That Was Good

Watching last night's debate after suffering through lingering memories of the previous one was like getting a bite of a fine aged gouda after living entirely off of Cheez Whiz for a month. Or at least so I imagine, because I have never had a fine aged gouda. I have, however, had the experience of going from the feeling that our country is completely and totally screwed to having something resembling optimism. And boy oh boy, does it taste good.

Let's talk about the best part of the debate: Kamala Harris's performance. Folks, I have not been watching presidential debates for many years, but of the ones I have seen, her performance may be the best. She trained and it shows. She knew when to counter Trump's excessive confidence with a "get a load of this guy" smugness, but refused to let that define her performance. Equally impressive were her many moments of passion and confidence, the kind of moments that make you realize that she isn't the faceless Biden plant Trump makes her out to be. This honest passion was also a great way of getting into Trump's head, because the only counter he offered to that passion was the kind of crotchety bitterness we all expect from him by now.

It was definitely a significant part of Harris's plan to play mind games with Trump, and it worked. After an hour of being forced to stand up to someone who is mentally sharp, he crapped his pants. He was agitated and couldn't string together a coherent sentence. The entire time, he looked like he was on the verge of dropping some slurs. Biden, in the last debate, seemed to be feebly scratching at Trump. Harris took a hammer and broke him right open. It's refreshing to see how insane he sounds next to someone who is making sense.

Trump, by contrast, was Trump. He repeated some staggering false claims, dodged every difficult question thrown his way, and made his backwards views on many subjects painfully clear. He spouted off on more of his fake "post-birth abortion" stuff, went on a bunch of unhinged tangents, and bought into Harris's Trump-specific rage bait hard. He gave a terrible performance. I personally don't think it was worse than his last, it's just more noticeable now because he no longer has the advantage of debating someone older than him.

Really, all in all, it was a good debate. My vote for Harris is more secure than ever.

Sorry for the short post, I could go into it deeper, but I am very tired and it is very late.