Debate Thoughts (Part Two)

Okay, I listened intently and objectively and went away from my natural political leanings to answer the questions of which I posed in my article in The Swamp section of our Vocal platform :

So now, I will answer my own questions in a Q & A format based on my perception of the night as unbiased as I possibly can...

Question: Was this debate more of a stage for discussion or an arena?

Answer: It began with civility and no personal slander. But that was over after as soon as the first topic was finished. The topic was "is the country better now or 4 years ago?" By the time the debate was over, I definitely felt like I had witnessed an exhausting prize fight that had some illegal low blows. (I will later write about topics.)

Surprisingly, most of them came from Harris. It was like she had taken Trump's modus operandi. And to me, the response to her aggressive behavior using this approach, was not flattering. She came across as a scorned wife going on the attack of her husband, bringing up every indiscretion, even if all of her "facts" had not been clearly established, merit in question or not. Her face showing an obvious contempt with a superior mocking expression.

And, surprising to me, Trump seemed to use an open hand to her accusations rather than a fist. He often used humorous lines as a retort such as: "she's using so many of my policies that I was going to send her a MAGA hat." But in a matter of fact style, he also stated emphatically, "She's a Marxist." Trump remained calm, but passionate in his demeanor. *(Make America Great Again=MAGA)

Q: Could we trust the media (or the moderators) to use only factual information addressing the topics and give a balanced and unbiased approach?

A: There were times that Trump called them out on (fractured or out-of-context) reporting on some of his previous statements to the press. They could have asked Harris "harder" questions on the issues in my estimation. There were occasions when both candidates bypassed their questions altogether. There were more 2 minute retorts from them both than time spent actually discussing topics. Disappointing!

Q: Do they even have a plan? (Did we find out???) My synopsis of topics that were debated:

A: Harris: Plans to "look forward and not backward." To have optimism and not gloom and doom, to unite all people. (This was in contrast to Trump's "nation in distress/nation that is dying" stance.) Decide for yourself, but it felt like the Mary Antoinette's, "let them eat cake" effort to feed the starving in France many years ago. Just my opinion here.

Says she is going to make the economy better by making "opportunities for economy" such as a $6,000 tax cut for single mothers for car seats and day care. She also says she has a heart for small business owners and plans to offer them a 50% tax deduction to make a start-up company. She also wanted to help first time homebuyers by lowering taxes.

She also plans on bringing back the old "Roe vs Wade" but avoided a prompt from Trump to the moderators to ask her if that entailed abortions up to and including the 7th, 8th, 9th month of gestation, and on the delivery table decision. Harris only stated that there was no current laws for the latter, but failed to mention her stance on late term abortions.

She discussed having a strong military and alluded to helping distressed democracies in other countries. She said that Israel and Palestine should have 2 states within that country.

She planned on keeping Obamacare and continuing helping seniors. No specifics as to how. (Trump made a point that Harris often copied Biden's "just say I will lower taxes" like "Run Spot Run.")

I heard no new plan for her immigration policies, but did admit that Fentanyl was on the rise and guns, drugs, and people were being trafficked. She blamed Trump on a "border security" bill not passing.

Trump: On the economy he can rightfully boast that there was no inflation under his administration. He states he plans to impose tariffs on imports into our country. He says we won't have higher prices, China will. He stated that people in our country now cannot afford cereal, bacon, or eggs and it's a disaster. He also maintains that he will create more jobs. He will also encourage fracking in our country to improve the economy.

That is a topic that Harris has often flip flopped and there is no evidence that she would or would not employ that source of energy. Bernie Sanders recently said she is "using her new stance to frack to gain votes in key fracking states." Bernie is a Democrat. Who can we trust? (To frack or not to frack...that is the question!)

I will include an article on what fracking is below for any audience that needs more information.

On the issue of abortion, Trump himself has made recent shifts, avoiding the term, "pro-life" and instead taking credit for the Supreme Court decision of making abortions a "state" vs federal decision. He does adamantly voice that in the case of rape, incest, or threat to mother's health an abortion should be an option. He says that the rumor that he will sign a national abortion ban bill is "a lie."

Trump's global military plan is mainly comprised of good negotiations, using whatever upper hands he might have, such as a very strong military, costly sanctions, and as he mentioned in tonight's debate using a picture of a hostile key leader's house as to what the stakes are. What we can count on is his experience and his history of global peace while in office.

When posed the question of who he wants to win the war between Russia and Ukraine (oddly Harris was not asked this), He brought up the fact that we should remember that countries like Russia, have weapons of mass destruction and we should avoid WWIII at all costs. And his answer to the moderator was, "I want the war to STOP."

On the issue of healthcare, Trump agreed that until there was a better plan, that Obamacare would still be on the table.

Immigration was Trump's ace in the hole, digging deep into the lethal drugs and increase of violent crimes and other issues brought on by the massive influx under the Biden/Harris administration. He put the blame on Harris herself, whom he called the person in charge, the "Border Czar." If he wins the election, he plans on utilizing the National Guard and local police to begin deportation of migrant crime offenders.

Q: What influence on voters...especially those who rely on social media for their current events, do celebrities hold?

A: We can't be sure just yet, but immediately after the debate Taylor Swift posted her endorsement of Harris/Walz to a host of her multi-thousand minions and gave her reasons for doing so.

Q: Based on tonight's debate, have you decided which candidate and whose administration we've personally (and as a nation) been better off with economically? Have we been safer at home and abroad? Has there been more peace and stability in the world?

A: This is for you to answer...Please post your respectful thoughts and take- aways below in the comments sections:

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