https://deadline.com/2024/09/presidential-debate-reaction-hollywood-1236084559/
From the moment Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris chased Trump down on the stage to shake his hand at the beginning of their first debate, I knew the contest was hers.
Was that chasing him around a subtle reference to his stalking Hilary Clinton on a previous debate stage? Perhaps.
Then there was Harris’ jab about him being “fired,” a reference to his TV show where he fictionally “fired” people.
“Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people, so let’s be clear about that and clearly he’s having a very difficult time processing that,” Harris said.
Harris constantly got under Trump’s skin, causing him to get angry and flustered and make more and more outlandish statements. From the money his father left him to his multiple bankruptcies, she zeroed in on the very issues that drive him up the wall.
And then, while Harris sounded clear and focused, she spotlighted some of his craziness.
“He talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter,” Harris said. “He talks about [how] windmills cause cancer.”
And, of course, there was his repetition of the lie that immigrants are eating pets. Fact-checked by ABC, he said he’d seen it on television. Social media has erupted with that meme.
Early on, Harris made a powerful, strategic move to shift the debate to the viewers and their concerns.
“In this debate tonight, you’re going to hear from the same old tired playbook, a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling,” and she turned, as she did several times, to address those watching the debate rather than her opponent. A few minutes later, she said, “Donald Trump actually has no plan for you, because he is more interested in defending himself than he is in looking out for you.”
People in marketing will say that “you” is one of the most powerful words someone can use. At that moment, Harris shifted the power of the exchange and then held on to it for the rest of the night.
In one of the best statements I have heard on abortion, Harris remarkably referenced the issue of faith, and she was able to tie that to the conservative idea of keeping the government out of your business.
“One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government and Donald Trump, certainly, should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” Harris told the country.
Let me reproduce exactly what she said, as I know many of us will be citing her over and over in the future. After Trump bleated that overturning Roe v Wade was “what everybody wanted,” she said this:
“I have talked with women around our country. You want to talk about ‘This is what people wanted’ — pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail and she’s bleeding out in a car in the parking lot? She didn’t want that. Her husband didn’t want that. A 12- or 13-year-old survivor of incest being forced to carry a pregnancy to term? They don’t want that.”
When Trump claimed that women are getting abortions “up until the moment of birth” with some even murdering babies right after they’re born ― one of the lies told over and over by Republicans--ABC’s Linsey Davis immediately fact-checked him. “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born,” Davis said.
I saw the Kamala Harris as the new president emerge during the debate. And I am so looking forward to Tim Walz taking on JD Vance.
Let’s protect the vote as I believe the other side now knows they cannot win the election fairly so they will lie, cheat, and try to steal it.
Pass around the cleaning products and the mops. We still have a lot of work to do.