Let’s get this out of the way right off the top: Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump in Tuesday night’s presidential debate. By a lot.
Let me explain how:
1. Harris trolled Trump
Again and again, Harris needled the former president — with the specific aim of getting under his skin. Trump was actually doing well in the first 15 minute until Harris mentioned people leaving his campaign rallies before they were over. He couldn’t resist — Pavlovian! — and took the bait.
She mocked him over his wealth. She said that business leaders and other political leaders told her he was a “disgrace” and that they were “laughing” at him. All of this served to put Trump on tilt. He lost his cool. He got angry. And angry never wins debates.
2. Trump played a huge amount of defense
The way you win debates — and political campaigns more generally — is to talk as much as possible about places where the public agrees with you and as little as possible about where they don’t.
Time and time again, Harris was able to steer the conversation into space she wanted. The first 30 minutes of the debate were dominated by talk about abortion. Any time Trump is talking about that issue, he is losing. Period. And Harris made it worse for him by delivering her single best answer of the night — a personal appeal to women whose lives have been affected by incest and rape.
Trump also was on the defensive about the 2020 election. The January 6 insurrection. Project 2025. His handling of the Covid pandemic. Over and over again, he was trying to explain why he said what he said or believes what he believes.
Contrast that with Harris who spent almost no time explaining her many policy flip flops or defending her performance during the Biden administration on immigration.
3. Trump didn’t understand the audience
Having read and watched dozens of Trump’s campaign speeches, I had an eerie sense of deja vu while watching the debate. Trump kept using pat lines from his stump speech — Venezuela! Insane asylums! Moscow mayor! —that might appeal to his hardcore base but that are totally lost on swing voters.
The best example? This:
“They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what's happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”
WHAT?
The audience Trump needed to reach in this debate was undecided voters. People not already for him. He didn’t seem to understand that a different message is necessary to reach those people than the one he uses to fire up the crowds at his rallies.
Harris, on the other hand, repeatedly sought to reach out to people — insisting they had a home in her camp and that she believed in a bright and optimistic vision of the future.
Now. Does the debate change things? I don’t know. Hillary Clinton won all three debates against Trump in 2016 and we know how that race turned out.
But, Harris clearly won the debate. Of that, I am certain.
For more of my thoughts on the night, check out my conversation with Wake Up To Politics author Gabe Fleisher at the top of this post!
Kamala Harris won the debate. It wasn't close.