Trump and Harris clash in a high-stakes showdown | Planet America

Welcome to Planet America from John Barron and Chas Licciardello hello there welcome to Planet America I'm John bar I'm sh this week the Trump Harris presidential debate we'll look at the highlights and get reaction from both Democrats and Republicans it was a pretty fasty Affair Harris said that world leaders think Trump is a disgrace Trump said that she's a Marxist and illegal immigrants are eating people's pet [Music] dogs there was a lot of anticipation Kamala Harris meets Donald Trump for the first time for a high-stakes presidential debate. leading up to this debate particularly after Joe Biden's rather spectacular flame out in the first debate back in June this was Trump's seventh presidential debate more than anybody else in American history it was kamla Harris's first unlike in past years this presidential debate is owned by an American TV network and so we're legally not allowed to show you very much of the more than 90minut debate so as a result we'll be playing a few heavily edited Clips which we've chosen because they illustrate some key points we want to make so overall how did Trump and Harris do well according to a snap poll from So, who won? A CNN poll says Harris won. CNN Harris won by an almost 2:1 margin is that a fair reflection do you think chairs at this stage look I never like talking about winning debates because it really depends what they're trying to do but I think that Harris would be happier I think with this debate than Trump would because this debate in my view was entirely about defining carela Harris at this point in time according to New York Times Sienna a third of Americans still want to know more about carela Harris she hasn't done many interviews she was a Sitting Duck to be defined by a certain number of people during this debate and I think she she I think she'll be happy with how she was defined than Trump would be Trump was trying to Define her in a negative way she was trying to show the commander-in chief metal I think she came off very reasonably she didn't come off like a Nutter she didn't come off like she was out her depth she didn't come off like she was struggling she was in control and I think she'd be happy with that yeah and Trump dusted off the same Playbook he used to Great ex success against Joe Biden saying this person's stupid they're shot they can't talk off a teleprompter they're they're going to be terrible K Harris was certainly not terrible in fact there were times when uh it it clearly showed that she was on top of Donald Trump controlling him to the extent that she was repeatedly sort of taunting him and baiting him in a way that you s think hm they've they've done the same sort of psychological profiles that Putin and others have done they know how to get under this guy's skin to knle him a bit yeah did flag this going into the debate that that caml Harris would be trying to provoke him to trying to get him to melt down and Trump would be trying to push her off balance because he thinks that she's chained to the auto que and to Prem memorized answers and I think you'd have to say that she did a bad job of that then then then Trump did there's a there's a clip I want to play for you because uh it started off clearly with a a jive at Trump which others have tried in the past think back to Marco Rubio in 2015 talking about Trump having small hands we all know what that means that was an attempt of doing that but Harris was a bit more successful she went for Highlights of the Trump Harris presidential debate. the size of his rallies instead and Trump ended up talking about well people eating dogs take a look you will see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like cannibal lecor he will talk about windmills cause cancer and what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom she said people start leaving people don't go to her rallies there's no reason to go and the people that do go she's busting them in and paying them to be there and then showing them in a different light so she can't talk about that people don't leave my rallies we have the biggest rallies the most incredible rallies in the history of politics in Springfield they're eating the dogs the people that came in they're eating the cats they're eating they're eating the pets of the people that live there you talk about extreme now I think there was an effective moment for Harris because Trump did go right off the rails with a an unfounded story it's been debunked even though JD B others are tweeting about illegal immigrants eating dogs and cats but her coming in with talk about extreme that was clearly one of those clear words uh that they had been trying to put out there to just plant in the minds of viewers he's extreme he's extreme there are a few of them throughout this that I think showed her level of discipline and preparation I think also it's a shame we could couldn't play the entire clip because what you would see with that is how effectively Harris used the split screen and Trump did not he looked he looked very put off when she was having to go at him and when he was having to go with her talking about dogs and cats she was just laughing yeah she like she really used the split the split screen well like and uh I think that makes a big difference given that Trump is the one of the Masters of the televisual medium he knows when the camera is on him he was very good at at mugging pulling faces in previous debates knowing when he was in shot behind Hillary Clinton dominating her in in those visuals I was surprised at how sour and Surly just sort of looking down and in front of himself while Harris was trying to make eye contact with him and and basically without saying it in as many words mocking him with her quite an array of facial expressions that said this guy's crazy yeah I wasn't sure she'd be a to keep it up for 90 minutes yeah it was clearly a plan and she did she absolutely did um but on the other side when we're talking about I mean that was she she definitely got into skin a couple of times that was one example there were probably two other examples when I thought yeah she got him here but he didn't melt down and that's the important thing she wanted him to melt down he did not melt down that wasn't a great answer he gave there there was another time he didn't give a great answer but it what she wanted was a debate ending moment from her provoking him and she didn't get that so let's be clear about that like like cats and dogs was pretty weird it's going to look and and as a sound bite it's going to it's going to look like crazy town even if you sort of saw how he built up and into it she wanted a trump first debate 2020 kind of moment when when Joe Biden was like oh my God what's this guy doing she wanted one of those moments and she did and she didn't get it right the and he was restrained enough to not give that to her on the other side I saw him only only push push her off balance once which was when he basically accused her of being the the cause of the Ukraine war she clearly wasn't prepared for that one that was a weird accusation which is what I thought he might try a few of and she had no prepared answer obviously because she just moved into a two-minute word salad that was all over the place but having said that I don't think it matters it was just one answer Trump accused her of of meeting with both zilinski and Putin and then 3 days later the war started so therefore her efforts of diplomacy failed she did meet with Zin when the it was clear an invasion was about to happen she did not meet with Putin that was false but for whatever reason Harris didn't want to say well I didn't meet with Putin because he would have probably come back and said well you should have shouldn't yeah I I just think she never a prepared answer but I mean but but the fact is she was prepared for everything else and this was I think one of the features of this debate that we heard so much going to this debate about rehearsal about how much rehearsal K Harris had done vice president KLA Harris hunkers down kamla Harris hunkers down hunkering down hunkering down hunkering down Harris hunkers down in Pennsylvania which sounds great until he realized that was what Joe Biden had done beforehand as Biden is hunkering down President Biden is hunkering down President Biden is hunkering down so maybe that wasn't auspicious but she she went to extreme lent even getting the person that she was prep prepping against as Donald Trump to be the same height as Donald Trump terrorist has done at least two mock debates with an advisor Philip Reus standing in for Trump reportedly wears an oversized suit and shoes with a 3-in lift to get into character and we we saw the results of this she she I mean she was clearly very programmed she was using whole slabs from her convention speech like the guard rails bit about Trump with no guard rails um but then when topics came up like say race she was so ready she has had a completely prepared speech which was a it was a killer it worked really well like she was ready for pretty much anything and uh and and and to contrast with Trump who just throws just throws stuff everywhere using references that shorthand references that people wouldn't necessarily understand uh this was an example of of when she was ready and she used the quick references like Trump does but explained every one of them let's remember Charlottesville where there was a mob of people carrying tiki torches spewing anti-semitic hate and what did the president then at the time say say there were fine people on each side let's remember that when it came to the proud boys a militia the president said the former president said stand back and stand by so for everyone watching who remembers what January 6th was I say we don't have to go back so she had a Litany of charges ready explained effectively quickly moving directly into her tagline that's the that's the impact of preparation whereas by contrast and we talk her body preparation as well was very good by contrast Trump not so well prepared he had these two-minute blocks to fill and he kept on being a to answer the question in 30 seconds and then just woofing around for the next minute 30 on whatever topic repeatedly pivoting to talk about immigration yeah uh and then and then he still had time to then answer a driveby slap at uh at him about him being weak or some other triggering word that Harris had prepared to to kind of niggle him get under his skin absolutely but just it just wasn't as tight as as Harris was cuz she wasn't because he wasn't prepared and the perfect example of this for me was when I thought Harris gave him the biggest own goal ever which was when they turn abortion and she had a pretty good period during the abortion section and just out of nowhere she said she said and and people don't even have people under under the Trump abortion bans can't even get IVF and I thought that is a mistake cuz one of his policies that he announced 2 weeks ago was free IVF for anyone she was teeing him up for his key policy to undermine her I thought what a terrible mistake she made then he didn't even mention it CU I think he forgot that was his policy he wasn't prepared she was definitely prepared in that preparation though certainly in the first 10 minutes of the debate she was nervous she was a bit dry mouthed she was gulping a bit uh as you would be I'm sure at first time presidential debate but of course that means if you're trying remember your answers rather than being in the moment you run the risk of flubbing your answers and we saw that with Joe Biden to disastrous effect whereas Trump is always in the moment he doesn't prepare full answers it is about just his go-to phrases his attacks and everything else so he's a much more Nimble debater and and certainly if they debate again uh you can imagine that Trump is going to be trying to do more to knock Harris off her talking points but ironically Trump's strongest moment where he really did lack message discipline uh he was he was constantly sort of falling for for traps that have been laid for him about the 2020 election or or or the russer Gate scandal or his criminal indictments or whatever when he finally got to nail the message the one thing that he clearly had rehearsed and remembered it came in the final two minutes of the debate so she just started by saying she's going to do this she's going to do that she's going to do all these wonderful things why hasn't she done it she's been there for three and a half years they've had three three and a/2 years to fix the Border they've had three and A2 years to create jobs and all the things we talked about why hasn't she done it that was a great attack sure and he followed it immediately with a completely different thing yeah was it's but it is it is a core argument it's a core argument in some of their ads it's something he often says in his rallies it's if they have the answers why hasn't she done it now of course the answer to that is because I've been vice president not president let me be president and I'll do the things I'm telling you I will do and she did have a better kind of a a shopping list of of things that were on her wish list the programs she would like to have the policies she would like to have Trump didn't really talk too much about the future uh and was and was denying the fact that he had specific plans on things like uh abolishing the Affordable Care Act for example well I think that was more important for her to be honest if we're talking about their aims what they were aiming for and and were they successful I mean the the knock on her on carel Harris is that she hasn't released much po polic until now she only put an issues page on her website yesterday uh she hasn't been doing many interviews so Trump's been trying to hit her as vacant as an empty s and she needed to combat that and so it was really important for her to come out and talk about policy and whether she talked she talked a bit about policy about her future plans she certainly used the phrase I have a plan enough times and which I but I think that was very intentional trying to just getting people's thoughts yeah she does have plans she does have policies and so I thought it was important for her to combat that and I thought she did the thing that Trump uh according to a number of reports uh discussions with with with Trump uh campaign staff all suggested that Trump his main objective was to say this ill-defined figure that is carela Harris is a flip-flopper she can't be trusted she used to be against fracking uh in Pennsylvania she wanted to ban it now she says she's not going to ban it uh the green New Deal she was all for that in 2019 she now says that's not necessary a bunch of things where she's changed her position they want to say well you don't know what she stands for and she is too liberal she's dangerously Progressive she's a left Winger she's Bernie Sanders love child he didn't really prosecute that he called her a Marxist and said her father was a Marxist Economist and she's a Marxist too but he didn't I don't think achieve that kind of demonizing her as a San Francisco liberal which I think a lot of Republicans a lot of conservatives when we're talking about the undecided moderate Republicans who are not sure they want to vote for Trump they need to be told that Harris is a risk that she's going to be to left wing and I don't think he achieved that I think he tried to achieve it like he mentioned fracking her her her secretly being against fracking about four times he mentioned her trying to take your guns away a few times he tried I I just don't think she came off as seeming very extreme the other thing he tried to do is to I think one of his aims is to tie her to Biden who's obviously an anchor on her and like at one point in time he explicitly said she is President Biden but he kind I think he kind of overreached a a little bit in that regard and she she got I thought a good moment off in response to say clearly I'm not President Biden right and that tied into her basically insinuating he's a bit old and confused which she she did a couple of times she she she said um you you know just to clarify you're not running against President Biden she said in a slightly patronizing way like which was you insinuating you've lost it Ma yeah um so I don't think that worked for him to be honest even though he tried he tried and there was a certain amount of litigating the past not just Harris being asked to defend Biden's economy Biden's immigration the withdrawal from Afghanistan uh but there was also the moderators gave uh Harris a quite a few uh I guess helpful setups by pressing Trump particularly on the on the 2020 election and making him clarify defend and basically say that the people who attack the capital building uh are are great people yeah I think if we're being fair here we have to say the moderators didn't have an impact on this debate and it was not to Trump's Advantage I think the fact that they spent 10 minutes literally 10 minutes I checked on this talking about January 6 and um and the 2020 election like he it it's you don't want to be litigating four years ago especially on defense and that's what he had to do he had to defend for 10 minutes on this ancient stuff to the point where he did something I've never seen Trump to do before ever which is in the middle of talking about 2020 said let's stop talking about this let's talk about let's talk about the future the nation's in Decline like he was the one who tried to cut off tring discipline himself not get this those the moderators who are doing that right and and there's a clip we want to play for you now which which begins with Trump talking about 2020 because he has in recent weeks suggested that or maybe he lost it by a smidge rather than denying that he lost it at all then it was an opening for Harris to go on the attack and to try and once again niggle Trump by saying essentially all the other kids in the school ground don't like you have a look are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020 I don't acknowledge it at all I said that sarcastically you know that it we said oh we lost by a whisker that was said sarcastically look there's so much proof all you have to do is look at it Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people so let's be clear about that and clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that I have traveled the world as Vice President of the United States and world leaders are laughing at Donald Trump Trump I have talked with military leaders some of whom worked with you and they say you're a disgrace Victor Orban one of the most respected men they call him a strong man he's a he's a tough person smart prime minister of Hungary they said why is the whole world blowing up three years ago it wasn't why is it blowing up he said because you need Trump back as president and so that all came off the moderators pushing these topics right and it's not just that the factchecking they only fact check Trump and look let's be clear the fact checks were all accurate they're all there y he was saying mistruths right and they were pulling him up on it but they they tended to pull him up at at moments when he had momentum they were literally impacting the the momentum of the debate with their fact checks and they weren't giving him an opportunity to respond to the fact check they would they would simply say well of course that's not true it's not legal to to kill babies in any states and now in to the next question yeah leaving him muted so he was kind of left in a slightly impotent position absolutely every single time that would have made him look quite bad and there happened six or seven times so and and worst of all probably there weren't many viral moments from this debate but probably the the closest we got to a viral moment was when they were talking about health care plans and of course Trump had nothing to say about that he was bluffing it as he usually does and then the moderator came out of nowhere with this so just yes or no you still do not have a plan I have concepts of a plan now that there that that's that's not a moderator kind of thing to say like that was intervening in debate and it set him up set Trump up to embarrass himself with a viral moment that's probably we're probably going to see many times from here on in that was entirely the intervention of the moderator so I reckon he has a legitimate complain uh well maybe he he didn't have a good answer and at the end of the day these aren't moderators these are journalists this is not a debate it's a free willing discussion about any number of policy things but yeah I think that is going straight to an attack ad for more analysis we're joined by Republican political strategist Brett dster who worked on both Jeb Bush's and Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns and Brett joins us from the state of Florida Brett welcome to Planet America John it's great to be with you thank you so much for having me on your show it's a great pleasure overall what were your Interview with Republican strategist Brett Doster impressions of the two candidates today well I tell you what I'm not sure that there was a whole lot of new lines of attack that were revealed here I'm not sure that there was a whole lot that we learned according to style uh I think we were all expecting maybe a little different tone coming from Trump maybe a little different tone coming from Harris and I think they stuck with their tried and true tactics um and if you were an undecided voter watching this debate I'm not quite sure that your mind has been changed yet but with so often with these debates people don't watch the whole debate some people watch some some watch other bits but it's the moments that have a life of their own that people remember from the debates in a week's time or two weeks time did you see any particular moments that you thought this is a potential moment that could be used in an advertising campaign or a viral video somewhere down the track I know for instance I've seen Democrats online already trying to Hype up the fact that Trump didn't didn't rule out uh didn't rule out uh the idea of a National Abortion ban he just said it's not going to happen he didn't say he'd veto it so like was that a moment or there other moments that you saw that you thought might have a life of their own well that's what I kind of meant by uh the fact that there weren't really major points scored here on either side I did think that Cala Harris did a good job of of uh of pointing out what she would believe to be the problems with Trump on the abortion issue but I thought Trump frankly did a good job of directly asking her or asking the commentators to ask her if she would support an abortion at 7 months at 8 months at N9 months and that definitely put her back on the defensive and she was not prepared to answer that question um now there were some other you know there were some other moments I thought that Trump overall did a good job of reinserting the Border uh issue over and over and over again uh which he was supposed to do tonight to remind everyone uh I think that Harris did a good job of introducing basically her new campaign ad tonight which was to remind every one of all the former staffers that work for Trump that uh now are supporting her which I thought was a good moment for her in the debate but in terms of those other sort of strategies that became quite clear it seemed that CA Harris repeatedly was she was talking policy then she'd have this kind of driveby attack on on Trump to go him into something about something he's sensitive about oh you're weak or your rallies are boring and everybody leaves so that when it was his term for a rebuttal he was drawn into talking about rally sizes not about the policy things was that a good call just goting Trump in that way no 100% I thought that har did get him sidetracked a few times tonight there's no doubt about that uh I thought the rally size and whether people were staying in his rallies or leaving in particular was one that got him distracted Trump is want to chase the shiny object in these debates right and so she laid a few of those tidbits out there for him and he pursued that um and it caused him I think to miss a few opportunities uh that he could have taken to to be a bit stronger with her one of the other things that was happening repeatedly was uh Trump being drawn back into discussions about past controversies whether it was Charlottesville January 6th his denial of the 2020 election result Harris then seemed to have a a Del deliberate pivot to say but I want to talk about the future uh is that the kind of contrast that is playing to a particular demographic it seemed that there was a there was a point to what she was doing there oh yeah no doubt about that I mean look she had one point in the debate where she she said I want to remind you I'm not Joe Biden you're running against me right she's trying to divorce herself from this current Administration and talk about the future now and uh you know I do think that Trump probably spent too much time talking about the past I think frankly Trump didn't do a good enough job talking about what he's going to do in his uh four years of his next Administration uh that would be different from what uh Cala Harris and and Joe Biden have been doing for the last three and a half years so Brett at the at the end of the day back in late June we saw probably the most consequential presidential debate in history it led to a sitting president ending his re-election bid what impact if any do you expect this debate will have on the rest of this election campaign uh interesting you should say that I think that again uh this is what I predicted when I was speaking with a few people uh last week I said If either side has a dominant performance okay in this first debate they will say that there's no need for any further debates I don't think we had that kind of debate I I think both sides will be coming back to each other and saying okay we need to have another debate um I could be wrong about that but my prediction is that the American public's not going to let them off the hook and it was not good enough by either side to say this is definitive for this campaign you also have to remember guys you have to remember that we're talking literally about half a million to 750,000 undecided voters okay in Six States who are really impacted by this debate uh the other you know excuse me 42 states in the country 43 states in the country really don't matter at this point do you think Brett that one nominee needs to come out of the debates stronger than the other one or do you think it doesn't really matter look I think in my humble opinion and I'm an ads maker I do a lot of direct mail a lot of advertising I will tell you this right now I think most of your undecided voters uh out there represent a tiny fraction of the electorate if you're looking at public polls right now le uh less than 6% in all the swing states are truly undecided another direct mail piece another TV ad another radio ad is not going to change their mind they need to see these two candidates in action in person in these debates jousting with one another before they'll finally make up their minds so I think frankly that the debates really are important and will be critical in the upcoming weeks BR just so great to get your insights thanks for taking the time for us hey gentlemen thanks for having me on fair to say there that Brett's not exactly spiking the football on behalf of Republicans L less uh triumphant than they were back in June uh from Trump's performance uh as for Democrats on social media the early reaction very positive spreading around a lot of clips of C Harris's better moments and Trump's worst moments sharing those poll results that show overwhelmingly that that Harris was the winner of this debate um which probably comes at a good time for her because the momentum that came from that wave of relief after Biden dropped out and then the Democratic Convention it just seems to have I don't know the wind was out of their sales for the last few days yeah I think I think that's exactly right I think it's like a mini version of that wave of relief they had after Biden was was uh was stood down um in that yeah the polls were stting to I mean Harris was still 5050 on the polls but it was starting to move against her every every day the polls were the swing state polls were moving against it looked like Trump was about to take the lead again and there was just this creeping sensation I feel from Democrats that they were getting a little bit worried about the fact that she maybe she can't do interviews maybe she may maybe maybe we've got ourselves an empty suit here like Trump keeps on saying what if we put in another dud debate yeah and I think I think they were getting nervous and I think the fact that she she did everything she needed to do during this debate I think they would feel very relieved about well let's find out to get that Democratic perspective we're joined from California by political consultant Steve maviglio he's worked on a whole bunch of Democratic presidential campaigns including Mike jarus in 1988 Bill Clinton's White House run in 1992 as well Steve welcome to Planet America Interview with Democratic Political Consultant Steve Maviglio thank you this was certainly a better debate from a democrat's point of view CA Harris though she seemed a little nervous to me at the uh at the start of this debate a bit dry mouth were you getting a bit nervous seeing her a bit nervous well yes I was very nervous going into this because most Americans have no idea who she was so she had a lot to accomplish tonight the bar was set really high for her because she is an attorney and we know how Trump performs but we didn't know how she was going to perform so I think she exceeded expectations right at the beginning there when asked about the whether people were better off over the last four years or not she elected to not really defend the administration for the last four years she started talking about all the things she needed to fix do you think that's the right tactic to to not try to defend the administration economically and just focus entirely on turning a page or do you think she should defend the administration more well I think she mentioned some of the accomplishments of the administration uh on Health Care on creating jobs on clean energy and I think that's the way to Pivot away from that question and to talk about the future I mean the overall sens he's trying to say is we not going back to what he brought us we need to move forward and I think she did that very successfully on almost every answer Steve it's one thing to establish who is this person carela Harris her talking about her her middle class upbringing and how she supports small business as a result of growing up in a single parent household and and so on biography is important but there's also that threshold question of commander and chief uh that's the first time we've seen a woman of color try and pass that test cross that threshold do you think she achieved that yeah I think she was very poised throughout I think she was very presidential she looked powerful at times uh when defending and the administration on some Affairs and talking forcefully about a woman's right to choose I think that was her best answer of the night so I think she came across uh the way most people expect the president to look tonight and I thought she did very well Harris was trying to provoke Trump at times there was uh one answer to the question I think about Trump Prosecuting his opponents where she said he didn't have the temperament or the ability and not be confused kind of edging towards calling him too old and Trump seemed to lose it a little bit in his say is rap ra rambling about Oran and nordstream Pipeline and all kinds of stuff like that do you think though overall Trump held it together enough when being provoked no I think she clearly got under his skin so many times and she baited him and he took the bait you know there's a lesson in politics when you're losing stop digging but he kept digging and digging digging whether it was talking about I think in one sentence he talked about transgender illegal aliens and something else all crazy things all one breath so you could tell when she talked about his crowd size that's what really got him uh going and it was all downhill from there Steve on many occasions you have been the the voice in the ear of the candidate on that stage no doubt when you're hearing the words come out of candidates mouths you get a sense of what have been the messages drilled into them what have they been told at debate camp or in those policy sessions that that Trump prefers what do you think their key objectives were and their key messages were from the way they were pivoting trying to get to certain safe spots or key messages well you know she did very well in making this a referendum on him instead of him making this referendum on her and she did that successfully by actually talking about voters and he was talking about her and talking about Biden and several times she looked straight at the camera and said hey here's what I'm going to do for you middle class voter I think she hit it she talked about Latino voters black voters polish Americans in Pennsylvania young people about climate she talked to those voters they need to win and he never did that the narrative used to attack uh kamla Harris over the last few weeks has been she's got no plan she doesn't do interviews she's hiding all this kind of stuff it felt like she was trying to combat that by using the phrase I have a plan as many times as she possibly could do you think that she successfully pulled that off and might have changed the narrative on her during this debate yeah I mean she had talking points about some she want wanted to do and I I think one of the better questions was on Trump's healthc care plan which after nine years nobody's seen yet and so I think that negated her lack of specificity and a lot of policy details when he didn't have many himself yeah there were times Steve where that seemed a little contradictory CA Harris saying I've got a plan he hasn't got a plan oh except he does have a plan and it's called project 2025 there's a bit of a disconnect there does that sort of logical leap matter to viewers do you think no everybody thinks they are gonna vote on somebody's policy proposal because let's face it that's not what people vote on I mean a lot of this tonight was about personality a lot of it was about the way they looked uh the split screen for example I thought really helped kamalo Harris she looked poised and was given them that what are you talking about look a lot and he just was shaking his head looking down I don't think he even looked at her once except for once or twice during the entire debate and she was staring at him most of the time do you think as a bit of a debate expert that that that the body language is critical in these debates or does it get overplayed sometimes oh absolutely oh yeah you're going to hear about Trump's sweaty lip I think way too much uh tomorrow our time Steve ultimately is this debate going to alter the trajectory of the race is it going to give Harris the kind of reinvigoration that seems to have been lost in the in the last week the polls of plateaued somewhat does this give her a springboard now or was it not as definitive enough a performance to to really add to any momentum well I mean I think any person could see that she won this debate handily so that's only going to help I mean we're again we're talking about a handful of Voters in a handful of states and anybody who was just checking in for the first time and there Believe It or Not voters out there like that could see tonight a very Stark difference Steve M vigle I thank you so much for taking the time thank [Music] you presidential debate have become a familiar feature in American politics offering the candidates a prime time TV audience in the tens of millions and the chance to go toeo Toe with their rival despite the hype though some are soon forgotten sometimes of course they can also change an election and indeed the cause of American John looks back at moments from past debates which changed the course of American history History we're live from Georgia we saw in late June just how high the stakes can be now please welcome the 46th president of the United States Joe Biden V how are you President Biden's faltering feeble display increased voter concerns about his age um dealing with everything we have to do with uh look if we finally beat Medicare within weeks that flub had forced Biden from the campaign the impact of a bad debate is usually not as Swift or dramatic but can still be profound in 197 6 President Gerald Ford said something odd at a time when the Soviet Union's influence in Eastern Europe extended as far as Berlin there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford Administration that fed into a narrative of gaffs and missteps that saw Ford stumble to defeat 12 years later Democrat Mike dakus was asked what some felt was an inappropriate question about his wife if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer no I don't Bernard and I think you know that I've opposed the death penalty during all of my life I don't see any evidence that it's deterrent and I think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime to some debate Watchers dukakis's response was calm to more it seemed heartless like he didn't care if his wife was killed in 1992 after a dozen years of Republicans in the White House it felt to many like George Bush's time was nearly up and Bush gave the media the Perfect Image when he repeatedly checked his watch like he had some place he'd rather be how has a national debt personally affected each of your lives in 2000 Al Gore could hardly disguise his contempt and frustration with George W bush and in their third debate Gore seemed to be invading Bush's personal space Bush didn't miss a beat but can you get things done and I believe I can in 2012 after 4 years in office President Barack Obama seemed annoyed to be wasting his time debating Mitt Romney instead of celebrating his wedding anniversary I just want to wish uh sweetie uh you happy anniversary and let you know that a year from now we will not be celebrating it in front of 40 million people I'm sure this was the mo most romantic place you could imagine here here with me that was about it for Laughs Obama put in a sirly peevish performance is the reason that Governor Romney is keeping all these plans to replace secret because they're too good Obama's grouchy mood saw Romney Jump Ahead in the polls but only briefly presidential debates may seem to be about policy differences but they are really a performance and often voters judge the candidates on the small moments they haven't rehearsed or cannot hide a single word or phrase a gesture a look and on such Small Things history can [Applause] turn so we're just about out of time chz but I guess the question now is where to Goodnight from John Barron and Chas Licciardello for the rest of this campaign we're into the final 2mon stretch to November 5 uh the Harris campaign has already thrown down the gauntlet said we'd like another one of those debates thanks very much uh We've also had Taylor Swift announcing right off the back of the debate that she's endorsing carela Harris as well no great surprise there but um it might be a way for for the Harris campaign to regain the initiative I just don't think there was enough there to to change the actual trajectory of this race I know car the the the ground under the carel of Harris's Feet's probably a little bit firmer than it was before but essentially I think we are back in trench warfare where we've been for the last 10 years it's just going to be 50,000 votes here 20,000 votes there and we're not going to know what's going to happen till about 2 weeks after the election yeah I I think you're right ultimately though Cela Harris had more to lose and to gain from today she stood there if not exactly toe-to-toe with Donald Trump she she stood her ground on that stage she acquitted herself well she also successfully I think recast this as a choice not between her and Trump but the past and the future and she also had a lot of policies that were specifically targeted at the 50 or 100,000 moderate to conservative women who are not fans of Donald Trump but are worried about her being seen as too extreme she's she's got this fairly moderate image going at the moment that Trump has not really successfully done much to counter at least not yet but that is it for another trip to Planet America we'll see you next Wednesday night from 9:00 p.m. on ABC I VI and 9:30 on ABC TV and we have a fir side chat on ABC News this Friday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern see you then bye-bye [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]