Harris Pulverized Former President, But She Can’t Rest on Her Laurels

Maribel Hastings

Posted Sept. 19, 2024

An erratic Donald Trump offered one of the worst spectacles of his political career in the debate with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, where it was impossible to properly discuss public policy proposals with a Republican former president who recited lies, conspiracy theories, and incoherencies.

Harris put Trump on the ropes and the defense, attacking the former President’s enormous ego, most notably by telling him that people leave his rallies early out of boredom and that he talks about everything but the needs of Americans. The Vice President was able to intersperse her public policy plans during Trump’s chaotic performance and, on numerous occasions, reminded voters that she offers a generational change in leadership and that it is “time to turn the page.”

Trump turned to immigration even when the issue under discussion was another one. But he didn’t respond to the question of how he plans to deport more than 11 million undocumented immigrants, the central plank of his immigration agenda contained in the extremist Project 2025 from the Heritage Foundation.

Instead, Trump repeated a string of lies that crime in the United States has gotten worse because of immigrants, which is not true; for that reason, criminality in all parts of the world has lessened because they have sent their “criminals” to the United States and Harris and Biden let them enter; that we have a new type of crime — ”migrant crime”; and that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are “eating” residents’ pets.

Harris should have gone beyond the border issue and explained that the border could be secured and the immigration system reformed to offer a path to legalization for millions of undocumented people who have established themselves in this country for decades, something that Americans support. In that sense, it was a missed opportunity to establish a clear contrast with Trump’s extremism and appeal to young, female, Latino and other minority voters directly or indirectly affected by the lack of this immigration reform.

And although Harris swept the floor with Trump in this debate, if there is a lesson there for the Vice President, it is that she should not leave anything to chance, as evidenced by Hillary Clinton’s experience versus Trump in 2016.

Harris arrived at this defining encounter well-positioned among the multicultural and diverse vote. However, when all voters in the country are added, the breach between her and Trump closes. We will see what effect the debate has on this trend, if any.

In 2016, no one thought that a candidate as incompetent as Trump could defeat Clinton.

The Intelligence Center from My Code conducted a survey for La Opinión, which found that 63% of Latino, African American, ANNHPI, and LGBTQIA+ voters intend to vote for Harris, compared with 32% who support Trump. However, when it comes to the general universe of voters, the gap between them is reduced to 5 points, with 50% in favor of Harris and 45% for Trump.

Other national surveys found just a one-percentage-point difference, which is in Trump’s favor. All signs point to a tight election.

This is despite Trump’s disastrous performance in his rallies and now in the debate, which demonstrates a deranged Republican candidate incapable of completing a thought or of offering public policy proposals; a man who lies incessantly, continuing to insult his opponents and jumping from topic to topic, from sharks to Hannibal Lecter, in a type of fever dream from which we cannot wake.

What’s incredible is that he continues to have support from a recalcitrant sector motivated by prejudice and anti-immigrant sentiment that Trump has known how to exploit.

Although I see more similarities between the candidacy of Harris and that of Obama, in 2016, no one thought that a candidate as incompetent as Trump could defeat Clinton, the First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State. They did not count on the resentment that the election and reelection of the first African American president of the United States, Obama, generated among what has since become known as the MAGA sector, which blames minorities and immigrants for everything, even though analysis after analysis disproves that immigrants take jobs from U.S. workers or lower their salaries.

Now, we have an African American woman of Indian heritage confronting the same prejudice from Trump and his minions.

And although one would like to think that people have learned their lesson and can discern between a capable and prepared person and a buffoon, misogynist, mythomaniac, and convict to take the country’s reins, we have to refer back to 2016. To not commit the Clinton campaign errors of being too confident, having no presence in crucial counties, cities, and states, and ignoring volunteers’ warnings about what was going on the ground.

Let’s remember that Clinton lost the presidential election to Trump by just 117,850 votes in three key states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Democrats had not lost these states since 1992.

Despite Trump’s sad spectacle in the debate, Harris cannot rest on her laurels.

Maribel Hastings is a Senior Advisor to América’s Voice.