He Could Not Curb His Worst Impulses, Even for 90 Minutes
Donald Trump walked into the debate arena with the fire and fury we’ve come to expect, but this time, there was a bit more discipline. For all his bravado about not bothering with “debate prep,” it was clear that his team had drilled him hard. Gone were the constant interruptions, the outright chaos. He made the effort to let Kamala Harris speak, though you could almost see the tension in his body as he forced himself to sit on his worst impulses. The plan was simple: pivot every question back to the economy and the border. This was his territory—he was confident. And, in some ways, he did well.
He landed a hard blow when he quipped, “Why didn’t you do it the last 3 ½ years?” That line is going to haunt the Harris campaign for a while. He put his finger on one of her weaknesses: cherry-picking credit for the administration's successes while distancing herself from its failures. It was a direct hit, and no one missed it.
For Trump, this was not just a political debate; this was survival. Victory, for him, meant keeping everything—his empire, his image, his freedom. Defeat, on the other hand, would strip it all away. He came ready, he came prepared. But despite all that prep, he cracked.
Kamala Harris, meanwhile, showed up with an edge that goes beyond policy preparation. She understood her opponent on a level that only someone who's watched him self-destruct for years can. After all, every single one of us has thousands of hours of Donald Trump—speaking, tweeting, and contradicting himself. Fox News even observed that “Harris knew Trump’s weak points, such as questioning crowd sizes at his rallies, and when she brought them up, he defiantly responded — to his detriment.” The beauty of her strategy lay in her ability to play into his insecurities. She didn’t just debate Trump; she trolled him back. And when you can get under Donald Trump’s skin, you’ve already won half the battle.
Yet, the real kicker—the poetic twist of the night—is that it wasn’t just anyone taking Trump apart on that stage. It was Kamala Harris, a Black woman. For 60 years, Trump has built his brand on thinly-veiled racism and misogyny. For decades, he’s stepped on the very people who finally rose up and handed him a public reckoning on one of the largest stages in the world. That is justice, in a way we rarely get to see. It’s no small irony that a woman of color, younger and more composed than he, was the one to take him down.
And let’s be real here—this wasn’t just Trump versus Harris. This was Trump versus himself. Even the moderators became a focus, with Elise Stefanik jumping in to say: “The ABC moderators were not journalists, they were pro-Kamala activists who baselessly attacked President Trump leading to a 3 on 1 debate, while allowing Kamala to lie repeatedly. President Trump won overwhelmingly and will win again on Election Day.”
Yet, for all the defense of Trump, what we saw was a man who simply couldn’t resist spiraling into his worst tendencies. NPR’s Tamara Keith put it best when she said, “Trump’s tendency to veer between subjects and traffic in falsehoods and conspiracy theories was quite striking.”
The Questions They Didn’t Answer
The real tragedy of last night’s debate wasn’t just watching Trump self-destruct or Harris dodging tough questions—it was the questions neither candidate really answered. And these are the questions regular Americans have been asking for years.
How do we have one of the largest economies in the world, yet also have some of the highest inequality? What do you say to the millions of Americans who are struggling just to survive in a system designed to keep them down? Why are so many of our politicians still making decisions based on donor interests rather than the interests of the people who elected them?
As much as Trump hammered Harris, and as much as Harris dodged, neither of them answered the most pressing question of all: Why should we trust you?
“Why should we believe you’ll rein in corporations when they’re funding both your campaigns?” That’s the question Americans need to hear answered, and yet, we didn’t.
It’s hard to listen to politicians talk about housing crises when there are 16 million vacant homes in this country. Why didn’t either candidate discuss the idea of limiting the sale of extra homes, something many voters feel would actually help with homelessness?
This is the crux of the issue. They’re running for the highest office in the land, but neither seems willing to confront the fact that America is broken in fundamental ways, and neither is offering the bold solutions needed to fix it.
Trump’s Downfall: Decades in the Making
Last night wasn’t just about policy or politics—it was about karma. For over 60 years, Donald Trump has lived by one rule: lie, cheat, and bully your way to the top. He’s spent a lifetime bending the rules, stomping on the people beneath him, and avoiding the consequences any other American would have faced. Last night, he got what was coming to him.
Watching Trump unravel in front of a younger, smarter, Black woman? Yeah, that was cathartic. After decades of gaslighting the nation, after years of throwing tantrums and being praised for it, Donald Trump finally got handed a public, undeniable loss by someone he couldn’t intimidate, couldn’t control, and couldn’t outsmart.
As much as this debate was about policy differences, it was also about power. Kamala Harris took the power Trump has hoarded for years and used it against him. She didn’t need to raise her voice or insult him—she let him bury himself. And while Trump’s supporters may continue to cheer him on, last night revealed something we’ve known all along: his power is slipping.
The Fight Isn’t Over—It’s Just Beginning
Here’s the thing: no matter who wins this election, the problems that plague this country won’t be solved by one person, or one administration. We’re dealing with systemic issues that are so deeply entrenched in American politics, they’ll take more than a few years to fix.
We can enjoy the spectacle of Trump’s downfall—trust me, I did—but we also have to acknowledge that the work is far from over. In fact, the real fight begins the day after the election. The same issues that led to Trump’s rise—rampant inequality, corporate control of our political system, the silencing of marginalized voices—are still here. They won’t disappear when Trump does.
