By Chris Edwards
[email protected]
Last Tuesday’s presidential debate between vice president Kamala Harris, running on the Democratic ticket, and GOP nominee Donald Trump, drew an estimated 67.1 million viewers.
The debate, according to media analytics company Nielsen, fared better than the match-up between Trump and President Joe Biden in June, which attracted 51.3 million viewers. The Tuesday debate was hosted by ABC, in Philadelphia, and simulcast on 17 networks, including NBC and MSNBC, as well as streamed online.
During the event, Trump painted a picture of the United States as a nation in decline, saying “We have a nation that is dying,” while Harris attacked Trump’s record during his term as president.
Commentators afforded both candidates praise and criticism following the event.
Rep. Brian Babin (R-Woodville) weighed in on both candidates’ performances. In a statement released to social media, Babin said that the debate showed “an hour and a half of Kamala Harris blaming Donald Trump for the results of her and Joe Biden’s failed policies while offering zero solutions.”
Babin declared Trump to be the “overwhelming debate winner,” and added that with his “solid tracks record of border security, low crime, a thriving economy and maintaining a bold presence on the world stage, he will save America from ruin.”
Other political leaders across the state weighed in, including Gov. Greg Abbott, who tweeted that Trump will “put America first by delivering on his promises to make America safe, strong and secure again,” and added that Trump will “undo the damage created by the failed Biden-Harris admin.”
The chairman and vice chair of the state’s Democratic Party, Gilberto Hinojosa and Shay Wyrick Cathey, issued a joint statement hailing Harris’s performance.
They stated that Harris “shared a new way forward,” and that Trump “barely articulated a coherent thought, much less a coherent vision for the American people,” and called his agenda “a power grab.”
Cathy D’Entremont, who is a longtime, award-winning speech and debate coach at the high school level, said that in competitive debating, Trump would have been disqualified on certain elements.
“Competitive debate scores speakers on organization, evidence, analysis, refutation and oral style. A speaker who is caught in a lie or distorting evidence is automatically handed a loss or disqualification,” she said.
“Trump would have been disqualified and lost on those elements alone. Using a competitive debate rubric, Harris would definitely have won,” she said.
In an article published to The Conversation, co-written by economists Vivek Astvansh and Qianhui Liu, the two observed that both candidates emphasized geopolitics, with mentions of Russia, Israel, Ukraine and Iran, while Trump used “more achievement-oriented words,” whereas Harris “used more that suggested affiliation and power.”
The writers used the theory of psycholinguistics to attempt to reveal the personalities of both candidates in the article; asserting that Trump is more focused on individual agency, while Harris leans more toward a group-oriented approach.
Three more debates were initially scheduled leading up to the Nov. 5 general election, including one that was to take place at Texas State University in San Marcos, however, those were all cancelled. A debate between vice presidential contenders JD Vance and Tim Walz is slated for Tuesday, Oct. 1 in New York, hosted by CBS.
Trump has stated that there will not be another debate between he and Harris.
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