Who did worse and who could have done better?

The highly anticipated debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris has generally been interpreted as a victory for Trump supporters and a victory for Harris supporters. However, there are those on Trump’s side who are disappointed, saying Trump has been defeated, or who have directed their anger at the moderators for their closeness to Harris and have gone into defense mode for Trump. On Harris’ side, the satisfaction and certainty of victory are more evident.

The most fundamental reason, in my opinion, is that instead of the familiar traits of Trump that we have seen from the 2016 debates and rallies and press conferences to today, where he acted as he felt and immediately reflected what he thought, showed confidence in the superiority of his arguments and his intelligence, and occasionally cornered his opponent with a barrage of shots, we have seen Trump stripped of all of these traits and reflect his tension and conditioning in his oft-repeated arguments.

Trump, who initially ran to his corner to avoid shaking hands, eventually shook Harris’s hand when she insisted on approaching him. This image was ridiculed by pro-Harris MSNBC because “she literally has to corner him” to shake his hand, which was true. He later did not look at Harris’ face once during the entire debate. Harris looked at him and said “you,” making accusations, while Trump avoided eye contact. It was a shocking image and an incredible strategic mistake, given the profile Trump had created by now. At his rallies, Trump consistently said that Harris avoided even appearing in front of reporters, could not give interviews, could never stand up to powerful leaders, and was strong. Here, Harris appeared confident and attacking, while Trump seemed incapable of confronting her. In doing so, Trump dismissed one of his most eloquent arguments. This is the most fundamental element that distinguishes Harris.

But she was only “one” step ahead. Otherwise, this wasn’t the debate that would have ended Trump’s career, as Chuck Schumer claimed, or destroyed him, as Rachel Maddow argued on the show. While Harris gained a semblance of superiority from Trump’s unexpectedly defensive posture, she also remained weak because she was unable to answer many of the points. Right at the beginning of the debate, when asked if Americans were better than they were four years ago, she gave an irrelevant answer, saying that she was middle-class; in other words, she couldn’t give any answer at all.

What’s more, even her supporter, CNN, found it strange. She claimed that Trump sold chips to China that met their needs. Trump responded that he didn’t sell them, China bought them from Taiwan, the US couldn’t produce the necessary products anyway, and that was because of Harris’ philosophy. Harris couldn’t respond to this except by changing her facial expression. She claimed that Trump is against in vitro fertilization (IVF). This is known to be untrue, as Trump clearly showed his support for him on a show he had with Tulsi Gabbard, who explained her request for IVF shortly before the debate, and he immediately denied Harris during the debate. Harris couldn’t insist on her claim or provide evidence.

Harris also mentioned generals who worked with Trump and then spoke out against him. Trump said he fired those who did a bad job, and those who were fired got angry and spoke out against him, but it had to be done for the country, and the Biden-Harris administration has not fired anyone, despite the shame of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and the poor economic picture. Harris also could not make a statement in her defense at this time.

Even around January 6, 2021, during the storming of Congress, where Trump was most pressed, Harris came off poorly. When asked about the issue, Trump said that he had offered to send 10,000 security officers, but Nancy Pelosi, one of the Democratic leaders, refused, and that was why the incident happened. It is known that he always responded to this issue with this answer. Despite this, Harris could not say anything except that Trump incited the crowd. To someone who listened to the conversation between them impartially, it seemed that Pelosi was basically to blame for the incident that happened this way. However, on August 1, Trump was given an even more difficult task by an ABC reporter when he was questioned by three black women journalists at an event organized by the National Association of Black Journalists, and people laughed at him. Some of Trump’s supporters also demanded that he fire his aides who arranged the interview.

During the campaign, the Biden-Harris side on illegal immigration said they had put forward a proposal to address the issue, but Trump convinced his friends in Congress not to pass the resolution. That also came up in the debate. As he said at rallies, Trump said there was no need for it and that he could solve the problem by going to the White House now and signing a resolution to close the border. Harris also did not respond to that.

Harris claimed that all world leaders were laughing at Trump. Trump quoted Victor Orban praising him and saying that he had to be brought in to end wars. He also claimed that he started collecting money from NATO members while the US was not getting any money and that was why they disliked him and liked weaklings like Harris who could not get money. He also claimed that he stopped Russia’s Nord Stream project but Biden made sure it would continue when he came to power. Harris did not respond to any of this.

One of Harris’ accusations was that Trump loves dictators and wants to be a dictator, and dictators want him to get elected. Trump responded by reminding Putin to officially declare his support for Harris. He also questioned the democracy of the situation, pointing out that Biden had 14 million votes to become his party’s nominee, while Harris had zero votes. Harris also did not answer those questions.

Then the topic shifted to Ukraine. Harris told Trump that Putin would eat you for lunch. When Trump began to respond, he warned Harris, who was trying to say more in a quiet voice, “Please be quiet,” and Harris remained silent. The moment was evidence that if Trump had been offensive instead of defensive, he could have made Harris look bad. Trump continued to explain that Harris’ meeting with Zelensky had failed because she was “weak and stupid and a bad negotiator” and that Putin had launched the invasion after she left. Finally, Harris did not remain silent and tried to respond but could not explain why they could not prevent it.

Trump’s final remarks are seen by his supporters as his most popular moments of the debate. Here, Trump again asked, “So she just starts by saying she’s going to do this, she’s going to do that, she’s going to do all these wonderful things. Why didn’t she?” and Harris was silent again?

Most importantly, Harris has no convincing explanation for the poor state of the economy, especially inflation, and this is accepted even by various media outlets that support Harris. In fact, in a CNN poll released after the debate, when asked who would do a better job of handling the economy, those who said Trump rose from 53% to 55%, while those who said Harris fell from 35% to 33%. It is also possible that this poll was probably most shared by Trump supporters after the debate. In short, Harris’ incompetence is seen as the No. 1 issue for voters.

After seeing all this, I cannot accept the claim that Harris won the debate by a clear margin. One can only argue that she gained a one-step advantage by being more active. Indeed, even MSNBC, which is promoting Harris’ incredible victory, has made comments that the election will be very close. Similarly, CNN has published analyses stating that the debate did not change voters and that it is doubtful that it affected the election.

On the other hand, the inability to confront Harris was humiliating for Trump. This is the most visible problem that many people have emphasized throughout the debate. Some, on the other hand, cite his last debate with Biden as an example. However, he looked at Biden’s face there from time to time, and Biden’s very weak and old appearance, who sometimes had difficulty even forming sentences, was a difference in itself. Trump’s arrogant mockery of Harris is now something to laugh at.

Indeed, rather than explaining the problems caused by illegal immigrants with a more specific and difficult-to-answer example, his claim that they had started eating dogs was also a major source of ridicule. The issue was criticized even by Megyn Kelly, one of Trump’s biggest supporters, and people on her show. Even some articles on pro-Trump Fox News show that Trump’s relatively passive and ill-prepared state effectively defended Harris’ victory. And if the polls are correct, Harris is ahead in most of them, just as she was before the debate. Trump could not change that. It should be noted, however, that he is ahead in a small number of polls.

However, there are still more than 50 days left until the end of the debate and a lot can still happen.