Kamala's Commanding Debate Performance
Added 2024-09-12 01:38:27 +0000 UTCYour intrepid hosts watched the first, and possibly only, presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump so you didn't have to—and then stayed up late to talk about it. After a somewhat wobbly start, Harris seized the momentum with a visceral, deeply affecting answer about the consequences of the GOP's assault on abortion rights, then baited Trump into a rambling rant about the size of his crowds. He never really recovered, and spent much of the rest of the debate running his mouth about the debunked story of Haitian immigrants stealing and eat pets in Ohio or claiming that Harris was responsible for every policy of the Biden administration. What did we learn about the candidates and their priorities? Did Harris break with Biden in any significant ways? What does the Trump-Vance obsession with immigrants reveal about their campaign? What firearm does Harris own? And what about foreign policy? Make sure you listen to the very end!
Sources:
Sam Roberts, "Noel Parmentel Jr., Essayist, Polemicist and Apostate, Dies at 98," New York Times, Sept 6, 2024
Watch the entire Harris-Trump debate (YouTube)
Nate Cohn, "New Poll Suggests Harris’s Support Has Stalled After a Euphoric August," New York Times, Sept 8, 2024
Huo Jingnan and Jasmine Garsd, "JD Vance Spreads Debunked Claims about Haitian Immigrants Eating Pets," NPR, Sept 10, 2024
Mike Catalini, et al, "Trump Falsely Accuses Immigrants in Ohio of Abducting and Eating Pets," Associated Press, Sept 11, 2024
B.D. McClay, "The Taylor Swift Endorsement Fantasy," New York Times, Sept 8, 2024
"Taylor Swift Derangement Syndrome," Know Your Enemy, March 26, 2024
Comments
I I was going to going to going to the
Ted Prezelski
2024-10-26 23:40:43 +0000 UTCEspecially when we have mounting evidence, from Palestinians and Israeli whistleblowers, that Israel in fact does deploy sexual exploitation/abuse as a weapon against defenseless Palestinians to establish a regime of Jewish supremacy from the river to the sea! I am probably still going to vote for Kamala but it is extremely dismaying seeing her miss the moment on these basic issues, sleepwalking us, just as Joe Biden did, into another massive foreign policy blunder that will only elevate Trump.
Burdperson
2024-09-19 12:36:05 +0000 UTC45 minutes of you fawning over Kamela. Expected something more meaningful.
Behold 666
2024-09-16 16:59:33 +0000 UTCWanted to add onto this comment, I had a conversation with my lifelong Democrat mother yesterday about what Harris could do to win my vote, namely arms embargo, holding Israel to account for it's crimes on the world stage and she said to me "but who did all the raping and killing of the concert attendees that day?" See how this language leads to dehumanization and the acceptance of the slaughter of Palestinians?
Julia
2024-09-16 12:15:46 +0000 UTCEnjoyed the episode, and generally had the same reactions. The disgusting stuff about the Haitian immigrants has been reminding me of this quote by the late Paul Farmer in his great book The Uses of Haiti. "The United States and Haiti are something other than the richest and the poorest countries in the hemisphere; they are also its two oldest republics. Rarely, in fact, have two countries been as closely linked as the United States and Haiti. Haitians are, by and large, fully aware of this historical fact. But citizens of the United States are, by and large, oblivious to these links - ignorant, even, of the two-decade U.S.military occupation of Haiti earlier in this century."
Seth K
2024-09-13 10:06:17 +0000 UTC😊
Know Your Enemy
2024-09-13 03:36:13 +0000 UTCMy partner is a Taylor Swift fan, and it was really excellent to play the last segment for them and be regaled with the things that have happened in their corner of the internet surrounding this. Absolutely delightful to have our interests collide in this manner. Thanks for your punditry and for the opportunity my partner & I got to inflict our interests on each other, lol
morecoffeeplease
2024-09-13 01:30:45 +0000 UTCHope things getter better Sam! I know the Democrats will never be as left as I want them and I’m upset about pretty much all of their policies, but I don’t feel the eeriness of 2016 or the buckle up and hold on holy shit rollercoaster of 2020. It’s just finally nice to have the strategy be “Rile Him Up and Bait Him” and “weird”. I actually sort of kind of have a little hope instead of the doom of the last 8 years.
Senpai_Eeyore
2024-09-13 00:40:26 +0000 UTCmaybe you guys were just up too late, but i kept waiting for some critical commentary on the totally uninspiring ("god awful" as matt would say) nature of Kamala's few remarks of political content. "fracking"- of course", "Tim & I are gun owners", "We did more to secure the borders than the worst president ever" "we will always supply the needed 2 ton bombs to a genocidal regime" Jesus! We have to defeat Trump, I'm all in, but Kamala is pitiful. I would prefer the empty chair strategy of Clint Eastwood
Michael May
2024-09-12 22:18:44 +0000 UTCI don't watch debates but I love listening to you guys talk about what I should know about it. You're doing the Lord's work 🫡
Joseph
2024-09-12 20:50:35 +0000 UTCSeconded. I hate when Democrats try to prove to Republicans that they're not weak with "tough on crime" politics
genrepunk
2024-09-12 19:38:24 +0000 UTCI'm so glad they fact checked Trump's "dog eating" statement with some actual journalism. That is some attempted lynch-mob-instigating bullshit and it's being spread all over the place by the whole Republican party.
Belle Moore
2024-09-12 17:00:05 +0000 UTCI don’t entirely agree but I’m 100% with you on Ukraine. It’s another “forever war”- with the added bonus (at least in the eyes of the beltway) that it’s Ukrainians who have to fight and die.
Isaac Suárez
2024-09-12 15:41:29 +0000 UTClove to wake up to some KYE punditry
c
2024-09-12 14:54:16 +0000 UTCRe: neoliberal speak – Harris does that academic thing where you don't just use a phrase but also explain how you are coining it. Instead of saying, “I am proposing XYZ,“ she says, “I am proposing what I call ‘XYZ’…“
Sebastian Lecourt
2024-09-12 14:51:35 +0000 UTCGuys, the kamala glazing is so unnecessary
Gabriel Jones
2024-09-12 14:45:42 +0000 UTCWas anyone else mildly startled by the record scratch? lol
Henry Martyn
2024-09-12 14:18:22 +0000 UTCFinally, some rank punditry
Peter Trigg
2024-09-12 13:56:28 +0000 UTCYes, rooting for you, Sam!
Samuel Ernest
2024-09-12 13:56:09 +0000 UTCThe language about Haitians eating pets is obviously disgusting dehumanization and can be used to justify violence against them and all sorts of people caught up in it. I'm dismayed that you didn't compare that to the similar "mass rape" on October 7th language Harris continues to employee that justifies actual violence happening right now against Palestinians.
Julia
2024-09-12 13:34:51 +0000 UTCWould love y’alls analysis of the Democrats rightward shift on immigration. It’s strikingly obvious in Harris’s hardline defense of the highly conservative immigration bill.
Joseph Markus
2024-09-12 13:32:24 +0000 UTCright on tariffs lmao
Evan Nordgren
2024-09-12 13:25:19 +0000 UTCThey also did talk about Israel Palestine in the debate!
Nico Villarreal
2024-09-12 12:52:35 +0000 UTCAn uncommitted episode which was all about how the democrats could save face enough to not bleed support from young people and Arab voters. Everything is just about how to get the left to be loyal democrats. And even now, when they haven't done a damn thing about an active genocide, it's still about how can we liquidate the left into the democrats to save our liberal sentiments from critical thought.
Nico Villarreal
2024-09-12 12:51:50 +0000 UTCThey did that a whole bunch on two recent episodes, including one that was entirely about the uncommitted movement.
Jamie McAfee
2024-09-12 12:33:25 +0000 UTCFor a podcast on the American right, very little discussion about how the Democratic party has moved right, only on Ukraine. I don't think Palestine came up once, despite Kamala falling over herself to be the protector of Israel.
Nico Villarreal
2024-09-12 11:47:50 +0000 UTCI’m a little surprised by all the pre-debate angst and uneasiness wrt Harris debate performance! I’ve always thought Harris was at her strongest and best when put into an adversarial back-and-forth situation, like a debate or a senatorial committee hearing. It plays to her prosecutorial skills! Which are real. She’s weakest when doing sit-down interviews, which is where a lot of the clips of her circular, head-scratching Kamalaisms come from. I guess she’s the type of person who is more comfortable asking the questions instead of having to answer them. In interviews, her answers are often vague, evasive non-answers (not uncommon for a politician), but she also comes off as disengaged, defensive, and awkward (not necessarily the case for other politicians). Her stump speeches are fine. She’s improved a lot in this area over the last few years. But obviously, there are other politicians who are better speakers. Not sure if she’s the right person to do livestreaming … although I do like her cooking videos or the one where she’s talking about all her vinyl records. Hobby-themed videos then? It’s easy to tell when she’s talking about something she’s actually passionate about. Maybe have Tim Walz shoulder the interviews? He’s just a lot more natural and personable in these types of situations. He really shines in the informal podcast format!
e.lonnrot
2024-09-12 10:41:28 +0000 UTCKamala has all the strengths M&S talked about, but she's not strong enough yet to bend where she should. I'll feel more confident when she can give Trump credit for being right sometimes. On the merits, I think he won on Ukraine and tariffs. Kamala was rigid in her responses from lack of preparation. I don't think he's so strong on the merits of immigration, because he torpedoed the bill and because border crossings are down. Ukraine is a deep topic, but in short I read Trump as saying the war is pointless and the U.S. has had the power and foresight to stop it all along (on better terms for Ukraine, I think, than continued war would be likely to give). I agree on both points. You can argue whether Trump would get good terms for Ukraine, but I think that is the only point of contention. The idea of Putin invading Poland is stupid. Poland is a NATO country. Invading a NATO country is declaring war on Europe and the U.S. In this sense, Trump understands Russia and NATO better than Biden and Harris do.
David Gillman
2024-09-12 06:30:42 +0000 UTCWhen I lived in a small town I was in a local Facebook group, and... man did people show their fascist side whenever anyone thought a dog or cat was in trouble. I'm not surprised that a xenophobic panic would take that form and wonder if that obsession over (not just one's own, which is understandable, but other people's) animals is a displaced reaction to the ways that our society routinely discards human beings (refugees and migrants prominent among them). I actually thought Kamala's line that "we see in each other a friend... a neighbor" was an excellent counter to that kind of fearmongering and wish her policies did more to back it up.
Nik
2024-09-12 04:46:18 +0000 UTCI not only watched the debate, but I saw the cat eating meme billboard (AZ resident). FWIW, that billboard spending explains why Kari Lake is down 10 points. We’re rooting for you, Sam, but we won’t stop demanding our Gay Vatican Gossip episode. That’s how the healing starts.
Ian Derk
2024-09-12 03:14:27 +0000 UTCI’m surprised there wasn’t more commenting on Trump’s faces, though y’all talked it more than most. He was apparently coached to avoid reacting with anything other than facial expressions and it ended up so over done. It was like he was trying to have meme-able moments like in 2016, but in that way, they look like unserious stale memes from a different time. It worked in Kamala’s favor in my view because he then was easily goaded into dropping that strategy and launching into incoherent rants.
Martin Kurien
2024-09-12 02:47:24 +0000 UTCHope things turn around for you, Sam. Thanks you both for the noble sacrifice of watching this garbage.
Lou Guberti Ng
2024-09-12 02:32:51 +0000 UTC
