US Presidential Debate: Kamala Harris Gets Under Trump's Skin, Advantage Democratic? | Global Mirror

[Music] [Music] what many said would be a walkover for seven time debater Donald Trump seemingly turned out to be Kamala Harris's night the vice president seemed to set the tone for the big night as soon as it started when she walked over to Trump for a handshake something that he wasn't expecting and what we didn't see during the debate with Biden in June there were arguments sharp RS repetitive lines frowns some great onliners and a whole lot of what the debate experts call Gip Gallop which is a reference to overwhelming your opponent with several arguments at once but aside from all the theatrics of the big debate several key issues were talked about starting with of course abortion while Kamala reiterated her stance of standing by women's rights on their bodies Trump asserted that he will not ban abortion and claimed that women in their ninth month of pregnancy are getting abortions while attacking the Democrats on illegal immigration Trump accused Kamala and Biden administration of getting in illegal immigrants who Court eat our pets he also reasserted that he will strengthen border security Kamala Harris on the other hand seemed to suggest granting citizenship to undocumented immigrants Kamala defended the government's Russia Ukraine war policy and hit out at Donald Trump telling him that dictators like him because they can manipulate him and that they will quot eat him for lunch Donald Trump retorted that the whole world is blowing up and that she is the worst negotiator meanwhile on his alleged involvement in the Capital Hill Attack Trump said that he has nothing to do with it clearly the debate has left Americans divided with the Republicans accusing the moderators of being biased towards Kamala Harris it's still a long way to go for November 5th but who's one on the game right now let me ask my guests on the show joining me tonight are Nish achara he's a former director of innovation for President Obama and the current outside adviser to the Biden Administration I'm also joined by vuti J former Republican candidate for New York assembly good evening namashkar to both of you I'll start with you viu um what do you make of this entire debate it was something that not just Americans but the entire world was looking at everybody who follows American politics was eager to hear what both of them have to say uh but did you also think that it clearly went in favor of Kamala Harris uh thank you very much for having me here Sher and I wanted to also mention this fact that I have always believed and I say this to my party people that give recognize this element that Democrats are Tech uh in to tactically way too smart than the Republicans I say this openly so there there was a tactical game played here and kamla Harris won that tactical play I acknowledge that as a sportsman I always acknowledge win or lose doesn't matter but one has to look at it from a very different perspective and my perspective is that debates are not meant for hardliners on either side of the fence the either side of the fence have already decided to vote for Trump or Biden as the case may be these debates are primarily meant for the undecided the fence sitters and independents who essentially are what they are because they are not aligned to any party so the in the US election which is very beautiful process here which rest of the world doesn't know or doesn't understand there is a primary election to select the Party candidate and the primary elections they wo the party line to win the nomination once the mintion is one then you quote the independent and others in this battle the perception battle was clearly with kamla Harris because she looked the below as Elon Musk also said the expectation set was so low that you could not go below that you could only be better whereas that over confidences perhaps went is what went against Donald Trump sorry your question again do you think that overconfidence is something that went against Donald Trump it it was not overconfidence but he was definitely warned I think in my opinion not to attack kamla in person personally nor refer to anything else because that would Boomerang so he maintained a very stoic stand that I will not attack you on in person but on policies and that's what he did so win or lose the question will be how The Independents neutrals and undecided voters are thinking about this because those people are looking for policies not the Flash and the bang around here so Kamala Harris was clearly ahead in the perception game Trump clearly won the policy game and by the way this is something which you and I are both in media and I want to say ABC was The Biggest Loser because they were totally partisan they were trying to ensnare Trump in answering questions which did not Merit and when they failed they repeated the question two in point repeatedly asked who do you want to win the war Ukraine or Russia that is such a stupid way to trap somebody in saying one or the other and Trump was smart enough to say I want to end the war likewise there were other instances let me get Nish aara to respond to you vibu J Nish aara you know this was uh something that the Republicans and several people across the world online have been saying that the moderators were biased towards Kamala and therefore she had that sort of advantage over Donald Trump so uh we have a saying in uh basketball which is uh you cannot blame the referee if you're not making your own jump shots and so blaming the uh the moderators is is an example of a debate that was lost by uh former president Trump I think vice president Harris had two goals last night the first was to show that she was presidential that she could stand on the stage and have a commanding presence I think to use an Indian term uh she hit a sixer on that one that showed how presidential she is and then secondly I think she needed to show uh that Donald Trump in fact could not handle the pressure of multiple Global crises and there again I think she showed that that's the case every time she brought up an issue he was unable to give a coherent answer I reject this idea that he won on policy I think she on on substance on toughness and on policy uh I think she gave very good answers on uh Women's Health and abortion she gave very good answer on uh why the Afghanistan situation happened I think she gave a very good answer on on economic growth and how we came out of the covid uh Le um uh inflation and other things and and actually we're on our way back and so I think you know you mentioned Afghanistan and since we're talking about policies let me understand from you Kamala Harris hit out at Donald Trump for negotiating with the Taliban for inviting them for talks in a war if there is a group which is carrying out the activity on ground uh which is that which is violent you talk to that particular group don't you for example in the Russia Ukraine war Donald Trump said that you're only talking to zalinski not to Putin How do you want this war to end when you're talking to only one side right but there's intermediaries to go through the the Taliban I had actually a close family member who served in Afghanistan and and I can tell you how stressful it is for American families that the US military has been there for over 20 years and so there was a need to clo get closure on the War uh the Trump Administration was not able to do that uh and with the agreement that they negotiated with the Taliban uh was coming to a close and so unfortunately the Biden Administration was in a situation where it either had to uh uh leave Afghanistan or a significant fighting was going to resume and so the decision was made and unfortunately uh there were American lives lost there were Afghan Liv lost uh and it wasn't the best situation but uh it was a a decision to leave Afghanistan and it was a decision based on uh prior agreements so that has to be done now the situation with Russia is obviously very different Russia is a very large country it is a superpower uh and it has been threatening Ukraine and other European countries and so the Strategic decision there is very different than it is in a small country like Afghanistan uh and I'm sure that once she's elected uh vice president Harris will meet with President Putin and she will push for some sort of a negotiation there uh but that'll also depend on whether the Russians are interested in that when this was being talked about Donald Trump said that this war have happened if I were the president uh and certainly we have seen that during the Biden Administration we've seen both the Russia Ukraine as well as the Israel Hamas War um with that in mind the rort that Kamala Harris gave was dictators like you because they can manipulate you and they will quot eat you for lunch is that um a very solid substantial argument to put in place when you're being accused of being involved in two Wars well I I think if you talk to most ational Affairs experts they will tell you that uh countries do not go to war based on who the American president is it's based on uh what they are seeking to do and also what the reaction will be uh and perhaps Putin thought that the United States would not respond the United States responded strongly and built an alliance and uh has kept that Alliance supporting Ukraine uh and and Donald Trump again was wrong last night the Europeans have actually given more money than the United States do it so it is really a global Coalition uh and so I don't think think that that's true I think there's a question about the the how Donald Trump would react whether he would use nuclear weapons which he insinuated last night and and so countries uh may be a little bit worried about that uh but certainly I don't think anybody makes their decision on war or peace based on US presidential elections okay uh viu would you like to come in on this do you think that how Kamala Harris put forth the arguments in the debate about the two War s uh would convince the voter on ground that it was necessary and um that you know because there's been considerable anti-war sentiment and there have been people urging the US government to stop both Wars uh do you think that will sort of reach out to the undecided voters and convince them and the undecided voters are absolutely annoyed and frustrated and unhappy with the unnecessary Wars that United States has gotten into and that is that is a abs absolute clear fact people are tired sick of it I mean think about leftenant Colonel Tulsi gabard has said that it is the war machine of America that launches war and she blames both parties for that from time to time but I wanted to just comment on the basketball an an analogy that achara g brought out is that yeah you have to make your jump shots achara G but the the referees also called the Ticky Tac fouls which prevent somebody from taking those shots and not calling the shots falsely we know the game so let's not go into the basketball analogy because there are so many analogies I have about sports that I can quote you here but on the policy perspective the Ukraine thing think about it I if I were Biden's Biden I was in Biden's position and if I found that Trump has done a poor negotiation of for getting off the War I would have said sorry no I will renegotiate that deal but to do do it and then blame him for doing what that's not a sign of leadership that's cowardice the way they left and ran from Afghanistan it's Global no knowledge it's not anybody me telling or you asking how did US US looked sick and tired I was disappointed to see the kind of escape hatch these people use to run away from Afghanistan leaving behind $80 billion worth of weapon sophisticated weapon under the custody of Taliban whom they are paying monthly rental now to manage it properly Ukraine is another issue this is what the Biden Administration doesn't answer that in Israel's case which is a winnable war against Hamas us is telling Israel not to fight and here they're doing in Ukraine hundreds of billions of dollars over $200 billion dollars have been pumped in to support American Industries it's a very interesting scenario and you are telling Ukraine to go win an unable War which aara G said Soviet Union will not lose the war because in a desperate situation they can go to any extent to do that so they are supporting an unwinable war against Russia but discouraging Israel from winning and winnable War by cutting down their supply chain of weapons this is the hoax this is the stupidity this is the banality of Democratic party thinking that needs to be addressed and I can tell you this the independence undecided and neutral people are looking at that very seriously and Trump did not start a single War respond to regarding the entire dwy of the Biden Administration and of course uh you know the alleged American hypocrisy that people across the world have been calling out regarding these two Wars well I would say there's two things to say there one is there's no American troops uh in either War so they are not American wars there were troops in Afghanistan there were troops in in Iraq again people that I know uh they were fighting that is not the case in either War the United States is supporting Ukraine uh because Ukraine has been a a democracy a fledging democracy that's uh had stronger ties with the West uh and the Russians have shown uh an interest in in in further expanding Beyond Ukraine and so it was important to support Ukraine in its struggle okay the situation in Israel and Gaza the United States has given I think 26 billion do to Israel it hasn't given any money to the Palestinians um however uh it understands that the situation in Israel and Gaza is not tenable uh with Israel continuing to attack and and certainly with a lot of loss of civilian life and so uh vice president Harris is trying to uh essentially figure out how to get both sides to the table and how to get a uh a ceasefire uh in Israel and Gaza and certainly Israel has a right to defend itself after the terrible attacks of October 7th uh but also uh it needs to find a way to prevent uh human suffering and it needs to find a pathway forward for Gaza that's the case uh and so I think that's what she's trying to do I don't think there's any hypocrisy on the American side for that and one quick thing uh the Wall Street Journal or the Washington Post uh today corrected that fact about Afghanistan it was only about7 billion do worth of equipment that was left not 85 billion so significant difference in terms of what was left behind Okay I want to shift our Focus to abortion which is uh one of the dominant issues in this entire presidential campaign uh Mr ja you know let me understand from you what you think of how Donald Trump responded to this entire abortion debate kamla Harris well known a champion of women's rights she has been reiterating what she stood for and how she fought in this entire case Donald Trump's argument in this case um you know seemed like a very shorty sort of an argument when he said that um you know women are going for abortion in their ninth month of pregnancy I mean first of all that's medically incorrect second of all uh you know why can't you just say that you know I do not support abortion or just that women have rights on their own bodies you know that's a that is one issue on which Republicans are generally weak in explaining the whole problem this is what is critical nobody even the pro- lifers are for example I'm against abortion all right but I definitely recognize the need for abortion in cases of exceptional scenarios happen God forbid if my daughter were to be raped by an islamist guy I wouldn't want that child on this planet Earth I would allow her the Liberty to take her decision to Choice the choice is hers the issue is very important here abortion is an issue of Once Upon a Time scenario to versus today's scenario today you have any number of birth control uh require you know facilities available options available and responsibility available nobody talks about that component of it so I have but by the way the 9mon thing that you talked about the West Virginia governor did say this I have heard it myself I don't need to quote anybody on that I heard it myself when he said in a public forum that we will decide the child's life after its baby is born that's what Trump was quoting about and I'm told that in six or seven states late stage abortions are allowed now considerations are very important mother's life I support it if mother's life is endangered child's life is Ender or exceptional circumstances this has to be bowed but lot of people don't understand the gets the rest of the world gets confused about the abortion matter a whole lot of things in this country are on federal structure you may be surprised to know that just because you have a brokerage license or a license to do something in New York you can't do in New Jersey you have to have New Jersey license for a stock broker or insurance agent likewise to open an office in Wisconsin or California there are each state has its own authority to do something California has the rule they allow illegal immigrants to vote in local elections these are State matters and that's where the whole thing that it need not be a national mandate Let each state decide it throw the matter back to the states and which I feel is reasonable enough but one matter which is missed out and nobody talks about it the young men and women where these unwanted pregnancies happen they need to be made available with birth control support systems whether it's pills ORS because you have a responsibility to make sure that you do not indulge in practices that lead to unwanted pregnancy that education is not happening here so if you are having if you are indulging in sexual practice and it ends up in in pregnancy you will say oh I'll get my abortion done that's the one thing which has to be uh talked about in a more social gerine way than instead of just throwing my right my body which is true nobody contesting that nobody's contesting that that's the issue here you can do it any state that can do thank you okay um okay nishara illegal immigration a point and issue that was talked about extensively that was debated extensively not just in the debate but throughout this campaign we've seen Republicans and Democrats being deeply divided on it and something perhaps many observers say uh will go against the Democrats because it is in their regime it is during their time that the highest number of undocumented immigrants have been recorded there have been uh have been entering the United States uh so however that fact has to be clarified a little bit uh under every president the number of illegal immigrants undocumented immigrants coming to the United States has gone up so Trump was more than b Obama Biden is more than Trump uh and there's a couple of factors at play here one is the economies in Central America where there's a lot of drugs there's a lot of gangs governments are unstable so people are looking for a better life and so they're making their way to the United States and we do not have a good system for evaluating and vetting those people to come in and so that's been a challenge the Second Challenge is that immigration is not uh one- siiz fits-all we have Highly Educated immigrants coming from India we also have the second largest group coming to the Mexican border are also Indians and they're trying to come illegally and so obviously you know using the example of Indians we can see that this is a complex issue now what the Biden Administration proposed and what they came to an agreement with uh with the United States Senate with the Conservative Republican Senators was to significantly increase uh the amount of border patrol uh the amount of people who are actually even LED in for a hearing of a day-to-day basis uh and the use of technology to monitor the Border uh and it was President Trump who decided that he would not accept that uh and and and convince the Republican colleagues not to vote uh so that's actually we would have had a bill to strengthen the Border if president uh Biden president Trump had been interested in that uh and the last thing I'll say is I think it's important to know that this is not again this is a complicated issue if a if a family comes to the US border seeking Asylum uh because they've been politically persecuted or religiously persecuted uh the American culture for 250 years has been to give them a chance to tell their story uh and to possibly get asylum in the United States and so at no point will we be closing the doors entirely and not letting anybody in we will have a system now is the system broken yes the system is broken and we don't have a way to quickly do that um but systems are are can be fixed uh and that legisl what's ironic the fact and viu uh that the TR Trump team and the Trump campaign keeps talking about strengthening the border security but during Trump's regime uh there was nothing solid nothing substantial that was done to block that uh but let me quickly before I wrap this discussion up ask the both of you you know American society uh American people stand deeply divided perhaps the most divided in their history over the politics that has been playing out do you think that either Trump or Biden um sorry beg your pardon or Kamala have that sort of uh you know potential in them to unify the nation Kamala keeps talking about it Trump keeps talking about it but when it comes to actual implementation vibu who do you think is actually uh you know capable of doing that if at all that is a brilliant question in terms of uniting and dividing the country you know everybody talks about uniting Unity it's a good word it's a psychologically psychological suppressant word where you feel good about being united but important part here is who has been dividing the country think about it from that perspective Obama said we are not red white and blue we are United States of America but on record he has been single most devastating degenerating dividing the country in the most vicious way Biden talked about I'll unite what did he do to unite he further damaged the the fabric of the country I had said this in a think tank meeting about 10 years ago what will destroy this country is the political apathy or the bitterness that exists between the two parties and this is some an issue that they need to address seriously this is uniting is Unity comes I have to taken a quick word from from Nish achara as well yeah Nish AAR 30 seconds before I wrap this discussion up then so until Donald Trump came on to the stage there was a lot of collaboration between Democrats Republicans there was more of a common definition of what it means to be American uh in the last three election cycles that has not been the case uh because of the words and actions of the Republican nominee uh I think whether it's kamla Harris or in next four years when there's another election I think both parties and both candidates need to get back to that uh that definition of what is an americ and a common set of values uh and goals that we have uh and then we can discuss whether or not there's a role for government or there's a role for private sector but we need to get back to that area where we have some common agreement about what it means to be an American and we need that leadership from our candidates for president all right we'll leave it there thank you very much to both of you gentlemen nishara and vuti Ja for joining us on mirror now and sharing your perspective on that big debate that happened between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump