By Iliya Kusa
On the debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris
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Trump once again confirmed that he is self-centered, prone to provocations, and has not rethought his strategy against his opponent after Joe Biden was replaced by Kamala Harris. It seems he is still unsure of the best approach to take against Harris and the topics to focus on.
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Expectations for Harris were initially low, while they were high for Trump. From this perspective, Harris won the debate. However, if we set aside public expectations in the U.S., both candidates performed poorly, and the debate itself was rather unremarkable.
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Trump failed to link Harris to Biden and continued to debate with the U.S. President, forcing Harris to remind him that she, not Biden, was his opponent. This confirms point 1.
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Harris managed to portray Trump as an outdated politician from the past who does not offer a future vision. Support from opinion leaders like Taylor Swift will work in her favor.
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Trump traditionally has strong arguments in economics and even foreign policy, but when the discussion turned to immigration, healthcare, human rights, minorities, and abortion, he became nervous and descended into incoherence. Harris clearly performed better on social issues compared to Trump.
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I agree that the moderators clearly favored Harris, and she had more comfortable conditions during the debate.
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On Ukraine, both candidates repeated well-known talking points and did not offer anything new. They presented no specifics or plans, and I believe they will not do so during the elections. I still think that regardless of the results of the U.S. presidential elections, the formula for the U.S. will remain unchanged: not letting Ukraine lose. From our perspective, the Congressional elections will be more significant.
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Currently, Trump trails Harris by 2%-3% nationwide and even less in some swing states. It is too early to talk about a clear victory for his opponent.
