Trump’s Debate Fumble Left Harris to Redefine the Race

Democrats want nothing more than to turn the 2024 race into a decision about Trump, rejecting the message of four years ago. Trump and Republicans would like to tie Harris to President Joe Biden’s unpopularity, banking on voter apathy toward the economy and a broader desire for a pre-COVID-19 world.

Trump hit the issue head-on, questioning why Harris is promising to fix immigration and the economy when he’s already in office.

“Why didn’t she? She’s been there for 3 1/2 years,” he said.

But he only really got there in his closing statement – the political equivalent of a garbage time landing.

“Look, I think absolutely his closing statement was a critical piece of the debate because he drove home the whole message to that point, which is Kamala Harris says she wants to do all these great things, Kamala Harris is currently vice president. of the United States, why isn’t he doing it now?” Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday morning.

Vance praised his running mate’s performance, though not everyone in Trump’s orbit is as enthusiastic. The New York Times reported that several Trump advisers “saw the night as a colossal missed opportunity.” In public, even some of Trump’s usual defenders had some criticism.

“What we were hoping for was, ‘When I left, we had the most secure border in 40 years, mortgage rates were below three percent, gas was $1.87, the Abraham Accords, energy independence, you destroyed everything,'” Senator Lindsey. Graham told Politico.

Harris’ prodding of Trump helped steer him off course. Trump even botched the most basic attack on Harris’ connection to Biden, at one point claiming that Biden “hates” his own vice president. (Don’t ask Mike Pence about that.)

According to The New York Times, Harris spent 46 percent of his time attacking Trump. While he only spent 29% of his time doing the same. It’s a stat line that caught the attention of famed Bush adviser Karl Rove, who declared the night “a train wreck.” Trump, a Roy Cohn acolyte, forgot the controversial lawyer’s most famous adage “Attack, attack, attack” when he needed it most.

Trump spoke for five minutes longer than Harris. And yet, it’s hard to say the lead mattered when you see how he spent his time. He talked about the size of his rally crowd (“We have the biggest rallies”), his Ivy League education (“Look, I went to the Wharton School of Finance”), Hunter and Joe Biden (“They get all this money from Ukraine” ), and even why the people he fired write negative things (“Because with me they can write books”).

And yes, he supported the bizarre and debunked theory that Haitian migrants are eating people’s pets in a small Ohio town.

“They eat the pets of the people who live there,” he said.

At his first major post-debate rally, Trump was still talking about animals.

Harris took full advantage of Trump’s mistakes

Incredibly, Harris has taken up the mantle of generational change despite the fact that Democrats have controlled the White House for most of the past decade, including, obviously, right now.

“It’s important to move forward, to turn the page on the same old tired rhetoric,” Harris said at one point,

Trump’s best hope is that Harris has left voters still confused about where he stands. A New York Times-Siena pre-debate poll found that 28 percent of likely voters wanted to know more about Harris, while perceptions of Trump were largely set.

As expected, the debate moderators pressed Harris to change his positions on fracking, gun buybacks and immigration. She promised to “discuss every one — at least every point you’ve made.” Instead, she briefly discussed her flip-flop on banning fracking before concluding with an attack on Trump’s legacy. And as he did, all night long, Trump took the bait, spending the first part of his rebuttal defending the money his father gave him.

Harris is set to take states by storm this weekend.

Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, are on the “New Way Forward tour” as the Democratic ticket and their spouses cover the small number of states that will decide this race. Harris visited North Carolina and Pennslyvania, while Walz stopped in Michigan and Wisconsin. Their husbands, Minnesota’s second lord Doug Emhoff and first lady Gwen Walz, hit Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New Hampshire and Maine together.

According to Politico, Harris will also give several interviews during the campaign blitz.

As for Trump, he campaigned in Arizona on Thursday and Michigan on Friday, both states he carried in 2016 but lost to Biden four years later.

Harris continues to hold a slight lead in major national polling averages, but the race remains even tighter in key swing states.

There are unlikely to be any more major head-to-head moments in the race. Walz and Vance will debate on Oct. 1, but vice presidential debates traditionally don’t draw that much attention. After reversing himself many times, Trump said before the weekend that he would not debate Harris again.

Whether Trump can find his footing during his often long and meandering rally speeches remains to be seen. If he can’t, his next big disappointing night could be November 5th.