The Best Night Ever for Any Presidential Campaign
And it's not even close.
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What more can be said?
Anyone who watched the debate tonight knows that Vice President Kamala Harris absolutely wiped the floor with Donald Trump.
While she was commanding, uniting, and nuanced, he appeared doddering, confused, defensive, and divisive.
While she looked presidential, he looked like a lost toddler.
For the first time, Donald Trump seemed completely lost on the debate stage. He looked resentful that he had to share the space with a Black and South Asian woman who completely owned the venue from the moment she made him shake hands with her.
Moving forward, the high standard for presidential debate performances will be Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. Tonight was an absolute masterclass in political communications and presidential rhetoric. Beyond outstanding.
There were so many standout quotes from Vice President Harris. Here are a small selection:
"Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression... Donald Trump left us the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War... he left us to clean up his mess."
"Donald Trump has no plan for you. When you look at his economic plan, all it is is tax breaks for rich people."
"Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and getting an abortion. That is insulting to the women of America.... what you are putting her through is unconscionable."
"I think it's important to remind the former president that you're not running against Joe Biden, you're running against me."
"If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now.... understand that our European allies and our NATO allies are thankful that you are no longer president."
"I said at the beginning of the debate you're gonna hear a bunch of lies from this fella. That's another one."
"The late, great John McCain--who you disparaged--walked out on that floor and said: no, you don't."
Y’all, I have watched every single televised presidential debate, both primary and general, both Democratic and GOP, and she delivered the best debate performance I’ve ever seen. Period.
Vice President Kamala Harris just set the new bar for presidential debates.
Also: shout-out to Linsey Davis and David Muir of ABC News for actually doing their damn jobs as moderators. Much appreciated from a grateful voting public.
Journalists holding Trump accountable with real time fact-checking? Utterly surreal.
But the night wasn’t over. After she destroyed Trump in the debate, making him look small and weak, just 27 minutes later, she was endorsed by Taylor Swift, widely considered the biggest celebrity endorsement in any presidential campaign ever.
Taylor Swift has such enormous reach that she’s basically the most influential person in human history who isn’t a head-of-state.
Look, I can’t emphasize it enough: this is definitely, without a doubt, the best night of any presidential campaign ever.
I have no idea if there's gonna be another debate, but at this point, it's all about stepping on the gas. Just doing the work, knocking on doors, registering folks to vote, calling voters, organizing family and friends.
Doing the work, y'all. We're about to win this election if we do the work.
Take tonight to celebrate a bit, and then, tomorrow, we’re stepping on the gas.
Re Taylor Swift endorsement: I LOVE the way she wrote it - I did my research and here’s where I landed. You do YOUR research!
No “agree with me because I’m awesome and you love me“ nonsense.
If she keeps this up, I’m going to have to become a Swiftie!!!!
As for the debate, she was amazing. So very much in control. I hope she persuaded some of the undecideds across the country.
Such a good selection of quotes from the evening, Charlotte. There was also a moment where Harris punctuated the words “That’s immoral” in a way that had incredible impact. You could tell she was reacting as a human, not a candidate.