Missed Opportunities of First Harris–Trump Debate: Former Obama Campaign Adviser

Welcome back everyone. Now let's talk about the big debate yesterday. We have Javier Palomares with us here, a former Obama campaign advisor and now founder and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Business Council. Welcome. Thank you for having me. Yeah, no, we've spoken many times. Great to have you in the studio with us, Javier. Thanks for having me. Yeah, so you sit down, watch the 90 Minutes. What was your impression? Who won and why? You know, I'd have to say, if I'm honest, that at the end of the day, I think Kamala Harris won this one. You know, I think she showed a great amount of composure. She appeared presidential on several occasions. She was actually laughing at the camera covered her. So I think on the other end of the spectrum, you know, we saw former President Trump somewhat rattled in some instances. I would say that the first half of the debate, it was neck-and-neck. It was pretty tied in my mind, in my estimation. The second half of the debate, it kind of derailed into the more personal and craziness about people eating dogs and things of that nature. It was a lost opportunity, I think, for President Trump to talk about, in that particular instance, what he could have done or what he would do about immigration and immigration reform. Obviously, a key issue for the American electorate. It was a missed opportunity, in my opinion. And in the end, a lot of time spent on defending himself. Let's delve into a bit more detail of what you were saying, especially for Vice President Kamala Harris. Her big chance to introduce herself. What do you think was America, were Americans really looking for here in both candidates? We can comment on both. And did they deliver? You know, I think in terms of whether Kamala Harris delivered for the undecided, the big portion of the American electorate that is yet undecided, that did not know her well enough, I think she did an admirable job of introducing herself to that portion of the electorate. Look, the people who are going to vote for Trump are going to vote for Trump regardless of what a debate goes, where the debate went. The people that are going to vote for Harris are going to do the same for her. It was that broad swath of the American electorate in the middle that was undecided. And when it comes to that, I think she did an admirable job of introducing herself. With that said, as a businessman myself, somebody who advocates on behalf of the American small business community, neither one of them did enough to talk about what they would do to help the American small business community. And I think in both instances, it was a lost opportunity to deal specifically with how they will help the American economy and the American small business community. And going back to your prior point there, CNN says that Harris won, but it probably won't change the landscape of the election. You know, Harris brought the energy and she had a positive vision for the future. You can comment on that or just economy. It's a top issue. Did these moderators not present enough opportunities for them? Or do they not ask the right questions? I mean, what is it in these candidates' minds that needed to come out that didn't? Kevin, I think you're dead. You're dead on point there. At the end of the day, I kind of fault the moderators. I would have hoped that they would have talked a bit more or asked questions specifically about the economy, about the American small business community. Consider, again, as I always say, it's the American small business community that creates nearly 70% of new jobs. And so the reality of it is, we are the ones that are going to bring this economy back if it comes back. And yet we're under an immense amount of pressure. And so I think it was a missed opportunity all the way around. I hold ABC partially responsible for not specifically asking questions about what either one of these candidates would do. With that said, there's always an opportunity for a candidate to weave into a particular position and say, hey, listen, with that said, here's what I'm going to do for the American small business community. Neither one of them did that. I think Harris kind of covered that, you know, she had family friends who were small business owners at the very beginning of the debate, but then didn't come back to the topic of, and this is why I think the American small business community is important for the continued well being of our nation. So since we're speaking about the moderators, let's delve into that a bit more. And just also how Harris was able to paint that picture of herself, for the American people, because Trump obviously came in and tried to paint her as a radical, the status quo, and also just to give you the opportunity to also respond to something what a former guest Brett O'Donnell has said, that she was allowed to get away with fairly easy questions. And in general, she's allowed to get away with not taking responsibility for the last three and a half years. So how do you think this played together and also how she was able to paint a picture of herself? Yeah, I completely agree with your former guest, because, you know, I think at the end of the day, the folks at ABC were a bit more lenient with Vice President Harris, I think a little bit tougher on former President Trump. But with that said, you know, it was on former President Trump to continue to try to tie her to the track record. He did on a couple of occasions say, listen, what have you been doing for the last three years? And that's a critical question, right? She's applying for a job. Somebody comes to me and applies for a job. I want to know what have you been doing for the last three years? Because if you're going to do X, Y and Z in the future, the obvious question is why haven't you done it already? And he did ask that question. But with that said, you know, nobody pressed the issue. Nobody held her feet to the fire. That remains, I think, a question in the eyes of the people, certainly the seven business owners that were with me watching the debate, every one of them, and they were all women, by the way, they all said, you know, how interesting that they're not holding her feet to the fire in terms of the track record thus far. Give us a little insight into Harris's strategy and her demeanor. Was she composed? Was she witty during the debate? I mean, was she thinking on her feet? You know, I don't know that I'd call her witty, but certainly she was composed. I mean, she knew very well that the camera would pan to her from time to time. There were a lot of instances where he was talking and and her team coached her and said, listen, you can't interject that your mic is going to be dead. But there is nothing that says that your facial expression can't express what you would have said anyway. And so her laughing at some of the points he made, I think, played very, very well. Certainly it caught the attention of the people that were with me watching the debate. So, yeah, I think she did an admirable job of while the mic is dead, I'm still going to relate to the American people what I think about this guy and what I think about the response he just gave. So let's also talk about Trump here. While he says publicly it was one of his best debates, performances, but obviously not everyone agrees here. What was at stake for Trump? And if you were Trump campaign advisor, would you advise him to take another second chance? I absolutely would say you needed a second debate and we need to talk about how you're going to quit looking backward and start talking about what you're bringing toward the future. In the case of the Harris campaign, they did an amazing job of continually coming back to this is what we will do for the American people going forward. They didn't actually own any of her last three years worth of work, which I thought was masterful, and continually came back to this notion of I'm here for the American people. Here's what I'm going to do for the future. I think Donald Trump missed an opportunity to talk about what he would bring for the future and spent an inordinate amount of time looking backward, appropriately so, because I think he was trying to tie her to the track record. But at the end of the day, we get that. At some point, the American people want to know about former President Trump. What are you bringing to the table? What does the future look like with the US president? Let's tap into your business mind, Javier. Trump said that I had no inflation. Is that argument logical? I mean, we didn't have a pandemic. There weren't all the supply chain problems. There weren't two wars going on. There may have been another war in Afghanistan, a part of that, but there weren't these two wars in Gaza and Ukraine. You know, I think it really depends on what side of the aisle you are on that one. You know, there are several things that President Trump did that I myself at the time, being a known Democrat, had to frankly come in front of the media and say, listen, you know, particularly the tax cut. You know, this is good for the American economy. This is good for the American small business community. So there were several things that Donald Trump did, in all honesty, that were good for the American economy. There's no question about that. Now, how they own it and who debates and you know, there's so many ways to skin this cat. But at the end of the day, I think that he was good for the economy. I think he was good for the American small business community. He was certainly good on regulation and on taxes. And those are things that the American small business community certainly looks for in our elected leaders. I think that, you know, the Harris campaign clearly sees that. And so of late, she's been talking very specifically about what she will do for the small business community. You know, the $50,000 tax incentive, that's huge for an American small. Can you imagine making credit and financing more available to the American small business community, helping entrepreneurs get started? That's specifically what my community wants to hear. Well, former Obama campaign advisor and CEO of the U. S. Hispanic Business Council, Javier Palomares. Thanks for taking the time to come in and talk with us. Thank you guys for having me. I appreciate it.