EDITORIAL – The big debate is over, and there was a clear winner
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
ONE OF THE BEST THINGS about tonight’s debate (Sept. 10, 2024) between U.S. presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is that it’s over.
For the past couple of weeks, American networks have been spending most of their days and nights asking various politicians and pundits ad nauseum, “What does Harris have to do to win this debate?” or “What does Trump have to do to win this debate?”
The answer, time after time, was that Harris would have to separate herself from the Joe Biden years and provide a clear plan on the economy. And, get under Trump’s skin.
Trump, on the other hand, would have to stick to issues and policies and forget the insults.
By a third of the way through the debate, it was clear that Harris was mopping the floor with the ex-president, who couldn’t resist his old ways. Harris baited him at will, and he took that bait every time, even on his favourite topic of crowd sizes at his rallies.
In one particularly ridiculous moment, he repeated the conspiracy theory that immigrants are eating people’s cats and dogs. Trump looked and sounded like an angry old man.
This was probably the one and only presidential debate before the November election. It answered two important questions: Harris can hold her own against Trump. On the other hand, Trump is the same old Trump.
It was an entertaining and informative hour and a half. Though Harris and Trump likely won’t square off in a rematch (although Harris wants one), vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and J.D. Vance will go at it Oct. 1.
That, too, could be highly entertaining and informative.
Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
The debate was a joke Kamala was condescending without the capability to cast a vision. Her goal was to sidetrack Trump so that the issues would take the back seat. Even if I liked her, I would not trust her. Harris “put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.” Harris blocked evidence “that would have freed an innocent man from death row” and she kept “people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor.” The most telling lack of substance was her constant “I have a plan; I have a plan” while skirting the holocaust and Biden’s foreign policy that has us on the brink of nuclear war. America lost in the debate if you can call it that. If this is the best that they have I don’t know what is the worst. One has to be an idiot to think that endorsement from Taylor Swift matters. Maybe the number of votes but zero for human progress.
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Trump is a boor, Harris trying to distance herself from Biden when she was his vice-president is a joke. Trump is more red, Harris is more blue, but they are both purple. They both support arming Israel to kill non-combatants. Neither really cares about climate change or environmental toxins. Etc. Etc. They both answer to the same corporate masters.
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She is quite a personality, reminded me of Obama a lot. Smart, articulate, a glowing presence. Perhaps the debate was not the place for policies details although it would be nice to know more about how she is planning to improve the lot. For example will she keep on clamouring for a Palestine solution while sending boat loads of arms to Israel?
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