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Harris looked good - really good. Younger, prettier, fitter, and healthier than Trump. Both have lost weight since 2020; both are probably on Ozempic. Kamala looks hotter. The darker hair coloring softens her face and facilitates the right balance between a lean, taut jawline (masculine energy) and delicate features (feminine energy). She’s minus 40 IQ points and 10 resume lines relative to Hillary. But as the potential first female president, sadly, looking good matters more — not least to image-obsessed Trump. Harris looked like a billion bucks, which is exactly what she will raise.
Trump indulged in self-obsessed sociopathy, as usual. Given the choice between talking about X policy issue that helps him win and Y topic about himself, Trump always chooses himself. It is his worst quality. If he loses, this is why.
Harris said nothing of significance, as usual. Talking points from consultants, pablum, and too many rhetorical crutches like *nasally intonation* “Understand, [insert canned talking point here].” A vote for Harris is, at best, a vote for the Democratic intelligentsia behind her, because there’s no there there.
Facial expressions - Harris wins. Per Mark Halperin’s reporting, she has some expert help from friends and donors in Hollywood. It shows. She overacted a bit. Still, it helped.
Body language - Harris wins. She looked right at Trump often, and angled her body toward him; he refused to make eye contact with her. That is because Trump is still upset Dems got rid of Biden, and that ABC is so comically biased. I get it. He was in enemy territory. Still, looking away comes across weak and like a total ‘beta move.’ That’s the opposite of the strength and ‘alpha male’ energy Trump seeks to project.
Moderation by “journalists” was pathetic and comically pro-Harris. They only “fact-checked” one of two professional liars on the stage, and lobbed way more follow-ups at Trump. The fake ***serious person talking here*** voice and nuclear amounts of make-up were also hilarious. If you primarily get your news from podcasts, as I do, the lack of authenticity in legacy media is shocking.
Topic choices were biased to embarrass Trump, and help Harris avoid the hard questions: (1) what did you know about Biden’s mental decline and when did you know it? (2) why did you wait so long to close the border by executive action when you could have done it on Day 1 (3) how does increasingly the demand for housing with subsidies lower the cost - do you understand Econ 101? (4) how can you call this the ‘Trump era’ when your party had the White House 12 of the last 16 years?
Impact #1: Harris transcended her reputation as Queen of the Word Salad. It will be much harder to paint her as the Democrats’ Sarah Palin now.
Impact #2: Trump proved himself the crazy and potentially incompetent leader of a political movement that really needs him to be sane and competent to win. He needs a therapist and maybe a silent meditation retreat before coming back out.
Overall impact: Net Zero. Democrats have to lie less about how good our dear nominee is - she did well; Republicans have to pretend harder that dear leader is mentally healthy enough to do this - he did poorly. Harris didn’t give any new reasons to vote for her, and the same old reasons to vote against Trump. Trump accomplished nothing and chased his own tail. Base turnout: same. Swing votes affected: net zero.
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