Mirko C. Trudeau
Millions of viewers in the United States saw Kamala Harris and Donald Trump face off in a duel for the first time, during a 90-minute debate that aired on Tuesday night, marked by mutual attacks on the economy , the main concern of Americans, immigration, foreign policy and abortion and for personal disenfranchisement
US Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump faced each other this Tuesday in their first – and possibly only – meeting held in Philadelphia and broadcast on network television. ABC News. The election debate was held when the polls did not predict a clear winner, so it was expected to be crucial in tipping the balance of the undecided. But not much was clear.
Harris made a clear goal: to disturb her opponent, and he achieved it with the same attack strategy that is in her campaign. Trump did not say his opponent’s name once during the night. This Democratic strategy and Trump’s hoaxes are the keys to a debate that could be the only one before the November 5 elections.
Although both candidates declared themselves winners at the end of the evening, political analysts and the United States media agreed that Harris repeatedly interrupted Trump, who was seen as defensive and angry, while ‘ the Democrat remained calm and got away with it. According to the newspaper New York Timesreporters, including Republicans, concluded that she had managed to persuade Donald Trump to go off message.
At the end of the debate, Harris’ campaign team said the 59-year-old candidate is “ready for a second round” against the Republican, who also declared himself the winner and said it was “her best debate”.
The direct meeting ended and there was more theater than a good debate about the future of the most powerful country on the planet. But perhaps the most important political news was not in Philadelphia, but from an observer. Taylor Swift announced to her 283 million followers on Instagram: I will cast my vote for Kamala.
Harris managed to make the debate more about Trump than about her: so she didn’t have to detail her policy proposals and she also managed to get Trump angry and a bit of his usual volatility has to offer the television audience.
The confrontation had a controversial tone, with an irritated and agitated Trump who poured out many lies about immigration, abortion or the 2020 elections , which he, clearly frustrated, began a tirade in which he false entry about Haitian immigrants who are “causing chaos” in Springfield (Ohio), where he said they stole pets to eat.
Trump tried to focus the debate on his main topic, immigration. Therefore, he said, again without evidence, that some people from “madhouses” cross the southern border of the United States with Mexico. In addition, he insisted on other xenophobic statements, such as that immigrants are “destroying” the country and pointing to the Democratic government as the culprit.
The issue of abortion created another conflict between the candidates, with Harris promising to protect the right to abortion through federal law, while Trump limited himself to supporting exceptions in rape cases , incest or danger to the mother’s life.
Trump has been launching personal attacks against Harris for weeks that have included racist and sexist insults. He had asked his advisers to focus on migration and the economy, so he largely avoided insults in the early stages of the debate. However, the dramatic scenes did not take long to come when both candidates raised their tone.
Trump and Harris came to accuse each other, branding each other as a “threat” to American democracy. The former prosecutor said he had spoken to military leaders who describe Trump as a “disgrace,” accused him of wanting to be a “dictator” and mocked the topics he talks about at his rallies.
For his part, the New York magnate described Harris as a “radical” with Marxist ideology, criticizing her for not having a clear plan for the country and accusing her of wanting to bring the United States to ruin.
The vice president took advantage of the split-screen television broadcast to use her body language as Trump spoke: raising her eyebrows in disbelief and casting a sly glance. On the other hand, the former president kept a strict posture, looking directly at the camera, with firm shoulders and almost did not look at Harris.
Trump again launched several hoaxes, some of which, in his usual way, are completely false. Therefore, he accused immigrants who came into the United States of eating dogs and cats of citizens who lived in the border cities, before Harris surprised him.
“A lot of cities don’t want to talk about it because they’re embarrassed. In Springfield, the people who came in are eating the dogs, they are eating the cats, they are eating the pets of the people who live there and this is what is happening in our country and it’s shameful,” the former president echoed. racist rhetoric.
He went on with one of his usual lies: that abortions happen in the ninth month of pregnancy, which the data denies. Less than 1% are performed after 21 weeks and are usually due to clinical reasons. Trump also said that abortions happen after birth. That is, in short, childhood.
Trump also tried to distance himself from the attack on the Capitol. “I had nothing to do with January 6,” he said. However, although there are no convictions against him yet – trials are ongoing – he actually contributed to lighting up the day with various messages and circulating hoaxes. He also called for a rally in Washington and urged the people to make themselves heard at the Capitol.
For Trump, if Harris takes over the Presidency it will be “Venezuela on steroids”: “She is destroying the country,” he said, reinforcing his criticism of undocumented migrants and border management from Joe Biden the border open to illegal immigrants and allow countries like Venezuela to reduce their crime rate by “getting rid” of these people.
Curiously, Mexico – outside its border – appeared only once, when Trump said that China is building large car plants in the neighboring country, but will not allow these vehicles to be sold in the United States.
According to political observer Caitlin Johnstone, American democracy means you have a choice between genocide wearing a MAGA hat (from the Trump movement) and genocide waving a rainbow flag.
Harris skin and weapons
Trump has previously questioned the origins of his Democratic rival. “Is she Indian or black?” he had asked himself. On Tuesday he said: “I didn’t care what it is. Whatever she wants is fine with me,” he said, justifying his previous attacks by reading that she wasn’t black. Harris, whose mother is Indian and whose father is Jamaican, said it was a “tragedy” that a candidate for the White House would use race, in her view, “to divide Americans”. .
Harris took the opportunity to make it clear that she and her running mate, Tim Walz, own guns. This statement could attract independent voters who fear that Democrats will restrict gun ownership, a right protected by the US Constitution.
When Trump accused him of wanting to take guns away from Americans, Harris responded: “Tim Walz and I are gun owners; “We’re not going to disarm anybody, so stop lying about this issue.” In 2019, during her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Harris had already announced that she had a gun for her personal safety.
It is the economy
The debate also had economic moments. Trump launched the idea that inflation is the highest in US history, which is not true: after the Second World War and the oil crisis it was higher than at this time. Trump also said that Harris was a “Marxist. Everyone knows she is a Marxist.
Trump insulted her in his final speech for promising things she could not do during that time as vice president, and Harris reminded her that she is the one in front of him the elections, and not Biden.
“I’m not Joe Biden, and I’m certainly not Donald Trump. “I represent a new generation, a different way of doing politics,” Harris said, making it clear that beating Biden, a nonpartisan president and octogenarian candidate, was an easier task for him. Trump than beating the man who wants to be the first lady. to take in the White House.
As CNN observed, Trump spoke more than Harris during the debate and finished five minutes ahead: 42 minutes and 52 seconds, against 37 minutes and 36 seconds
* American economist, political scientist and analyst, associated with the Latin American Center for Strategic Analysis (CLAE).
