WHO WON?! - September 10th, 2024
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What happened in the presidential debate that prompted this live reaction?
All right. Welcome, everyone, to a presidential debate special of The Don Lemon Show. Good evening. We're so happy that you're here. This is a special edition of our show, and you just watched it. Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris met face to face for the first time in perhaps the single most pivotal Presidential debate in American history. We have so much to discuss, and I'm grateful to be joined by a fantastic panel here. Melanie Campbell is the president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and the host of tomorrow's The Black Women's Roundtable at the Congressional Black Caucus. I will see you on Thursday morning, by the way, for breakfast there at the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C.
Ryan Wiggins is a chief of staff at the Lincoln Project, and Terence Woodbury is a founding partner at HIT, or HIT Strategies. Rachel Bitterkofer is a phenomenal political strategist and an analyst. So thank you all for joining me. I appreciate it all. David Muir, Lindsay Davis, wrapping up the debate just moments ago, it is interesting gauge and watch the public's reaction via social media. Now I want to know what you experts think. So Rachel, as someone who is a strategist and you're watching with a critical eye, what did you think of this debate?
Yeah, and as a political scientist that studies these things, I've watched a lot of debate footage, especially historical debate footage. So I agree with Stuart Stevens of the Lincoln Project. He says this probably is going to come down as one of the strongest debate performances we've seen for a very, very long time. And then strategically, it was everything I ever wanted. I wanted her to come out and, you know, you can't debate Donald Trump. You can't have substantive conversation about policy. You know that. And so the mission for me strategically was to put him on defense and bring out all of his warts to refresh the American population as to what they'd be buying with that purchase. And she just could not have done any better.
So I'm feeling very good about that performance tonight.
Yeah. Ryan, I'm going to go to you. I want to hear what you think. But Melanie, you need to unmute so that we can just we can talk with you. Ryan, what did you think of it?
You know, I thought that it was a great performance by Kamala Harris. I feel like, you know, she had to come in, and her assignment tonight was to, one, you know, define herself with the people who did not know a whole lot about her, and two, was to come in and win over the middle. And that was what both of them needed to do tonight, and there was no way that Trump did that. I mean, Trump did Trump, and she did an incredible job of baiting him into, you know, showing people exactly who... Who he was. I especially liked the part, though, when she was talking about the rally and she was she invited people to watch the rally, invited them to see the real unscripted, you know, unprepped Donald Trump.
And I thought that that was brilliant.
Melanie. I thought, first of all, Don, thank you for inviting me to this conversation. I feel she won tonight. I'll start with that. And I think one of the key things, body language says a whole lot. And her body language was strong. And she was talking to the American people. Because there's a room with no people in it. And so she spent a lot of time focusing on and making the case of why she should become the next president of the United States of America. And I was thrilled because she showed she's ready on day one to be president of this country.
Terrence, what did you think?
I agree with the ladies here. I do believe that the vice president understood the assignment tonight, which was first and foremost to introduce herself. 28% of Americans still don't know enough about her to rate her. And so she had to not just talk about what she's done, but who she is and how that contributes to what she's done. And we heard her layer in a little bit more of that bio beyond just her resume. But I want to be clear. I don't underestimate and have never underestimated the ability of Donald Trump to resonate with his base.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What happened in the presidential debate that prompted this live reaction?
0:18–6:44
2
How did political strategists evaluate Kamala Harris’s overall debate performance?
6:44–21:47
3
Why did panelists debate the moderators’ handling and Trump’s interruptions?
21:47–1:02:22
4
How did the candidates clash on abortion and what impact did that exchange have?
1:02:22–1:17:23
5
What was said about Trump’s racial comments toward Kamala Harris and the panel’s reaction?
1:17:23–1:28:46