Remember: Trump Loses Debates
It’s deja vu all over again.
The conventional wisdom has spoken. Donald Trump lost … again.
Pundits are falling over themselves to declare his performance a disaster, pointing to his defensiveness, lack of cohesion, and combative style as proof of his defeat. Yet, I’ve heard this song many times.
Certainly, Kamala Harris had a good night. She did her homework, was composed, and didn’t offer up a single word salad all night. The ABC moderators did their job helping her, of course, solely correcting Trump, and rescuing her by quickly changing the subject when she struggled or Trump was on a roll.
(As an aside, Biden and Harris continuing to falsely claim that Trump praised racists in Charlottesville, and completely lie about his auto industry “bloodbath” comment is outrageous. Reporters who allow this to continue unchecked are partisan shills who should be publicly mocked, then fired.)
It's like clockwork. With the exception of last June’s debate where Joe Biden came close to literally dying on stage, have you ever heard the media class declare Trump a winner?
In 2016, he evidently lost each of his three debates against Hillary Clinton. It wasn’t just the pundits telling us this, of course, but their scientific polling proved it as well. After the first debate, CNN’s poll showed Clinton won by a factor of 62-27%. NBC’s polling showed only 21% thought Trump prevailed.
Hillary won the second and third debates as well, we were assured by pretty much everyone. And perhaps they were all telling the truth, but we know how that election turned out.
The talking heads criticized his aggressive interruptions and lack of policy specifics, but Trump's supporters saw those same performances as victories. They loved his combative style and saw it as strength, not weakness.
Last night was no different. Everyone saw what they wanted to see. Most Trump supporters who watched thought he did fine, but there really aren't that many Trump supporters on television.
Only 1-in-5 American adults watch these debates live, so the rest form their opinions based the pundit commentary and their pre-existing candidate preferences. I’m confident that the 2024 “who won?” polls will look exactly as they did in past years.
But nothing about Trump, or his debating style, is designed to win over the political establishment or score points with policy wonks. They're aimed squarely at his base and potential swing voters who respond to his brand of political theater. When Trump goes on stage, he's not trying to win a debate in the traditional sense. He's projecting himself and his leadership style.
Trump's strategy is to dominate the conversation, project strength, and create memorable moments that will dominate the news cycle. He's not interested in the nuanced policy discussions that political junkies crave. It's like judging a boxing match by the rules of chess – you're bound to come away confused, frustrated, and probably wrong.
The media's rush to declare Trump the loser after each debate reveals more about their own biases than the debate’s. They're measuring success by a yardstick that Trump has never cared about and that his supporters actively reject.
Will last night’s debate help or hurt him? We’ll see.
–Ken
Trump didn’t lose the debate. He pointed all the mistakes she made in office while VP. Harris lied many times during the debate and could not give a straight answer for her failures.
May I remind you that Harris during her tour as DA put an innocent black man in prison.
Also, Harris set a low pick Tim Walz for VP, because Tim Walz is guilty of stolen valor. He lied about where he was during his military career. He also lied about the rank he was when getting out. He also, dodged deployments that involved combat and claims or gives the impression he was there.
Is this the type of leadership you want in my White House?
For me I don’t think ot loved the needle for most. I do love his combative style. The fact that he could keep his composure shows that he actually has grown a bit, which I don’t care much about, but I know a lot of people do. I ‘d rather have authenticity than a politician’s spin or rhetoric. I wish he had gone a little further on the horrendous foreign policy scene in this administration where he correctly pointed out what a failure she was when she went over there and then three days later Russia was invading Ukraine.