By Michael Woyton
There is a ton of things to talk about regarding last night’s presidential debate between the vice president of the United States and the convicted felon.
How about when Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party nominee, briskly walked onto the debate stage in Philadelphia Tuesday reaching out her hand to a seemingly surprised and hesitant Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s nominee, and set the tone for the entire 90-plus minutes?
How about when Harris talked about the 45th president inviting the Taliban to Camp David and used expert comedic timing — and, I believe, a lot of self editing — calling him “This … former president,” resulting in laughter as evidenced by a viral video from a bar.
How about the amount of desperate spinning coming from the right, both in the media and people on the talking head circuit, that Trump was ganged up on by the ABC moderators and Harris who had the nerve to fact check him a few times during the debate, including using “witchcraft” and threatening legal charges.
Trump said that Harris’s policies led to the burning down of Minneapolis and that she wants to people’s guns and perform transgender operations on illegal aliens in prison.
And what about one of the debate’s participants — spoiler alert, it was Trump — showing up in the post-event spin room to say how well he did (“she got beaten tonight”) and telling the press that he had a lot of polls that said so?
For this listener, the exchange that gave me pause and made me really question the former president’s mental stability was about Springfield, Ohio.
After Harris made a comment about people leaving his rallies early, Trump accused the vice president of busing in and paying people to attend her campaign rallies — projection? — he dropped in the debunked rumor that dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio, were being stolen and then eaten by Haitian immigrants.
ABC moderator David Muir said Springfield’s city manager was contacted and said there were no “credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused” by people in the immigrant community.
Trump countered by saying that he had seen people on television saying that their dog was taken and used for food.
OMG. You judge whether the way he was talking about the dogs and cats and pets was anything other than bordering on crazy.
Trump has talked recently at his rallies about dying from sharks or electrocution and waxed poetically about a fictional cannibal.
Remember that during his administration he thought that drinking bleach or inserting light in a body to cure COVID was something worth discussing. In the past, he’s made fun of a reporter with a disability and mocked people who served in the military, even calling them “suckers and losers.”
There is no question that there was only one person on the debate stage last night who is worthy of holding the office of the president of the United States, and I cannot believe we have to have this conversation.
Why anyone takes Donald Trump seriously and wants him to be president again is beyond my imagination.
Lead art: Screen grab from PBS NewsHour
On Second Thought 