Alright. Just watched the whole thing.
So who won?
Honestly, I don't yet know so I'll go through some of the negatives and positives of both Trump and Kamala.
Trump
In terms of style, I think he had a lot of rambling and going off-topic moments. In my opinion, I think he has a lot to say, and maybe has a hard time focusing, so due to that he tends to go all over the place. Ironically, the very best moment where he was locked in and stayed focused on a coherent message was with his ending remarks. I honestly think the guy has a problem staying focused and on message.
In terms of substance, I think Trump did very well when it came to some of his foreign policy points involving the ongoing wars (Russia, Ukraine, Afghanistan). The topic of immigration was supposed to be one of his strong points but unfortunately he botched it by throwing in these extreme anecdotes, like migrants eating people's pets. That's not to say Kamala did any better on immigration. On the economy I think Trump did okay.
Trump definitely had some negatives on substance as well, like when it came to abortion. He kept bringing up one anecdote of a former Virgina governor that was open to taking a babies life after it was born, but that one example seem like the exception. It could not establish in any factual way that Democrats would allow late term abortions. I think he lost on some other points as well but the abortion topic was one where he lost on the entire issue, in my view.
Kamala
In terms of style, she was much better than trump. She was better at staying on message by not rambling on and getting into a lot of off-topic points. She sort of surprised me because the media made a big deal about her not wanting to do media interviews, but being on the spot in a televised national debate, and showing good style is a plus.
In terms of substance, she did good on abortion. Then again, even Trump's performance on that issue even helped Kamala. But besides the issue of abortion, I don't think Kamala swept Trump on any other issue. She scored some points on some replies she made, but again it was never a win on an entire issue like she had for abortion.
Negatives, were her trying to take credit for things that she did, but that weren't success. For instance she said she met with some NATO countries before RUssia invaded Ukraine. BUt I fail to see the point in bringing that up unless you were going to tout it as a success, which we now know how that went given the fact of Russia deciding to invade Ukraine. Basically, I don't think she came off effective when it came to mentioning any of her successes.
I'll watch the debate again or at least on specific issues to see if my view changes on anything. But overall, i don't think there was a clear winner.
