For America’s shrinking cohort of undecided voters, there were at least two key takeaways from Tuesday night’s showdown between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
First, the contentious debate revealed why giving Trump a second term is a terrible idea, not only for the United States, but also for beleaguered democratic societies around the world.
Second, the debate largely concealed why giving Harris a single term in the White House is a terrible idea, especially for the United States, but also for beleaguered democratic societies around the world.
Granted, Trump’s supporters are plausibly arguing that Harris got away with evading worrisome questions about Afghanistan, immigration, inflation and other issues because of the blatant media bias on the part of ultra-woke Disney’s ABC.
After all, this is a TV network that blasts the former president from dawn (Good Morning America co-hosted by former Bill Clinton spokesman George Stephanopoulos), to midday (The View, on which five or so women pile on), and that’s just getting started.
Then comes an evening newscast anchored by debate co-host David Muir and featuring correspondents such as Jonathan Karl, who wrote a scathingly critical book about Trump. This parade of criticism, some of it justified, concludes in the late-night slot with comedian Jimmy Kimmel, who relentlessly ridicules Trump.
So, to be fair, perhaps the hosts should’ve begun the debate by reading Trump a version of the Miranda warning, telling him that anything you say — or ever said — can and will be held against you.
Meanwhile, uncommitted voters who viewed the debate Tuesday night then awoke Wednesday morning to hear squabbling pundits on rival networks proclaim Harris or Trump the winner may well see some irony in the timing of this disquieting display of the current sorry state of American politics.
This latest example of America’s extreme political polarization occurred on the eve of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which had seemingly brought the nation together for a few fleeting moments. If a truce in extreme partisanship is possible only in the face of an enemy’s aggressive actions, the nation may well be unprepared to mount a prompt response to the next provocations engineered by Russia, Iran, China, North Korea and/or their surrogates.
As for Trump’s performance, to perceptive observers with training in gerontology, it illustrated that cognitive decline may look different in different older people.
There’s the obvious kind that Joe Biden exhibited in his disastrous debate with Trump, where Biden had trouble uttering coherent thoughts. Then, there’s the kind of cognitive decline that Trump has exhibited, not only during this debate but also in his incoherent rambling and unfiltered ranting on the campaign trail, where even some of his adoring fans have been seen departing early. It’s not an ideal state of mind for our nation’s commander in chief.
As for Harris, her plans for the economy obliviously run afoul of the law of supply and demand, an economic reality that’s as difficult to ignore as the law of gravity is when attempting to launch a rocket into space.
Worse, the debate didn’t even touch on a topic that’ll be coming to the fore in Washington D.C. as soon postmortems on the debate die down. It’s a topic that will be an underlying factor in the feasibility — or lack thereof — in both candidates’ grandiose plans for spending more of the taxpayers’ money without regard for budget deficits or for the burgeoning national debt, whose interest payments alone are now the second-largest expense in the federal budget.
Given this kind of unpalatable choice, what’s a conscientious voter to do? Alas, the only viable option is to vote for the candidate they prefer, however reluctantly, then hope that the opposition party gains a reliable majority in both houses of Congress in order to put the brakes on these candidates’ Utopian fantasies.
Robert F. Sanchez, of Tallahassee, is a former member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. He writes for the Herald’s conservative opinion newsletter, Right to the Point. It’s weekly, and it’s free. To subscribe, go to miamiherald.com/righttothepoint.
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