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By Drew Goins
You can see how this was not just a victory for the vice president but “plain and simple a rout,” as Michele Norris determined for our post-debate Prompt 2024 newsletter, written alongside Matt Bai and Ramesh Ponnuru, who agreed that Trump got too agitated and missed lots of opportunities. As Jim Geraghty put it in his column: “The active volcano Mount Trump erupted.” Casualties? “The GOP’s assumptions about winning the presidency.”
Karen Tumulty points out that the former president also wasted plenty of energy trying to bring the conversation back to President Joe Biden, against whom he is very much no longer running. At this debate, unlike the landscape-shifting last one, Karen writes, “it was the glowering Trump who showed his age” while Harris kept prosecutorially cool. Also, the conduct of the moderators was markedly different this time, with Jen Rubin writing that ABC News’s David Muir and Linsey Davis actually “confronted Trump with some of his most outlandish lies [and] racist comments.”
Finally, the Editorial Board writes that Harris clearly won on policy as well, both in presenting plans where Trump had none and, where he has put forward policies, explaining why hers would be superior. The board also skewers Trump over his lies on abortion and his fondness for dictators abroad.
Onward, however, to the mattering part. At the conclusion of our columnist live chat that ran parallel to the debate, Jim correctly observed that “what we saw tonight wasn’t all that different from the Trump we’ve seen, year after year.”
Megan McArdle put it well: “I think it’s not enough for Trump to lose. Harris has to win wavering voters. Did she? I’m genuinely unsure.”
Perhaps she did. Anecdotal, but two undecided friends of mine who watched came away as Harris voters. Rather more dramatically, Alex’s satire ends with at least one more hesitant voter taking the plunge.
“Well, that does it,” her imagined Taylor Swift says. “Post the endorsement.”
Chaser: Blocking a Japanese company’s bid to purchase U.S. Steel might help Democrats win Pennsylvania, the Editorial Board writes, but it will come at a high cost.
From Catherine Rampell’s column about how a GOP victory this fall could jack up premiums — and, more direly, the uninsured rate; analysts estimate that 4 million people would lose coverage entirely if the tax credits Democrats enacted expire. To be clear, that is exactly what congressional Republicans say they intend to have happen.
“Remember this next time Republicans promise to reduce your cost of living,” Catherine writes. “If these lawmakers genuinely cared about Americans’ affordability crisis, they would agree to immediately extend these health-insurance tax credits — or at least propose a serious alternative. They’ve done neither.”
Less politics
And I do mean “less politics.” In fact, I don’t think there could be any starker a palate cleanser from all the debate talk than David Von Drehle’s tell-all interview … as Barney the purple dinosaur.
You might have seen that Barney is returning to the airwaves by way of an animated streaming show, so David decided to explain the perpetually happy star’s long absence by inhabiting him (metaphorically; the felt suit didn’t arrive by press time).
“I survived the asteroid, but fame was another matter,” David the dino writes. “Nothing prepares you for when your quote-unquote ‘dream’ comes true. One day I’m just an ordinary purple dinosaur, working birthday parties on weekends and going to auditions during the week. Overnight, I’m a freaking plush toy in every Target and Walmart in North America. Stardom is a trap, man.”
It’s not all coke and pills and L.A. jadedness, though that’s all in there; in true Barney fashion, the confessional ends with a lovely lesson.
Smartest, fastest
- Josh Tyrangiel interviews Oprah — yes, that Oprah! (... is there another Oprah?) — on her fears about and hopes for artificial intelligence.
- As D.C. weighs implementing ranked-choice voting, Marc Fisher writes that the idea behind it is admirable, but the reality of the system is too confusing for many voters.
- George Will does not think TikTok is a national security threat, and he is not amused by the dance the government is doing to make it look like one.
It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.
To unsure voters,
Copy Barney: “I love you”
Convince: “You love me”
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Have your own newsy haiku? Email it to me, along with any questions/comments/ambiguities. See you tomorrow!
