The Nation MagazineThere’s almost no way to “win” a debate against a serially unserious liar like Trump, but if Harris can knock him off his vibe, she might stand a chance.
Just between those of us on the pro-democracy side of the political ledger, I am terrified of the upcoming debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and felonious circus clown Donald Trump. That’s not just because I have PTSD from President Joe Biden’s literally career-ending debate performance this summer, and it’s not because I’m worried that Harris can’t out-argue an old, rambling man who gets lost on his way to a period.
My concern is that there is no way for Harris to win. Trump will meet expectations if he simply avoids committing violent crimes onstage; the only way for Harris to meet expectations is to demolish this fool, and make it look effortless while doing it.
The thing is: Demolishing Trump is actually very hard to do. I know it looks easy, because Trump is a liar, a criminal, and an idiot man-child who has become increasingly incoherent in his dotage. He is, as Harris has said, deeply unserious. But trust me: I have debated lying, unserious Republicans live on both stage and television, and defeating them is much more difficult than it seems like it should be.
The central problem is this: You—the expert who possesses real knowledge of the topics that are up for debate—are bound by a world that has rules. Your opponent, the lying propagandist and fabulist, is not. You can’t or won’t say things you know to be untrue; they can and will. You want the debate to be about policies (because you know that your policies are actually popular); they want the debate to be about personalities. Your mind is racing to convey as much information as possible in a 90-second response; their mouth is running to insult you or the people you care about as much as possible in 90 seconds.
