(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
Last night was the first – and perhaps only – debate between US presidential candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump.
The two had never met in-person and Harris made a point of walking over to Trump to introduce herself and shake hands. She introduced herself by name, which was interesting in that Trump frequently mispronounces it. She had to cross over to his side of the stage as Trump made no move to meet in the middle for a handshake as is customary for presidential debates.
Harris proceeded to answer questions and explain her policy ideas while also correcting some of Trump’s erroneous assertions.
Trump had a lot of trouble staying on topic and lied about a bunch of things. When either the moderators or Harris corrected him, he often doubled down on the lies. For example, he said that immigrants are eating their neighbors’ pets in a certain city, which is not true at all according to the police and government officials there. For Trump to claim such an outlandish thing in a presidential debate is just absurd and out of touch with reality.
Trump spent most of the debate looking glum. Harris sometimes looked at Trump with pity, sometimes with incredulity.
Harris came across as an intelligent, experienced leader, while Trump appeared to be confused and combative. Trump’s mode of thought and expression reminded me uncomfortably of some family members when they were developing Alzheimer’s. This is particularly concerning because Trump’s father suffered from Alzheimer’s disease at a similar age and it tends to run in families.
To learn more about Kamala Harris’s positions on issues and proposals for her presidency, visit the issues page on her website here. There are numerous drop-down sections with specific policies. By contrast, Donald Trump’s Agenda 47 page is more a series of statements than an explanation of how he might implement them.
There is not currently an agreement for a second debate. I can’t imagine the Trump campaign wanting him to try this again.
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Joanne Corey 
An acquaintance of mine pledged to donate $5 for each lie Trump told (but not repeated lies, or he’d go broke). By the time I signed off at 10:30, he was up $495.
It was great that the moderators actually fact checked, instead of letting the lies sit without challenge.
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There was certainly a lot of lying by Trump. I laughed that he accused Harris of lying multiple times. He often accuses others of things that he is guilty of doing himself. It was good that the moderators mounted some challenges this time. Trump’s defensiveness toward them made an impact – or, at least, I hope it did. Saying that the police or local government officials were lying just made his own lies more pathetic.
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