Kamala Harris and Donald Trump entered Tuesday’s debate tied in some polls — but whether their performance will have swayed undecided voters remains to be seen. Harris was able to derail Trump, fueling him with talk of crowd size, but will that success help him win more votes?
Observers have largely pegged Harris as the winner of what could be the final presidential debate before the election. It came down in part to how, instead of directly responding to Trump’s arguments, Harris “inspired a level of derision in the audience,” Jerusalem Damsas said last night. Washington Week with The Atlantic.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to paint a dystopian picture of the country, and his comments during a debate about cats and dogs are another example of that rhetoric. Demsas explained that one of the reasons Trump is struggling in this re-election race is that he is not pointing to his specific accomplishments as president. He said Trump “does well when he instills fear in voters.” He’s trying to present himself as a “candidate for change,” and he’s “talking about how bleak things are.”
Joining the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic OceanJeffrey Goldberg, to discuss this and more: Ashley Parker, a senior national political correspondent The Washington Post; White House Correspondent Eugene Daniels Politics; Jerusalem Demsas, a staff writer The Atlantic Ocean; and Asma Khalid, White House correspondent for NPR and political contributor for ABC News.
Watch the full episode Here.