Last night Vice President Kamala Harris dominated the stage against former President Donald Trump. On this 23rd 9/11 anniversary is the USA united or divided?
23 years since the 9/11 attack on America
Before I provide my chronical analyst of last night’s debate, I want to honor those who perished as consequence of the 9/11 attacks to America. Many of us remember exactly where we were on that nefarious day. The horror and sense of disbelief of this irrational attack that ended the lives of so many innocent people. The USA and the world united to embrace our nation, and we were united as one voice against terrorism. 23 years later, is our United States of America divided?
As a form of respect to the solemnly of today’s significance, I only want to make one relevant comment on today’s 9/11 ceremony, which was attended by the incumbent President Biden and Vice President Harris, as well as former President Trump. I will say that this is the first time everyone I’ve mentioned have all been present at the same place – because during the last presidential inauguration former President Trump refused to be present for the peaceful transfer of power when Biden assumed the presidency. Marking today a very historical event that many people might miss – my hope is that this is a sign that America is finally starting to heal.
Baseline about last night’s debate
The presidential debate was hosted by ABC in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Believe it or not, although a lot of people did miss the debate, this was a historical night that many people around the world – to include the USA were looking forward to and watched very attentively. This is the first time both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have EVER been in the same room.
For anyone who was unaware (yes, that is the case – mind-bending, huh?), incumbent US Vice President Kamala Harris is running for President after incumbent US President Joe Biden dropped from the presidential race and immediately endorsed Kamala, who was his running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket. This took place on July 21, 2024. Today, just 52 days after Biden’s decision, Kamala Harris has inspired millions of Americans who were not even register or planning on voting into a gigantic movement that is not only galvanizing the support of Democrats, but Americans from all political leanings.
This is indeed the most consequential election in our lifetimes, and many Americans realize this. On my previous article I’ve mentioned how prominent GOP figures are jumping ship and proudly endorsing Kamala Harris for president – choosing country over political party. Yes, they remain Republicans in principle and doctrine, but they do not want Trump in office. If you read my previous article, a lot of the reasons for why Trump’s base is dwindling were also mentioned by Harris last night. It is nice to hear from her mouth that my analysis was spot on.
Prior to Biden dropping from the race, the presidential debate between Trump and Biden was a disaster. Biden owned up to his subpar performance, and I wrote about it on an article. I stand by my words, because despite the fact that Kamala is dominating and gaining a lot of traction, this remains a very close race and complacency could result in a new Trump presidency, even if achieved by a technicality. Remember, Trump has never won the popular vote on any election. He only entered the White House in 2016 due to the electoral college, Hillary Clinton got millions more votes for the popular count.
Now that Harris and Trump are the presidential contenders, both could not be more different than one another. Kamala Harris dominated the stage and did not fall for the same traps Biden fell of when Trump Gish galloped with rapid fire-falsehoods during the first debate, causing Biden to be disoriented as he battled with trying to answer the word-salads spewed at him by Trump. Trump used the same tactic with Kamala, but this time Trump’s effort was an epic failure.
It was obvious to see that Trump underappreciated Kamala’s debating chops, and she moped the floor with Trump – although it is likely that Trump was so distracted listening to his own voice while repeating every MAGA talking point, buzz word, slogan, and greatest hit wedge issues, that he inevitably convinced himself that he was a superstar on stage. He wasn’t – he looked like a salivating-tantrum-driven raging-toddler, while Kamala looked composed and classy – being the clear grown up in the room.
I do have a bone to pick with the moderators… which although were a lot better than the first debate, were still being railroaded by Trump, giving him a lot more speaking time, and very little pushback for spewing falsehoods, or pressing him on answering the questions. Despite this, and should be obvious to the left, the narrative from the far and extreme right was that “Trump was debating three people” – which is absurd, but not unexpected at this stage of the game.
Failing to answer questions
There was a clear distinction between Kamala’s professionalism and Trump’s go-to tactics. For many MAGA folks, Trump’s performance would have been very much on brand to his one-man shows, but for the rest of the country seeing a grown man being petty and vociferous is a huge turn off. He is not the ideal temperament for somebody who will be in charge of making the most consequential decision in the country.
Most people prefer a person who is cool, calm, and collected – especially when pushed outside their comfort zone. And more importantly, that they will be able to address the issue, and take responsibility for their actions. Whether they were correct or require owning up to a mistake. Trump is known for doubling down on controversy, or if it gets too heated, push the blame onto somebody else. Most functional children and adults prefer somebody who is reliable, and won’t fall apart like a sandcastle at mid-tide.
Here is the link to the ABC debate on YouTube so you can watch it again carefully and can ascertain the points I’m bringing up in this article.
Please read this article first, and then watch the video so you can see what I am pointing at from an analyst perspective, because it tends to get missed. Even if you’ve already watched the debate is worth repeating. Pay special attention to Trumps body language deceiving him whenever Kamala hits a nerve.
Kamala Harris
Although Kamala did fail to answer directly if she has ever met with Putin, and her first question at the beginning of the debate was off to a rocky start. The Question was “when it comes to the economy, do you think Americans are better off today than they were four years ago?” Her answer was adequate, but we have to remember that a lot of people who are not into politics sometimes need a quick “Yes or No” followed by what she said. Remember debates are also about the psychology of the viewer, rather than the substance. I wish that was not the case, but sadly that’s the world we live in nowadays,
For example, showmanship was obvious on the debate between Trump and Biden. Trump is known for words salads where he talks a lot but says very little – but sounds entertaining. Biden was giving answers that were a lot more substantial but would be considered boring for those who enjoy Trump’s bombastic rhetoric. Kamala did get a lot better as the debate progressed, and regardless of political leaning, she was a class act. Personally, to me it is always a joy to hear a well-prepared, and exceedingly smart person articulate issues in a way that was not only eloquent but creating a relatable human connection.
As far as inaccuracies with Harris, there were very few – but seeing in the proper context it made perfect sense how the constraints of time could leave a context portion out of the statement. But I do not appreciate the fact that the moderators often let Trump have the final word after the topic was addressed, even though he would just insert a myriad of non sequiturs and buzz words that now being used as meme-type soundbites. They never extended that same courtesy to Kamala.
This was a disservice by ABC, and they should have been more forceful to Trump – But I do realize that there are probably some “sensibilities” about it – because Trump tends to whine a lot. Several times Trump talked over the moderators as they tried to have him wrap up his statement – after he was already over time. You could tell because the mics were off, and they turned it on just to let him speak – often on a tangent, go on an attack, or to push more MAGA-buzz words that were divorced from the context at hand.
Donald Trump
It would take me longer to write everything that Trump said that was either misdirection, inflammatory, false, propaganda, Gish galloping, pedantry, etc. The fact is that every other word coming out of his mouth fell into any of those aforementioned categories. If you love Trump, good on you – I see it from the point of view of somebody willing to hiring a person to a job position – the highest office of the land, no less. Therefore, attention to detail is crucial – regardless of whether I personally like the dude or not.
The overall question would be: Can this person perform the job? The answer is no, he was a pain in the ass on his previous term. I was active-duty Navy, and I can tell you that almost every morning at 5am when I was arriving to my office, we had to do some sort of damage control for any 2am Twitter storm where he was insulting people with whom we were performing joint (with other military services) or combined (with other countries) operations. It was a nightmare!
Just when I thought he could not get any more bizarre, he proved us wrong every time – because he kept getting more and more unhinged. His only saving grace in the eyes of most of the country, to include his most ardent supporters, is that a lot of the s**t he breaks by his policies is classified and remains so – therefore the true scope of his antics never sees the light of day. I won’t ever repeat the details on this forum because of that – because it is illegal to divulge classified information (like Trump did and is criminally charged for it). But what I can tell you is that he cloaks a lot of his lies behind the fact that legally the details cannot be disclosed. Let me leave that at that. Use your imagination if you want.
Conversely, when Biden took power, we stopped having any of these weird bizarre mid-night tirades. We were not walking on eggshells, and instead of running damage control multiple times per day, we were able to focus on doing what we were supposed to be doing to ensure America, and the world were safe. There were many concerning red flags when Trump was in power, and the bizarre normalized into the dangerous – and a lot of that had to be cleaned up after he left office.
So, when I am casting a vote for who should be hired to that position, my metric is somebody who has the temperament, articulation, and encyclopedic level of knowledge on foreign and domestic policy, which can be expressed without having to resort to name calling or deflection. Like it or not, we are facing the most contentious geopolitical crisis of our lifetimes. The only thing Trump was right about is that that World War III could be occurring soon. What he fails to say is that he was instrumental in setting the pieces for this potential armed conflict to occur – and left America vulnerable.
Trump failed to answer many direct questions during the debate – which is not unusual for him, and either totally ignored them or went on a Gish gallop word salad full of MAGA-talking points, but no substance. I realize that many people who like what he says might not understand why evading the questions he was asked was important. So, if you happen to be one of those folks, I’ll restate the questions they asked him, and why it is important that we hand an answer, and why it would have been inconvenient for him to give a straight answer. I’ll do my best to simplify it, because each one could merit its own article – or a whole book.
Questions/Topics Trump failed and/or evaded to give a straight answer:
1. Are we better today than four years ago?
Trump went on a rampage talking about his MAGA points, but none of it was coherent. The fact is that we are better today than four years ago. Kamala said it best, the mess they had to clean up after he left was gigantic. So, let’s use a parallel example. Let’s say that your house gets flooded and has a bunch of water damage everywhere. It will take you a lot of time to fix it, it will cost a lot of money, and even after you’re done fixing it, there will be a lot of issues that will have to be taken care of. The biggest hurdle is that Trump mishandled COVID so badly that it destroyed not just the USA, but a lot of other countries that derive stability from our country. The fact we are this far recovered is nothing short of a miracle.
2. Does he think climate change is a hoax?
Trump has gone on record – at least on the court of public opinion – to call climate change a “a hoax” repeatedly. The fact is that the climate has been changing from the beginning of time and will continue changing. The problem is the rate of speed at which it is changing. Living organisms won’t be able to adapt to that speed of change. And that includes human beings – it is not because of the “weather” – which is not synonymous with “climate” – but because the environment getting damaged raises the cost of living, because food sources, currents, more severe storms, and associated costs hike up exponentially too. And of course, this is the only habitable planet in our entire solar system.
3. Does Trump have any regrets for J6?
In true Trump fashion, he deflected and threw his supporters under the bus. Let alone that he starts his rallies nowadays with the J6 hymn, and until recently there was going to be a gala in one of his properties for J6 people who were arrested. Also, Trump acted surprised about his statements of losing the election by a little margin saying “did I say that?” and when told to his face that yes, at least three times in front of a camera – and whenever he was not able to get away from feigning ignorance – he quickly pivoted to say that he was being “sarcastic” – and doubled down on the Big Lie. The fact is that if he accepts the reality that he very well knows he lost the election, then all the court cases, his second impeachment, the criminal charges associated with it, the millions of people who support him because they believe him, they would all turn on him. In fact, even some of his alt-right supporters were openly angry at him for admitting (several times) that he did lose the 2020 election. It does not take a PHD to realize that Trump is planting the seeds to say that he is going to have the election stolen” again. His whole movement is basically based on this lie, if he comes clean (like he did casually – repeatedly) there is a whole world of hurt coming his way… which is a pain he inflicted on the country, to include his many supporters who had to pay high prices for believing him that the 2020 election was stolen. For the record, it was not stolen, that was never proven.
4. Would Trump veto a bill about a federal abortion ban?
Trump have bragged about destroying Roe vs. Wade, and spoiler alert, that is a huge reason why Republican races have underperformed at all levels around the country. Trump said that he gave the “states” a choice to deny abortions, and also kept talking about infanticide (killing a baby who is already born) as though that was happening in the USA. Infanticide, much like homicide of any age of a person who is a breathing human being, is illegal. He would not answer if he would veto a federal ban on abortion. The fact is that he would very much would do that, if that gives him favor with a particular minority of people in the USA who want to control women’s reproductive rights. In fact, this was telegraphed years ago as he was putting Justices who did exactly that – despite the fact that when all of Trump’s Supreme Court Justices were asked directly during their confirmation hearings about overturning Roe vs. Wade – said that they would not do it. Everyone with two brain cells to rub could see right through them, and we were right. Look it up.
5. Why is he distancing himself from Project 2025?
This was not necessarily a question, but when addressed about that, he disavowed it, and even stated that he has not read it, nor does he want to read it. I do believe in that. Project 2025 is 920 pages or so, and it is not a fun read either… also, that way he can “truthfully” say that he has not read it. But not reading it, does not mean you don’t know what it is about, or if you agree or disagree with it. For example, YOU might have not read Mein Kampf by Hitler, but you would very well know that you would not be agreeing with Hitler’s rhetoric (unless for some weird reason you do, which that is concerning). But the fact is that the Heritage Foundation, and even his VP have been very much intertwined with Trump when it comes to Project 2025. This is just another example of Trump throwing somebody under the bus the exact moment they become inconvenient. And by the way, most of those running or training on Project 2025 were working in the Trump administration. Here is the entire series of training videos if you want to watch them. They were gathered by ProPublica, it takes about 14 hours or so to go through them all. I did watch them all, you might want to do the same. And here is the link to Project 2025 so you can read it at your leisure. You might want to be sitting down when you do.
6. Why did Trump directed to kill the bipartisan immigration bill? The bipartisan immigration bill was essentially a wet-dream for any conservative. This was drafted by some of the most conservative people in Congress. And it was going to be signed by Biden, but Trump ordered his acolytes in Congress to kill the bill – and they did. He denies it, but there is something called the “voting record” and it is a matter of public record and you can see it. Here is the link. Kamala said it best. Fixing the immigration issue – which was approved also by the Border Patrol, was inconvenient for Trump. Because he needs a problem, and a scape goat – blaming immigrants – as red meat for his base. He obviously evaded to answer the question and went on a rampage – even though a lot of those were attacking immigrants, but never actually addressing his actions.
7. Does Trump ascertain that if Ukraine wins the war Russia started, it is also a win for the USA?
You might or might have not find it surprising that when this topic came up, for some reason Trump started repeating pretty much every Kremlin talking point on the issue. Was he unaware of it? Or is he being a proxy for Russia – even if unwittingly? Whatever the case, you can visit RT or TASS which are Russia’s state-sponsored media outlets to see it for yourself. You’ll find out the obvious, Trump said verbatim what is repeated on state-sponsored Russian outlets – which by the way is a narrative that disagrees with the rest of the planet. There is a lot more to talk about this topic, but this will be better suited for my Patreon special articles, because it will get intense.
8. Does Trump have an actual health replacement plan for the Affordable Care Plan?
Unsurprisingly, he does not have an actual health plan – there I saved you a lot of time. For years – since Obama was in Office, Trump said that he had “a beautiful plan, the most beautiful plan you’ve ever seen, a plan so good that is unbelievable, and that will be out in two weeks.” Yeah, those two weeks stretched into years, even though they were always two weeks away every time somebody confronted him about it. Yesterday he said he does not have plans, but concepts… the problem is that concepts without execution are meaningless. If somebody has a “concept” of a functioning space ship but doesn’t understand physics, then that person has nothing… maybe some half-baked science fiction at best, but it won’t be a functional space ship.
Yes, I know there were more questions he evaded… but I am just going to address these for this article. You’re welcome to continue the conversation on all our social media platforms. Meanwhile my intent is not for you to “see it my way” – but rather see that there is a lot more than what meets the eye. Like it or not, whomever will become the president of the United States of America will be more consequential at this point in our history than ever before.
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Final Thoughts for Today
Like or dislike Trump or Kamala Harris are not as relevant as why would you want them to serve in the highest office of our land. If it simply because “you like them” but have no clear way to articulate their policies, then regardless of if you like Trump or Kamala – you’re trapped in a cult of personality. The policies, and their temperament to make sensitive decisions are the reason why we elect a president or prefer not to elect somebody who falls short of being capable to hold this office. Much like you will not want to have somebody operating on your brain if they only have fast-food experience. There are certain skills required for certain jobs.
To make it easier, I pose these two questions:
- If you support [or love] Trump, ask yourself – why support him despite all the red flags he is displaying? And if these red flags were on Kamala’s side and personality, would you find them problematic and refuse to vote for her under that metric?
- If you support [or love] Kamala, ask yourself – does she lead a campaign for unification and bringing us together? She did state on that stage that her commitment is to all Americans regardless of political affiliation. Trump did not say that, most of his words were about him, but not about us collectively.
One final thought, and it is an open letter answer to Donald Trump about “why did Kamala not do already what she is promising to do on her term, while she is the incumbent Vice President?”
The answer is: She is already doing a lot of it. But there are two major factors (from many more) … but I want to simplify it for brevity.
1. The Biden administration was already cleaning up a lot of the mess from the Trump era before it can continue moving forward. And no, the Trump team did not do a proper pass down – case in point yesterday was the first day Kamala Harris met Trump in person! In other words, there is a process. Or better said, THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN DOING WHAT THEY WILL CONTINUE DOING TO IMPROVE THE COUNTRY. But it needs more time to get it to the stage where it can work better. It is a lor harder to fix a mess than to mess it up in the first place. For an illustrative example, it is very easy to live large maxing up your credit card, but it is a whole other issue paying off that debt when your credit runs out.
2. The Vice President is not the president, and even though they have a very good working relationship between the President and Vice President on this term – there are still areas that the VP is not empowered to address as far as policy. Which is fine, because the VP is also supposed to be a guardrail, and help the President understand if he or she has a blind spot. In other words, each has their role and complement each other – while also holding each other accountable.
The situation is that when things are working well, it might seem effortless to the untrained eye. Much like a prodigy musician might make it look easy when they execute a complex musical melody. Kamala Harris is an exceedingly well-prepared person in so many respects that would take me days just to make justice to her illustrious resume. But the presidency is a lot more than just a lot of titles and line items in a resume. It is about the ability to bring people together with the best qualifications to elevate collectively the country.
Everybody, even Kamala Harris has blind spots. That is normal and expected, we are all human, and nobody is perfect. But what I personally like about Kamala is that she is able to accept that she is learning and moving forward along the best imaginable team – the UNITED States of America. Her message is simple, we are not going back to the times that America was divided. Let’s make an America where we all live the American dream, not just a selected few.
The contrast is that for Trump (his words) the USA is a failing nation, a nation in decline, and everything is terrible – and that HE ALONE can fix it. For Kamala, she empowers the ENTIRE country to work together for a better future, levering the strengths that already exist in our Country. Her message resonates, because we are already a great nation, a nation that is moving forward – but can always get better.
But liking Kamala Harris alone does not mean anything unless people go out and vote. Also remember that even if Trump does not win, there is a high possibility of violence like J6 could occur again, or be even worse – because his rhetoric even after the debate continues to be divisive. Love or hate the dude is not the issue, the issue is what he is saying. Calling the USA a nation in decline and disavowing people – even his supporters (like the Project 2025 folks) shows that he would dispose of anybody who kisses his caboose the very moment they are inconvenient to him.
Kamala has addressed the many issues that need to be improved in America. Let’s realize again that there is a process for everything, and there are also many stopgaps, or catalysts at all levels of government. This includes local governments, and the different branches of power in the USA – such as Congress or the Supreme Court. One Person alone cannot fix everything, but one person can assemble a team leveraging the strengths of the nation. But this person cannot be in power just for nepotism or flattery.
The final question is: Which candidate is articulating American interests’ narratives, and which one is repeating adversarial regime talking points verbatim? Understand that if the latter wins, then the USA will not be governed by the adversarial-regime-rhetoric-parrot… instead it would be ruled with an iron fist by whichever adversarial nation is controlling this aforementioned parrot. Compare their state-sponsored talking points, and see who is truly working for America, and who is repeating adversarial regimes talking points. Yes, I am being redundant because I want you to look it up for yourself – it might rock your world, but you’ll thank me later – when we remain a free nation because you did your part to be better informed than the average American today. HLC