On June 28, shortly after Joe Biden and Donald Trump faced off in a Presidential debate for the high-stakes US election, many concluded that the fight was over even before it began. As the 81-year-old US President lost his train of thought multiple times while speaking on critical subjects, his 78-year-old predecessor and opponent mocked his confusion.
Cut to September 11, Trump faced a different Democrat presidential candidate. And this time, he was the older one and by a much larger margin. At 59, Vice-President Kamala Harris is nearly two decades younger and she did not miss an opportunity to drive this point home, albeit in a subtle manner. “What I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country,” she said.
In US Presidential debates, televised and followed closely on social media, optics matter. Where Biden had appeared pale and confused, Harris was confident and focused. Harris started by walking up to Trump and shaking his hand, “Hi, Kamala Harris, let’s have a good debate,” she said. This was the first handshake on the US Presidential debate stage after eight years. It was underlined that this was the first time the two leaders met.
As the debate began, the vice president of Indian origin pulled no punches. On multiple occasions, she managed to get under Trump’s skin, setting him off on rants his team would not be happy about. She targeted him over his convictions in criminal cases, his administration’s handling of the Covid pandemic and his image on the global scene. The tables had turned. In the earlier debate, Biden had struggled to counter Trump’s attacks on his policies, this time Harris’ messaging was crisp and Trump appeared to be defensive.
At the beginning of the debate, responding to a question on US economy and cost of living, Ms Harris spoke of her middle-class background and plans to support families and small businesses if elected to the top post. Targeting Trump, she said he would provide tax cuts to “billionaires and big corporations”. “Donald Trump has no plan for you,” she said.
Trump responded with a personal attack. “She’s a Marxist – everybody knows she’s a Marxist. Her father’s a Marxist professor in economics, and he taught her well,” he said.
As Trump targeted Harris over Biden administration’s immigration policies, she responded sharply, “You’re going to hear from the same old tired playbook, a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling.” A key moment in the debate was when Trump rattled out a social media conspiracy theory that immigrants are eating pets.
“In Springfield, 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,” he said. Harris’ microphone was off, but she was seen laughing and mouthing “what?”.
Another sharp response was when Harris, speaking about the Ukraine war, said that “Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe” if Trump was President. She also said Putin “would eat you for lunch”.
Compare these exchanges to the ones during the Biden vs Trump debate. The older President appeared to be putting up a relatively muted performance and struggling to articulate himself as Trump put out fireworks. The debate was still underway when the White House said Biden was suffering from a cold. The US President’s performance did not help his attempts to convince the nation that he could serve in what is among the world’s most powerful positions till 86.
“You are not running against Biden”
A key challenge Harris faced going into this debate was Team Trump’s push to tie her to the Biden administration’s failure. Harris, however, responded by stressing that she represents a new generation of leadership and that it’s time to “turn the page”.
“I’m clearly not Joe Biden and certainly not Donald Trump. And what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country, one who believes in what is possible. One who brings a sense of optimism about what we can do instead of always disparaging the American people,” she said.
At another point, she said, “You have heard tonight, two very different visions for this country. One that is focused on the future and one that is focused on the past.”
She also managed to irk Trump by saying that world leaders laughed at him and said, “You are a disgrace”. Trump responded by citing close ties with Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban and that he has said Trump should return as President. The reference to Orban, known for restrictions on immigration and gay rights, was widely seen as Trump’s continuing admiration of autocratic leaders.
While there was no specific mic drop moment, the debate did see several of Harris’ punches land well. The November election is still likely to be a close contest — ABC poll tracker shows a 2.8 percentage points — but the Democrats have without doubt made a comeback from where they were during the June 28 Biden vs Trump debate.
