It’s easy to find examples of Vice President Kamala Harris answering questions in a vacuous, speciously thoughtful manner that borders on caricature, and it’s easy to conclude from that oratorical oatmeal that she has delayed a one-on-one sit-down with a serious journalist because she’s not nimble in unscripted situations or fluent in the necessary facts. Those are the Republican talking points, anyway.
But that assessment ignores her performance in a 2020 debate with the vice president at that time, Mike Pence. Remember it? A high-stakes encounter as risky as any interview with any network heavyweight, she did fine. Better than fine, in fact. Several post-debate surveys of viewers, including one published by 538 and another by CNN, found that Harris won it. Granted, Pence was contending with a fly’s decision to claim a time-share on his head, but still. He had been on the national political stage longer than she had, and she wasn’t buggy in the least.
Which is why Donald Trump’s recent complaints about and threats to back out of the planned ABC News debate on Sept. 10 make total sense. He should be hesitant. In fact, he should be scared.
For all his ludicrous boasting about his past debate performances, many of them have been laughable — some combination of puerile taunting, nonpareil lying, sulking, steaming, glaring and gloating. You know those cartoonish dances that football players do when they’ve breached the end zone in the fourth quarter of a close game? That’s Trump at the debate lectern, only he hasn’t scored a touchdown. Or even moved the ball so much as a millimeter downfield.
I’m referring to his antics amid his rivals for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, in three face-offs with Hillary Clinton in the general election that year and in two face-offs with Joe Biden in the general election of 2020. (He skipped the 2024 Republican primary debates — wisely, given his lead over the other aspirants.)
Now imagine Trump against Harris. Imagine his insult and upset over having a lectern no bigger, a standing no taller and an invitation no more gleamingly embossed than a Black woman’s.
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