Trump, Harris Performed Evenly in Debate: Strategist

Welcome back. During the highly anticipated Trump versus Harris debate, the candidates clashed over major issues. Joining us now to break down the key moments from last night's debate is Democratic strategist Theron Bond and political strategist Gerard Felitti. Thank you both for coming on the show. Theron, let me start off with you here. In your view, did Harris perform well and what is your metric? Oh, that's tough. I think she kind of ran in neutral. I think that she mentioned a lot of the policies that were newly published online. And she just reiterated those. And then her and former President Donald Trump were playing what we call the dozens. They were just throwing jabs at one another. But ultimately, we didn't learn anything new about Vice President Harris aside the fact that she's a gun owner, which was honestly shocking to me and honestly, probably shocking to a lot of the other American people who are watching. And so I can't say that she won, but she definitely didn't lose. I think they came about even but for very different reasons. All right, Gerard, what's your assessment of her performance? For people who are looking at this debate for substance, for more information on policy positions and where the candidates stand, I think they were disappointed with both. Kamala Harris had opportunities to go into details about her plans, but she did not. The moderators also did not push her for details on how to pay for many items in her agenda. On the flip side, however, she did a better job of controlling the narrative on the stage. She was able to get her points across and go on the attack and throw Donald Trump off from his talking points more often than he was able to do the same for her. So from that perspective, she did seem to come out better. However, it also depends on which audience you listen to, because different people are looking for different things at this debate. So, Theron, a big question going into this debate outlined by political strategists was will Harris define herself? That was a big question. Or will Trump define her, right? So did Harris come out looking better and more clearly defined on her own term? I wish I could say yes, and I was hoping to be able to say yes, but no. Do I think she held her composure better than former President Donald Trump? Absolutely, because when she started jabbing him, he just completely lost it and fell off the rails. But I don't think she did what the American people were hoping for, and that was provide a true explanation of how we got to the policies that she recently published and why her policy stances have changed. And that's what we needed to hear. So we still don't have the 100% comparison chart. We still have a bit of a personality contest, but we really need a policy comparison contest. Gerard, same question. What do you think? Well, I think Kamala Harris didn't define herself as well as she could have. I think people still have questions specifically about how she will pay for things that she wants to accomplish and whether some of them are realistic. In terms of her overall debate performance, however, I think people were taken a little bit aback by her making faces and shaking her head and the comments that she was making in between. I think that due comparisons to previous debates which were not favorable for her in those terms. But largely speaking, I think Americans don't have any better idea of Kamala Harris today than they did after the Democratic convention. Taryn, give us the specifics here. What did voters want to see from Harris? We wanted to see her explain herself because so far anytime she's asked to explain anything or any changes or how we reached a certain point, she always says that my values have not changed. But we're concerned with her policies. Her values are what she believes. Her policy is an order that she would turn into action. And we want to see what she's going to put into action, what she's willing to put into action on behalf of the American people. And that's not something that we have sureties about even after last night. So I wouldn't say that we're more lost than we were before. But I will say that the independent voters and the moderate voters still likely have big question marks about who they're going to vote for because we didn't get any more clarity than what we had prior to last night. So, Gerard, that question for you as well. But in addition, Trump, how did he do in your view? It depends on which audience you're talking about. If you're looking at coastal elites, the people like us who are pundits, he did not do very well. He made comments and gaffes about abortion, about whether pets are being eaten in Ohio. These did not seem favorable to people who are more educated and coastal elites, essentially. However, to the voters in swing states, he came across as personable. He came across as one of them. He reads the same sources of news on TikTok or Instagram that they do. So they actually, I think a lot of voters took that to heart, that he is someone who is more appealable and approachable than Kamala Harris. So for those swing states, I think Donald Trump actually has a slight advantage after this debate. So, Theron, from your vantage point, what stood out last night when it comes to Trump? I think the quote that former President Donald Trump said about someone without vision not being able to leave this country was exciting. But then I also think Vice President Harris's quote about people leaving Trump's rallies out of exhaustion and boredom was quite interesting. And actually, I've previously been to one of his rallies, and it is quite interesting. I can't say that people left out of exhaustion or boredom, but there are a couple of one-liners such as those. But ultimately, people won't really remember this debate for what we need to remember it for. We'll only know that they finally debated. It will probably be the only one we get. It was without an audience and was without further explanation. So to some extent, the American people will be relying on people like us in the media and whatever they read in their local region to determine who they're going to vote for. We're kind of on our own when it comes to deciding who we want to be president because the candidates surely aren't helping us get there. All right, Gerard, foreign policy here. Trump said he's going to end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. Did he make a good convincing case here? There's strategic ambiguity, of course, but do you think we need to hear more about how he would achieve this? Of course you do. You don't end the war in 24 hours, not when it's lasted for multiple years and has had so many casualties. This is something that we do need to know details about. But this is also part of Trump's style. He makes himself out as essentially a person who is so competent on the world stage that people will bow to pressure from him. The reality is that politics don't work like that. The world diplomacy does not work like that. So he does need to go into details about how he plans to end the war in Ukraine, just like how Kamala Harris needs to go into details about how she will deal with China, how she will deal with other emerging threats to the United States. Okay, Theron, looking now at the moderators, do you think they did a good job in terms of the questions and remaining neutral towards both nominees? So it wasn't the worst moderating that I've seen, but it certainly left a lot to be desired. I think disproportionately they put more pressure on former President Donald Trump, and I think the American people would have wanted to see that same pressure applied to Vice President Harris so that everyone watching could say it was fair and equitable, but that's not really what happened. They allowed Vice President Harris to skirt around some of those questions that she didn't answer far more than they did with former President Donald Trump, and they fact-checked him, but they did not fact-check her. Is it likely that she lied a lot less? Sure, but we don't know because the fact-checking was one-sided, and I think the American people would feel better about this election if things across the board were equitable. All right, Gerard, you get the final word here. What did you think of the moderators? A lot of Trump supporters have noted that the amount of fact-checking, as Theron mentioned. So what do you think? I do not think that they did themselves any service. I think that it was not good moderating. I think that I agree with what many people are saying, that it seemed that at some points it was three-on-one against Donald Trump, which only feeds into his narrative that everyone is out to get him. But it's also a matter of Kamala Harris not answering follow-up questions. She did the same with Donna Bash when she was being interviewed on CNN. There's this unwillingness or inability to answer the follow-up questions with details. And I think as time goes on, reporters need to do their diligence and press Harris for these answers. All right. Thank you both for coming on today. Thank you.