President has the powers of an East European dictator. But Trump’s not the only one who lost. ABC News needs to clean up their act when it comes to the questions, question length, and fact-checking.
John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His “X” account is JohnTures2.
