I’m live blogging the debate tonight and will send it out in the morning.

First thing I observed: Kamala (KH) strode across the stage with arm extended to greet Trump and introduced herself. It didn’t look like Trump was going to approach her since he went right to his podium. I think that was a good tactic by KH. Made her look unafraid or intimidated. Made him look small for a moment, but he handled himself well by politely returning her greeting.

Overall, I think Kamala held her own and actually put Trump on the defensive a lot of the time. She knew her lines and, as we anticipated, she had allies in the moderators, David Muir and Lindsey Davis. They teamed up to fact check Trump throughout the debate; not once did they do that to Harris.

Lindsey Davis said after the candidates traded comments about abortion, “no state allows the killing of a baby after birth.” But Trump never said that. He referenced the former governor of Virginia who did indeed talk about allowing a baby to born and then decide whether to save it or not. The moderator became part of the debate at that moment.

Make Debates Fair Again.

Whereas I thought the muted mic helped Trump in his debate against Biden, I don’t think it helped him as much in this one. Harris was able to fire off her memorized talking points without interruption. But on the flip side, if Trump had interrupted her, he would’ve come off as rude and demeaning to a woman of color.

Trump had to point out Harris’s many lies including, incredibly enough, the debunked “many fine people on both sides” lie. Seriously, Harris knows it’s a lie, but they continue to smear Trump with it to keep their uninformed voter base hating Trump. If you’re going to hate Trump, at least come to it honestly.

She lied about Trump being behind “Project 2025.” He had to defend himself and tell everyone that he’s not part of it and hasn’t (and won’t) read it. She lied about his use of the word “bloodbath” and he had to correct the record. She lied that his father gave him $400 million dollars and he had to address that.

To me it’s obvious that her strategy was to force him to defend himself, chewing up the clock.

Honestly, it felt like Trump was winging it too much. He needs to really prep to stay focused and stay away from the bragging and hyperbole. Not everything was the “best” or the “worst” in “the history of our country.” I mean, things are bad—don’t get me wrong—but Trump’s need to exaggerate undermines what was really extraordinary about his administration.

If Trump had an advantage, it was that Americans got an earful of Harris’s nasally wine mom voice and fake grins, head shakes and eye rolls. Her voice and tone are not just irritating but grating. As Vodka Pundit Stephen Green asked, “can anyone stand to listen to THAT VOICE for the next four or eight years?”

I know I can’t.

She also tried playing to emotions. When talking about “Donald Trump’s abortion ban” (wut?) she talked about some pregnant woman “sitting next to strangers on a plane.” One of my littles laughed out loud when she said that.

At one point Harris accused Trump of not having a plan about something (it doesn’t matter what) and all I could think was, “This from a woman who hasn’t told us what her plans are since she was anointed as the Democrat’s candidate. That’s rich.”

The worst of all was the question from David Muir about Trump saying that he didn’t know Kamala was now black. That was low—and then, instead of grilling Harris on why she identified as an Indian, and now as a black woman, which Trump correctly pointed out, he had the audacity to ask Harris what she thought about Trump’s comment.

As Paula Bolyard asked, “Where is the question from Muir asking Kamala about the fake black accent she trots out when she’s in front of a black audience?”

It wasn’t about policy, it was about identity politics. Shame on the moderators.

Trump was very direct. He called Harris a Marxist, which she is. He said that Biden and Harris are weak and incompetent, which they are. He said we’re a nation in decline, which we are. He said we’re facing a real possibility of World War III, which is probably true.

Kamala bluntly said Trump wants to be a dictator and that he “adores dictators” so it went both ways.

In her closing statement, KH uses all kinds of trite sound bites like “the future” and “we’re not going back” and “we have so much more in common than separates us.” But the most cringey thing she said was that she will be a president who asks, “Are you okay?” just like she did as a prosecutor.

“I’m from the government and I’m here to help,” anyone?

Trump rambled (again, the guy has to be better prepared) but I think he hit his main points. He observed tht she’s been in office for three-and-a-half years and asks why she hasn’t done anything that she says she’s now going to do. He could’ve just said, Are you better off now? He rebuilt the military, we’re being invaded by millions of immigrants, we’re in serious decline, and we’re on the verge of WWIII.

Bottom line for me: The debate was fairly unbalanced and didn’t change anyone’s mind. Harris held her own, and Trump could’ve been stronger. But if you hate Trump, you still do. If you don’t trust Harris, you still don’t.

What’d you guys think? Let me know in the comments.