Did you guys know that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have never met? While they’ve been in the same room before, they’ve never been introduced and they’ve never spoken to each other directly. Tonight’s debate will be their first meeting. And it’s going to be a sh-tshow, let’s get that out of the way. It’s going to be awful. I’m saying that as a loud-and-proud Kamala Harris fan and supporter. The fact that this brilliant, accomplished woman has to stand on a debate stage with Donald Trump is shameful for America. I’m sure Kamala is prepared and I’m sure she’ll do well. Hillary Clinton did well in the debates in 2016 and millions of people still voted for that orange psycho. So what’s changed in eight years? Well, more women hate Donald Trump these days. And Trump’s people are very worried that Kamala will successfully “bait” Trump into saying something wildly misogynistic, racist and offensive. In other words, just another Tuesday.
Former President Donald Trump is already underwater by double digits with female voters in the polls. Now Trump will stand on stage next to a woman he has publicly and privately derided in language widely viewed as sexist. His allies hope he doesn’t make things worse when he squares off against Vice President Kamala Harris at the debate.
In past debates against Hillary Clinton, Trump tried to undermine, belittle or humiliate both her and female debate moderators. This time, his advisers have pushed him to focus on Harris’ record and try not to let her get under his skin. And while he has recently claimed his administration “will be great for women and their reproductive rights,” he has stumbled over questions about abortion and child care, and spent the Friday before the presidential debate railing against women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.
Trump’s performance with female voters is “the weak spot in his campaign right now,” said former Trump campaign adviser David Urban. “I think he can attack her policies without attacking her. And that’s the kind of needle he has to thread. You can attack the vice president of the United States for her failed policies without attacking the woman.”
But Urban predicted the debate format — with microphones turned off while each other is speaking — will work to Trump’s advantage.
“She’s not going to have her moment where she can say ‘I’m trying to speak,’ like she did with [former Vice President Mike] Pence. You’re not going to have those awkward moments like that,” Urban said, adding that Trump showed in the first debate with [President Joe] Biden he can be “disciplined.”
Despite the microphones preventing Trump from interrupting Harris, some of Trump’s allies and aides are concerned that the vice president will push the former president into losing his cool.
“She’s going to try to bait him,” said one person close to the former president. “I mean, the lines are almost predictable, right? So the question is does he take it or not.”
A few weeks ago, I was somewhat convinced that Trump would have a meltdown during the debate. Like, given his behavior this summer, it felt like he wouldn’t be able to help himself and he would end up screaming obscenities at VP Harris. But it feels like Trump’s staffers are basically going to give him all of the drugs and beg him not to mention the late, great Hannibal Lector. We’ll see. You know that if Trump manages to get through this without saying the n-word, the press will say that he “won.”
Incidentally, there’s a reference in this Politico story to Trump’s presser last Friday. I’m including the clips below, where Trump once again lied about E. Jean Carroll and said that he wouldn’t have raped her because she was not the “chosen one.” As I said, this debate is going to be a sh-tshow.
Trump brings up another woman who has accused him of sexual assault, describes the incident in detail, and says "she would not have been the chosen one."
(Watch the expressions on his lawyers' faces) pic.twitter.com/K92OPiJw6s
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 6, 2024
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Former US President Donald J Trump makes an early appearance on the first night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Fiserv Forum on Monday, July 15, 2024. This is Trumps first appearance since a rally in Pennsylvania, where he sustained injuries from an alleged bullet grazing his ear. Trump also named United States Senator JD Vance Republican of Ohio as his Vice Presidential running mate. Copyright: xAnnabellexGordonx/,Image: 890103425, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Annabelle Gordon / CNP /MediaPunch / Avalon
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- Former US President Donald J Trump makes an early appearance on the first night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Fiserv Forum This is Trump’s first appearance since a rally in Pennsylvania, where he sustained injuries from an alleged bullet grazing his ear. Trump also named United States Senator JD Vance (Republican of Ohio) as his Vice Presidential running mate. Featuring: former US President Donald J Trump Where: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States When: 15 Jul 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
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- Former US President Donald J Trump makes an early appearance on the first night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Fiserv Forum This is Trump’s first appearance since a rally in Pennsylvania, where he sustained injuries from an alleged bullet grazing his ear. Trump also named United States Senator JD Vance (Republican of Ohio) as his Vice Presidential running mate. Featuring: former US President Donald J Trump Where: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States When: 15 Jul 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
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- Former US President Donald J Trump and former First Lady Melania Trump after Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Fiserv Forum on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Monday night was Trump’s first appearance since a rally in Pennsylvania, where he sustained injuries from an alleged bullet grazing his ear. Trump recounted the story in his speech, and also talked about Biden, immigration, and other topics Featuring: Former US President Donald J Trump, former First Lady Melania Trump Where: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States Credit: Annabelle Gordon/CNP/INSTARimages
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- Former United States President Donald J. Trump welcomes former first lady Melania Trump to the stage after accepting his party’s nomination as President of the United States at day four of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Featuring: Donald J Trump, Melania Trump Where: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States When: 19 Jul 2024 Credit: Ron Sachs/CNP for NY Post/INSTARimages **NO Daily Mail. NO New York or New Jersey Newspapers.**
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- Former United States President Donald J Trump appears on Day 1 of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Featuring: Donald Trump Where: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States When: 18 Jul 2024 Credit: Ron Sachs/CNP for NY Post/INSTARimages **NO Daily Mail. NO New York or New Jersey Newspapers.**
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- United States Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic Party nominee for President of the US, delivers her acceptance speech for the official Democratic Presidential nomination at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, USA, at the United Center Featuring: United States Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic Party nominee for President of the US Where: Chicago, Illinois, United States When: 22 Aug 2024 Credit: Annabelle Gordon/CNP/INSTARimages
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- United States Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic Party nominee for President of the US, makes remarks accepting her party’s nomination on day 4 of the 2024 Democratic National Convention at the United Center. Featuring: Kamala Harris Where: Chicago, Illinois, United States When: 22 Aug 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages **NO NY POST. NO NEW YORK OR NEW JERSEY NEWSPAPERS.**
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- United States Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic Party nominee for President of the US, makes remarks accepting her party’s nomination on day 4 of the 2024 Democratic National Convention at the United Center. Featuring: Kamala Harris Where: Chicago, Illinois, United States When: 22 Aug 2024 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages **NO NY POST. NO NEW YORK OR NEW JERSEY NEWSPAPERS.**
It sickens me to watch him or hear his voice, but I will tune in just to see what our Vice President does to him. I expect she will be spectacular. I wish she could really cross examine him. I just hope his constant talking while his mic is off isn’t too much of a distraction.
She could be genuinely spectacular if it was a real debate. This is a joint press conference. She has one arm tied behind her back. And, yes, the muted mics allows him to babble at her without the TV audience knowing.
Keep expectations realistic. Kamala was trained to make her case in a court of laws where there are rules, decorum and objections. Trump is a rabid dog foaming at the mouth.
She doesn’t need to bait him, he just needs to open his mouth.
They should be afraid because the dementia he suffers from doesn’t allow him to answer questions or whatever she plans to dish. Questions and information are not his friends.
That’s what I was thinking. Bait him? He comes pre-baited by all the crazy hate voices in his head. He never listens to the actual words being spoken in his direction anymore. He exists in a bat guano cray cray reality … and his magats lick it up.
Apparently he has demanded ABC not allow Kamala to stand on a riser that would even out their height. She is 5’4” and he wants to loom over her.
Even though he wears lifts in his shoes.
I remember the Hillary debate how Trump would walk behind and loom over her when she was talking. I was so distracted watching this I wasn’t listening to her answer. If it was distracting on screen I can’t imagine how distracting it was on stage. It’s the same nonsense as him demanding Kamala not have a riser so he can intimidate her.
No doubt he’d like to intimidate her, but she’s been this height her entire adult life, and she’s made mincemeat of many tall men who are smarter than Trump, including Biden, Barr, and Kavanaugh.
He can try looming if he wants, but she can’t have failed to prepare for that. If he does it, it’ll backfire.
Wow, she’s only 5 foot 4?! I had no idea, she never looks that small when I’ve seen her in speeches and out in the world.
I was surprised too. She has tall energy. But I just saw where she says in heels, which she always wears, she’s 5’ 71/2”. 😉
I think Kamala’s having been a prosecutor may give her a bit of an advantage Hilary didn’t have.
But yes, as intelligent and accomplished as she is, it’s disgraceful that she has to treat Trump as though he’s her peer.
Did ABC agree to that?! It seems it should be the right of the candidate requesting a riser to decide, not the other way around. Especially since he clearly seems to think the height difference is a visual advantage and/or display of power.
I am both worried and hopeful – I know Kamala will wipe the floor with him but how the media reports on the debate? Will they say DT is lying, rumbling and offending every group of Americans? Or will they say Kamala is “bossy/her laugh is stupid/whatever they can come up with”? I couldn’t stand the last debate when they let him rant unchecked and polite Biden couldn’t get through often. Let’s see – keep my fingers crossed.
Not very difficult prediction: they will sane wash him again.
“Sane wash” is so right …
Harris HAS to win this election, this lunatic will be in charge until the fateful cheeseburger hands us President Cat-Lady-Hater.
She must win this. How is this even close
My stomach is in knots. I don’t think, no I know, I can’t watch. It has to be after-the-fact for me. I’ll have to wait until it’s over to disseminate.
I cannot watch. At some point, I will see some clips online. Either way, regardless of what happens, I am freaked the f-ck out at the idea of trump winning in November. Please please can the required number of voters in the swing states please come thru.
Same. I’d been dreading everything for months until Biden stepped back, and my Kamala high lasted through a bit after the convention, but over the past week or so, the internal screaming has returned. Thinking too much about the election results in the same feeling I have when I know I’m on the verge of a panic attack. I’ll be working as an interpreter on election day, but there’s a lot of temptation to find some way to render myself unconscious and sleep through it instead.
I used to love watching the debates, but the stakes are so high and the race is so frighteningly close that there’s no way I’ll be able to watch this one. I sent her some money and will send more tomorrow to try to assuage my anxiety.
100% agree, I cannot watch this live. I have to creep into it sideways, with some assurance that it wasn’t the shitshow I am sadly expecting.
Fingers, toes and eyes crossed!!!
We can count on the legacy media to say he did much better than expected and scored some points somehow. The NYT has already said he “can win the election on character.”
After the debate he’ll say she is a real nasty woman and double down on his misogyny. We could make bingo cards!
Personally I’d love to hear more about electricity vs a shark or Hannibal Lector. Make the media look ridiculous for propping him up. Show us the crazy.
“Trump showed in the first debate with [President Joe] Biden he can be ‘disciplined.'”
Maybe. But that was before the assassination attempt. I do believe he has significantly melted down since then. He is afraid — afraid of being shot, afraid of going to prison, afraid of losing. He will not hold it together for this debate.
Disciplined? No, he was sedated. Or given antipsychotics or something.
I agree NotSoSocialB. I think they had something on board the orange sh*t stain so that he wouldn’t ramble on and on. I will not be surprised if it is the same tonight.
Her existing as a woman of color is more than “bait” enough for this rotten orange. A woman of color who’s brilliant and he has to nominally listen to speak? It’s over.
This! Just having to do this debate and attempt to follow the rules is bate to him.
That presser last Friday was the wildest thing yet. Here’s a guy calling in the media so he can run down all his sexual assault allegations and continue to defame the women involved. It just edges out his answer on “child care” at the Economic Club of NY the same day.
As for the debate, it is totally unfair to MVP. I have confidence in her but the cards are stacked against her. Just because the mics are muted during the other person’s time does not mean that Trump won’t be distracting her with commentary. It just means that we won’t hear him while she will. I’m sure she knows this will happen and plans for it. But it shouldn’t be even a possibility.
I’m also sick of hearing about voters who need to “hear more” from Kamala before deciding to vote for her. My God! You know all about Donald Trump, the malignant narcissist, and it should be obvious by now that the vice president is a decent, stable, sane person. How is this not enough? If it’s enough for the freakin’ Cheneys, it should be enough for the voters in Pennsylvania who want KH to come to their houses and explain herself to them.
If you hit the crosstabs a lot of the people who “need to know more” about Kamala are people who didn’t vote for Biden in 2020. Many didn’t vote at all because they didn’t like Biden OR Trump. So in that sense, I think she’s in a far better position than Trump in terms of being the unknown quantity. It allows her to start fresh and introduce herself to Americans while carving out a political lane for herself. She’s definitely better off than Trump, who is wildly unpopular with the vast majority of Americans.
“hear more”…………are you kidding?! I just want to scream – GET YOUR HEAD OUTTA THE SAND! It’s tyranny vs. democracy at this point.
Oh my goodness listening to that scumbag for almost 2 mins in the second video was totally worth it to see the male lawyers’ face at about the 1:50 mark. He looks like he’s trying to control a seizure and also realizing he literally sold his soul to the devil for a corn chip.
Given the way he behave to Hilary during their debate I hope Kamala refuses to let him to that to her tonight – fingers crossed that it all goes well for her.
Michael Moore also mentioned her getting under his skin and how he would then react. There is a chance of a PMorgan style walkoff…
(and I still don’t understand how people can still vote for him)
She’s already under his skin, she’s a black , smart, woman. Look, I don’t get why people act like he had some mandate when he became President. Republicans haven’t won a popular vote in years and use the electoral collage to worm their way in the Presidency. EVERYONE GET OUT AND VOTE so there’s a landslide. Make sure your registration hasn’t been wiped away. VOTE. She doesn’t have to do much to make him look like a fool, he’s pretty good at doing it himself and he will become unhinged when she doesn’t crack and drags him.
I wonder if anyone has actually told Trump that the mics will get turned off? And if they have told him, if that registered? And if it did register, if he will remember? I’m imaging the point when Trump gets Trumpy, and starts to rant, and it sort of kind of registers with him that his rants aren’t being heard the way he thinks they should be.
IIRC this is what his campaign wanted–the muted mics–since that worked well for him in the last debate. Viewers couldn’t hear his unhinged ramblings whereas Kamala’s people wanted the mics unmuted for that very reason.
I wonder if Kamala could actually call this out at the very start of the debate? We know how he is, and he’d likely fixate on the accusation immediately and spend much of the night trying to refute it and rambling about how he’s a Very Stable Genius, thus proving her point.
Yes, but doesn’t that mean that those of us at home will SEE him ranting and frothing although we won’t be able to hear him?
Lip-readers are probably already standing by.
Is it oppositie day? Did I just read the Trump’s staff are worried that Kamala Harris will bait HIM? They’re worried about him sticking to debating the issues? Are they completely unfamiliar with how Trump speaks????
The sane-washing is frustrating and infuriating but in terms of electoral politics I don’t think it moves the needle in any material direction. I mean, the respective bases are just so calcified at this stage. And one thing that I’ve learned since Trump was elected in 2016 is that Americans care more about the economy than virtually anything else including Trump’s incessant vitriol, lies, manipulations etc.
TBH, there are VERY few Americans who don’t know that Trump is a compulsive liar at this stage—–the problem is that they just don’t care. My most generous take is that the media understands this and it’s why they don’t fact check every ridiculous thing he says at his rallies and pressers. It’s really annoying living in a world where everyone can curate their political feed to be a virtual wormhole of conspiracy theories, misrepresentations, or outright lies because it’s impossible for MSM to combat that.
And that’s the kicker. They care more about their bank accounts but completely forget life under the trump admin. The economy was NOT better. He is NOT a brilliant businessman. He bankrupted every single one of his companies (per his SEC filings for trump media). It’s all a big fat con & STILL people vote for him.
Yup. The economy is never EVER better under GOP rule but these people live a Groundhog Day-like existence where they forget how bad it was and do the same dumb thing over and over again.
Because they don’t really care about the economy. They care about maintaining the racial and gender hierarchy that keeps them at the top of the food chain. “Economy” is just a smokescreen.
Agreed.
They care about the economy way more than they care about marginalized people, that’s true. But I DO think people care about the cost of gas, inflation, the cost of goods, medicine etc. and I think it’s completely bipartisan. Like, I don’t know a single person who isn’t pissed about price of groceries doubling after COVID. That being said, some of us care about inflation AND women’s right to bodily autonomy AND trans rights AND POC getting abused and murdered by the state AND etc etc…..
His staff can’t control him. His lawyers can’t control him. He is showing real signs of dementia. Maybe instead of having those moobs hunched over the wheel of a golf cart, they should have been hunched over a podium preparing. But he doesn’t prepare for anything. He did not even read his briefings as president. I don’t think he can even read. I’m being serious.
Please google his recent response to the question: what specific policies do you plan to enact that will make child care more affordable?
Watch that answer. There are people on Reddit who typed it out verbatim and it’s even worse when you read it. This is what’s going on with him and it’s a precursor to what is gonna happen tonight.
Senile old racist felon vs. competent prosecutor. I’m only watching to see will he glitch on stage on live tv from all the “vitamins” he’s been pumped with. The stalker-ish stuff he pulled on Hillary on the debate stage won’t work here. VP Harris is really not the least bit scared of him. She’s put away far scarier. I think she will perform very well. The media will report it was a tie cause our media is absolute garbage who want this assclcown reelected for clicks and endless the world is burning drama.
Of course it will be a shit show. He IS a shit show offering nothing but shit. Nothing that happens tonight will change my mind. All that guy is going to do is lie. And then the media will sane wash it even though we all will have seen it with our own eyes. I know who I am voting for, I know who is best for this country.
If Trump can keep talking when the mic is muted, so can Kamala. That’s when she should bait him.
The clip where he says ” she was not the Chosen One” is chilling. That’s psychopath behavior. We already knew based on a hundred other things, admiring Hitler, calling for a bloodbath, serial rapist, etc. We’ve gotten accustomed to it but I still have to say it. Psychopath.
There is no way I am going to watch it. I can’t look at him never mind listen to the lies and vomit he will spew for 2 hours. And I will avoid any post debate analysis as the media has shown time and time again that the bar is so far underground for this moron that unless he actually sh*ts himself and throws it at her he will be hailed as “presidential” and the winner. Everything she says, does and wears will be torn apart.
I’m doing distasteful household tasks so that Kamala Harris will do well. It’s my own private voodoo.
I don’t care who “wins.” I just want everyone to see how extraordinary Kamala Harris is–experienced, intelligent, compassionate, wise, fearless, persistent and dedicated to public service.
I’ve been cleaning out unsavory corners of our basement! Fun times.
DonOld Trump: Blah, blah, blah to every question.
Kamala Harris: Answers questions. I’ll say it. Kamala Harris is the person, most of us wanted to be in high school. The very smart, cool, logical and fun person. Not necessarily popular girl. To this day, I will admire that girl. One of them happens to be my sibling. Seriously. And, one of her previous boyfriends from high school that I see on the regular, is like, she is one of my fondest memories. She wanted to talk about things greater than high school life.
“You know that if Trump manages to get through this without saying the n-word, the press will say that he ‘won.'”
Kaiser is exactly right. He just has to not crap himself or call her a slur and he will be deemed the winner, because the bar is in hell.
She, however, will have to be perfect. Same as it ever was.
Even if he delivers a miserable performance today, he will simply claim that he was the best in the debate. What else? There’s no substance, and if he wants the honorable office of the presidency, it’s only because he promises himself complete immunity for all crimes.
My hope, is that people are sweating, like in the Talking Heads video for Once In A Lifetime.
The Orange one is a d*ck(the nicest word I can say).