This month a presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump will be aired on the ABC network. This was supposed to be the second debate between Trump and President Joe Biden, but as we all know the president stepped down from pursuing a second term and ceded the reigns to VP Harris, who has shown to be a formidable opponent with a successful grassroots fundraising strategy following a successful Democratic National Convention. Her pick of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate has also galvanized her campaign.
Harris has raised more than a half billion dollars in her race for the White House in less than three months. Trump going into this debate has raised more according to the website Open Secrets, but has spent almost half of it to date, including monies going towards legal bills.
This debate, like the last one, will prove to be monumental. President Biden’s performance was substandard and forced him to reconsider campaigning for a second term. This emboldened the former president to go on the offensive, claiming the present president was too old to run for a second term anyway. He upped his attacks on his age as did his handlers in the media, forgetting that Trump is only four years his junior, and has had a rash of gaffes, not to mention that he’s convicted felon.
Enter Vice President Harris, who brings a fresh and vigorous exuberance to the race. Her resume is stellar; she was the district attorney of San Francisco for eight years then succeeded Governor Jerry Brown as the attorney general of California, heading a staff that is only second in size to the U.S. Department of Justice.
She has participated in many debates, including those during her presidential run in 2019 and her debate with then Vice President Mike Pence in the fall of 2020. Given the state of our Democracy. The September 10th debate could be record-setting in terms of viewership, eclipsing the 2016 first debate between Hilary Clinton and Trump which was the most watched in history with 84 million viewers tuning in.
Debates can make or break candidates in a variety of ways as was mentioned above The first presidential debate was in 1960, and it was the first one to be televised. Many people at the time felt that it helped John F. Kennedy win the presidency. He looked youthful and calm, while former President Nixon appeared haggard and not ready for the moment. Time magazine believed that JFK’s narrow victory was sealed by him appearing on television in that first debate.
The Reagan-Carter debate for the presidency in 1980 had a similar feel to the Kennedy-Nixon contest, where Ronald Reagan, who was a Hollywood actor, was seen as more comfortable in front of the camera and won a close race.
The last of the 2016 debates between Senator Hilary Clinton and newcomer Donald Trump was unusual in the fact that the Republican appeared to be stalking the former First Lady around the stage. This year’s debate will only find two people on stage because former candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suspended his campaign. The antivax candidate appeared to falter under the weight of a variety of controversies, from parasites in the brain to dead bear cubs to sawing off a whale’s head. These stranger-than-fiction tales have unfortunately created a macabre side show to this year’s presidential campaigns.
The differences between the two candidates’ policies are stark by contrast: The vice president is seeking to continue the polices of Joe Biden, while the Trump campaign is pushing a complete overhaul of the federal government. The Harris-Walz campaign is focusing on capping drug costs, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit for lower-wage workers and expanding a tax credit for housing developers building affordable rental units.
It appears that Trump’s platform is echoing the same MAGA themes as before: preserving the 2017 tax cuts, mass deportation of individuals, de-regulation of many industries and tariffs on foreign goods.
It will be interesting to see how the abortion issues play out during the debates. The Harris-Walz campaign is seeking to guarantee a women’s reproductive rights as a major issue. Also on the table are the bans of people from certain countries, Libya, Syria and Somalia, among others.
Another major topic for discussion is the two divergent plans from the candidates in regards to climate change. Harris pledges to continue and expand the green style initiatives of the present administration, with legislation aimed at providing billions in tax credits for renewable energy and electric vehicles, while the Trump campaign states that he will end the “Green New Deal atrocities,” focusing on eliminating environmental efforts by the Biden administration and exiting the Paris Climate Agreement for the second time.
Crime, as always, will be a hot topic for both candidates with Trump focusing on migrants and urban crime, while Harris will counter by stating that under Joe Biden, violent crime is at a 50-year low.
For Black people watching this race, the stakes could not be higher. Gains have been lost on Affirmative Action in college admissions, voting rights and the ability of governmental agencies to regulate environmental laws that affect public health. One of the most important losses is a woman’s body autonomy.
The Trump campaign, as recently as Sunday, questioned whether their candidate will actually participate in the debate. On Tuesday the 27th the on again off again debate is scheduled to take place on September 10 on ABC. Everyone should set their televisions to this event to see if VP Harris’ prosecutorial skills will serve her well against a man who is facing a multitude of criminal indictments while running for president.
