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September 10th in Philadelphia marked the first, and perhaps only, time for presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris to speak directly to voters. Would this time be different? Would either candidate spend any of their allotted time talking to the voters who will ultimately decide this election?
Of course not.
With hundreds of millions of dollars in their war chests and the best political scientists and data at their disposal, both camps must know what we know: the path to the White House runs through the middle. Exit polling in 2016 and 2020 tells the story. Trump won independents by four percent in 2016, and Biden won them by 13 percent in 2020. Win independents in the middle or lose; it’s as simple as that.
Aside from Trump conceding some ground on abortion and in vitro fertilization (IVF) and Harris adamant she will not ban fracking, neither candidate behaved as though they knew this fact. It’s like they’re windup dolls incapable of uttering any sentences beyond their preprogrammed scripts. “She’s a Marxist” certainly plays well with the MAGA faithful and possibly independent voters who came of age during the height of the Cold War, but it’s a turnoff to younger voters in the middle who will decide the election.
Likewise, Vice President Harris was happy to engage in name-calling, almost to the point where it appeared to be a calculated debate strategy. She spent a good chunk of her time combing through her ad hominem thesaurus, lobbing insults at Trump, calling him a “weak, pathetic man” and “a disgrace.” Negative partisanship turns off independents, swing voters, and the rest of us in the middle. Hurling these attacks is no different than speaking directly to the base.
Aside from the constant elementary school-level bickering, the candidates predictably relied on their Rolodex of red meat. For Trump, this manifested through a total lack of discipline and composure. He appeared to lose it a few times. In a fit of frustration during one of the exchanges on immigration, he instinctively fell back to classic Trump form, asserting a wild claim, “They’re eating the dogs!” He must have blacked out and thought he was at one of his “tremendous” rallies. Unfortunately for him, he was on national television talking to all the voters in America.
Speaking of his “incredible” rallies, he just couldn’t help himself from taking the bait when Harris questioned their magnificence by poking him on rambling and causing attendees to leave “out of boredom.” Like clockwork, Trump wasted minutes talking about and defending his base. Of course, he also threw other obvious slabs of meat, talking about deporting millions of undocumented immigrants and continuing to insist he won the 2020 election.
About equally, Harris took a slew of trips to the liberal Democrat butcher shop to carve up fresh meat for her base. But instead of wild claims and brash defensiveness, liberal Democrat meat consists of a treasure trove of freebies with no mention of how to pay for it. The liberal base loves a good Oprah-style giveaway. “You get a car!” “You get a college education!” “You get a house!” For loyal Democrats, there is no societal ill that cannot be solved by throwing money at it. In fact, the more problems, the better! More problems mean more voting blocs with which to curry favor.
Families are struggling. Having children in 2024 is more expensive than ever. Harris’s solution is to increase the child tax credit from $2,000 to $6,000—with no mention of who would cover the costs or how it might affect the deficit.
The economy is anemic, and inflation is the worst it's been since the 1970s. Harris quickly addressed this issue, making it a part of her opening remarks. She said she plans to build an “opportunity economy.” What does that mean? There are few details so far, but she looked into the camera, directly at her base, and offered a $50,000 tax deduction for small businesses. Again, there is no mention of the fiscal impact of such an offering.
Home prices are seemingly going to the moon and crushing the hopes and dreams of first-time home buyers. Can you guess what Harris has planned to take on this problem? That’s right: $25,000 for first-time home buyers, with a pledge for even more support for first-generation homeowners. Who will pay for that, and what will the long-term economic repercussions be?
Seemingly, there is no intervention too far for the liberal base. How does America tackle the rising cost of prescription drugs? Simple. Cap the price! Tell pharmaceutical companies it’s illegal to charge more than whatever the political class deems appropriate. But, price controls violate fundamental economic theory no economist - even the most progressive - disputes. As liberal Democrats are wont to say, “The science is settled.”
Independent voters, unlike the Democratic party faithful, are not oblivious to the costs of these programs. Gallup found that a majority of Americans, not just us in the middle, lean conservative on economic issues. The debt and deficits still matter, especially to us. We recognize that our out-of-control spending is falling onto our shoulders and want to do something about it. Why? Because if not us, then who?
We are looking for serious leaders who are accountable and will put solutions above political allegiances. The debate allowed Trump and Harris to show us a different side of themselves and genuinely talk to us. And they totally blew it.
We’re still looking.
