Debate night: Just another night of Kamala Harris dodging substantive questions

Vice President Kamala Harris spent the better part of the last week preparing for a debate for which, in theory, she has been preparing for her entire professional life.

How much prep time could a person need to be able to convey what she thinks on the issues of the day? A debate is, after all, supposed to be a discussion of what candidates actually believe; their core principles that guide them in office.

Kamala Harris was trying to simultaneously “reintroduce” herself and “redefine” herself after more than two decades in public office. It did not go well.

There is such a thing as being over-prepared. No one would ever accuse former President Donald Trump of that. But he was ready enough. Trump knows the medium of television better than he knows policy. But television does not require candidates to know policy, just how to convey ideas. Trump was able to do that. 

He reminded the public, which likely hasn’t paid that much attention to this point, that the Biden-Harris administration had created all the issues Harris raised as today’s problems during the debate.

“Inflation,” as Milton Friedman famously said, “is made in Washington because only Washington can create money. And any other attribution to other groups for inflation is wrong.” Harris, as vice president, cast the tie-breaking vote that economists point to as the cause of inflation — the ironically named “Inflation Reduction Act,” a name even President Joe Biden wishes had been different.

The polls are unanimous on this question: Most Americans believe they had it better under Trump. It’s hard to argue, when $100 worth of groceries can easily fit into one bag. And that’s assuming your family can afford the gas to get to the store.

As for the other issues, the “don’t-you-dare-call-me-border-czar” former border czar tried her best to sound as though she has had zero sway over the state of affairs at the southern border over the last three years. Harris wants credit for a slowdown in immigration that took place only after Biden, having denied that there was anything he could do about the problem, finally issued an executive action.

If you came to this debate looking for specifics, you went away empty-handed. Neither candidate is known for those, and neither tried to give them.

Lucky for them, no one comes to a debate looking for specifics. 

As for the memorable moment, Harris whiffed badly on the very first question. She was asked about those (the majority of Americans) who do not feel as though they are better off now than they were under Trump. She didn’t even address the question, reverting instead to a prepared speech about her vague policy proposals.

This was the number one issue facing the country. The ball was set on the tee for her, and she missed it. 

At the end of the day, there were no knock-out punches. Not that Harris didn’t seem desperate to land one. She spent much of her time trying to take credit for things Democrats see as popular, all the while pretending she hasn’t been vice president for four years.

Where she was, no one knows, but it can be safely assumed she wasn’t at the southern border.

Trump did what he had to do — he behaved himself. That may seem like a low bar, but that was where the bar was set. He could be as rude as he wanted to be to the moderators, but he denied Harris the moment of “outrage” she was looking for over any personal slights or swipes.

Time was spent on tariffs and trade issues. This moves the votes of academics, not average voters. Abortion was also key — yet it will motivate only those whose minds are already made up.

On the border, Harris again dodged, citing her work as attorney general of California while avoiding saying anything she would do differently from Biden. 

Harris needed to show something to the public to give them a reason to think she would be different than the last four years and she failed to do it. She didn’t even try.

Trump took some of the bait offered. He spent far too much time talking about the 2020 election. (The question asked about this was pointless.) 

Otherwise, though, Trump kept his cool, although there were moments when it looked like he might lose it. The most passionate he got was when talking about illegal immigration and crime, both issues that resonate in polls.

There was no equivalent moment for Harris. She wouldn’t say why she changed her positions on fracking, the border or anything else. 

The moderators “fact checked” Trump multiple times. They never did so to Harris, no matter what lies she told. That’s to be expected from ABC News, sadly. As Megyn Kelly put it at one point, every question was about a Trump controversy, which put “him on the hot seat” and then allowed her to use all of her time to trash him.

David Muir and Linsey Davis got worse and worse as the debate went on. It was embarrassing for the institution of ABC News. Not that Disney would care.

The sniping back and forth on the issues most people don’t really care about — the January 6 Capitol riot, Trump’s legal woes — will not obscure that Harris avoided answering all substantive questions, especially on inflation and the border. 

Neither candidate was “likable” in the traditional sense. But that is par for Trump’s course. Harris wanted to come off as the anti-Trump, but she failed.

Trump won this debate on points. Harris will survive and limp onward only because there is still such a large swath of the country that hates him so much. 

Derek Hunter is host of the Derek Hunter Podcast and a former staffer for the late Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.).