Washington: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s hot temper potentially gave an edge to Democratic rival Kamala Harris, analysts told Sputnik.
Trump and Harris sparred on Tuesday night in their first debate of the 2024 presidential election. The debate drew 67 million viewers, television ratings service Nielsen said, much higher than the 51.3 million that watched Trump and President Joe Biden in June.
Independent Institute Center on Peace and Liberty Director Ivan Eland believes Harris crushed Trump on debating style and mastery of policy issues. Harris’ performance, Eland added, might be good enough to secure the support she needs.
“More than a quarter of voters said that they needed to know more about Harris. In this case, I think Harris may just pick up just enough votes to win,” Eland said.
Covert Action Magazine Managing Editor and political commentator Jeremy Kuzmarov argued that Trump’s failure to control his temper probably lost him the debate in the eyes of some key swing voters.
“In my assessment Harris probably benefited the most because Trump seemed angry at times and made certain ludicrous claims like that immigrants were eating dogs in Springfield Ohio,” he said.
Trump also overplayed the illegal immigration theme, and falsely claimed Harris was a Marxist, Kuzmarov assessed.
US constitutional historian Dan Lazare said the contest was a draw but acknowledged Harris scored some points by quickly firing back at Trump allegations.
“By the end, she was on fire, shaking her head at Trump’s various pronouncements, shooting back with full force, and scoring more of her share of points,” Lazare said.
Harris, for her part, did expose some of her own weaknesses, including a hawkish disposition, similar policies as Biden, and low energy presence, analysts said.
Lazare said Trump was successful when he hit Harris on her connection with Biden, inability to get things done, and “bland promises to fix things up while offering no evidence concerning her ability to turn the situation around.”
Kuzmarov said Harris unapologetically revealed her super-hawk side, supporting all the current war policies of the Biden administration.
“Harris disturbingly displayed extremely hawkish views towards Russia and Ukraine while Trump was the sensible one warning about the danger of nuclear war and calling for a negotiated solution to end the bloodshed,” Kuzmarov said.
Trump also raised awareness about the horrific loss of life in that conflict, which Harris showed callous disregard for, Kuzmarov pointed out.
Europe-based financial analyst and political commentator Alex Krainer found Harris’s demeanor confident but inauthentic. The debate revealed both participants as highly limited and potentially alarming national leaders, Krainer advised.
