Tuesday’s debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris continues to trigger reaction from Delaware Valley voters. Most tell DVJournal they think Trump missed an opportunity to win undecided voters.
Philadelphia resident John Featherman, a Republican who ran for mayor in 2011 and Congress in 2012, said, “Harris won on debate points, but I’m not sure it will make any difference in how people vote. Most people watching this debate already had their minds made up. The question is whether it had any effect — even marginal — on undecided voters.”
Skippack resident Debbie Jr. “D.J.” McGinley said, “There were so many lies with Kamala. Why do they continue letting her lie? It won’t change my vote even though Trump was flustered: Trump 2024. She had three and a half years and has done nothing. Also, it’s 9/11 today. This should’ve been a conversation last night between the two of them (to) close the borders.”
“Both candidates were losers as neither did anything to convince undecided voters that they were the better choice,” said Tim Daly, of Lower Makefield. “Harris was overly rehearsed and confirmed again to the public she is disingenuous. Trump was Trump, acting boorish while taking the bait with stupid responses to Harris’ prepared script about rallies and getting money from Fred Trump. Nobody cares and she did this to use up time and get the spotlight off her.
“The biggest loser of the night was (moderator) David Muir, who carried out the orders of ABC execs to gang up on Trump to demand answers to questions of and fact check Trump, while not doing the same to Harris when she did the same,” said Daly. “Worse, Muir pushed liberal false narratives on the fact checks as there is badge cam video of the Haitian migrant arrest over the cat and the National Crime Victimization Survey data produced by the BJS (Bureau of Justice Statistics), which details the increased crime seen across the nation.”
Felice Fein of West Goshen also believes the moderators were unfair to Trump.
“Having watched the CNN debate between Biden and Trump, which I thought was well done, I was disappointed to see that the ABC moderators did not press Harris to provide specifics like they did Trump. There are some very simple facts regarding policies, economic numbers, and immigration about which moderators could have questioned Harris’ record, yet they did not. Overall, she seemed well rehearsed, ready with bait to draw Trump’s ire, and he took it. Had Trump stuck to the Biden-Harris record and juxtaposed it to his own, then Trump could have wrapped up the election last night. As it is, voters still have more candidate and policy research to do and potentially another debate to make decisions about the future of this constitutional republic,” said Fein.
New Hope resident Gee Moses said, “It plays into the Democrats’ side for sure. Kamala and the Democrat operatives from ABC baited Trump over and over. It was clear he wasn’t prepared, seemed frazzled and rambling. Pushing things that may be true but (they) seemed exaggerated, especially to a majority of the country who gets its news from MSM (mainstream media). So, they would not of heard of the realities on the ground, like animals being eaten. The 21 million-plus illegals, and other comments will seem like a lie especially after MSM will claim they are.
“Trump blew his opportunity to define Kamala for 31 percent of people who said they need to learn more about her,” said Moses. “He missed his opportunity to challenge her and put her on the defensive, exposing what a weak and flawed candidate she is.
“The Democrats have exposed the American public for being shallow and easily manipulated,” said Moses. “They turned Harris from an extremely unlikable anchor on the party to the next coming of Obama without her doing interviews or having policies. It was a pure PR campaign, and they learned from COVID if you just tell the lies enough, people will not only believe them but pass them along as truth. Trump needed to push back and expose this hollow shell of a human, and he failed miserably.”
Springfield’s Joy Schwartz ran for Delaware County Council last year.
“Trump appeared somber and pre-occupied,” said Schwartz. “His demeanor may not have been attractive to some, but it was completely appropriate given the gravity of the problems facing our country, and his obvious frustration with having to debate the two biased moderators as well as the candidate. Trump won on the issues.”
“Vice President Harris’s fake gravitas, smugness, and over-rehearsed facial expressions did not enhance her otherwise confident and polished delivery. As usual, she was short on substance. All fluff, no stuff,” Schwartz added.
Scott Presler isn’t a Delaware Valley resident, but he’s been active in getting Republicans in the area registered to vote. He’s widely credited with helping Bucks County GOP registrations pass the Democrats for the first time since George W. Bush was president.
“What I saw during the debate is a Vice President — Kamala — who currently has the power to make changes & has failed to use her position for the last 3 and 1/2 years,” Presler posted on social media.
“I saw a politician who doesn’t care that her failure from the Afghanistan withdrawal killed 13 soldiers; her failure to secure the border killed daughters, like Laken Riley; her failure to cut our bloated spending budget has resulted in crushing working class families; her failure to show strength lead to Putin invading Ukraine; & her plans to increase taxes are going to drive Americans into homelessness. Kamala came off as pompous, smug, & arrogant.”
But Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) posted about Trump’s mention of reports of immigrants eating pets in Ohio: “I don’t know who needs to hear this but stop asking me about fracking when the other side’s call-to-arms is people eating dogs.”
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