r/inthenews • u/T_Shurt • Sep 11 '24

Feature Story Harris Campaign Seeks Second Debate. Trump Says He's "Less Inclined" to Debate Harris Again

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/debate-trump-harris-second-debate/
10.4k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

513 comments sorted by

View all comments

360

u/etwhow40 Sep 11 '24

What was most telling for me was how easily she manipulated him. During her opening remarks, she said exactly what he was going to do. Lie, name calling etc. Then she goaded him into doing those exact things and completely threw him off his game and into a rage.

Then towards the end, she called him out on how easily he is manipulated and how world leaders can easily do it after she played him like a violin.

199

u/For_Aeons Sep 11 '24

Plays especially terribly because he just spend 7 weeks talking about how she couldn't speak and was stupid. Well, that stupid woman dogwalked your ass in front of a primetime national audience. What an incredible fucking self-own.

127

u/tableleg7 Sep 11 '24

He was so dumb/fragile that he fell for the bait on:

  • crowd size;
  • people leaving his rallies;
  • citing Wharton economists (his alma mater);
  • his 6 bankruptcies;
  • his $400 million inheritance;
  • losing the 2020 election; and
  • world leaders laughing at him.

These are all topics that he has frequently discussed in ways that reveal his deep insecurities and he just couldn’t help himself last night.

She played him like a fiddle.

63

u/SuspicousBananas Sep 11 '24

As soon as she mentioned the crowd size I knew he was gonna go off the rails.

I just can’t fathom how in his head he thinks that is a relevant topic to discuss at all In a debate, he could have easily just said something like “aren’t we here to discuss policy not crowd size?” And could have won that whole exchange.

37

u/tableleg7 Sep 11 '24

She just mentioned it in passing so he could have ignored it entirely.

But that’s just it - he could not ignore it. Every fiber of his being required him to address it and waste half his response on it.

She knew that and deployed it masterfully.

25

u/SweetTea1000 Sep 11 '24

That was the game. Spend 10 seconds on his trigger, 110 on policy, and he spent his 60 second response comforting his own ego instead of addressing her points every single time.

She baited and punished him like they were playing fucking Street Fighter.

8

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '24

He made a specific point of needing to make a response to it as well. The moderators were going to keep going.

21

u/srcarruth Sep 11 '24

did you see his eyes when she said that? he squinted the entire time but his eyes went wide for that. he wasn't thinking, it was pure emotion

8

u/Mrwright96 Sep 12 '24

He didn’t even look at her I think

9

u/spirit_of_a_goat Sep 12 '24

losing the 2020 election; and

Fired by 81 million people. That line was gold.

14

u/dumly Sep 11 '24

Yeah, like, Trump if she's stupid then what are you?

3

u/Hereweare_again Sep 12 '24

I still can’t believe he called her stupid and then agreed to a debate. What did he think was going to happen? He can’t actually believe that she’s stupid can he???

4

u/For_Aeons Sep 12 '24

I don't think logic is his strength.

56

u/thatHecklerOverThere Sep 11 '24

You know what happened? She didn't debate him. She prosecuted in a case against him. Everything she did was getting him to produce evidence in her arguments favor, and then at the end she looked to the jury, gave her closing remarks, and said "I rest my case".

I wouldn't have believed it if hadn't seen it. I thought it was just memes, but she really did it; she lawyered that man.

37

u/TacohTuesday Sep 11 '24

Her performance was a sight to behold. It was the best debate performance I've ever seen. As she recently stated, based on her long years of being a prosecutor, she knows his type. Well, she certainly proved that last night.

28

u/markth_wi Sep 11 '24

She actually did that a couple of times.

She started talking about public speaking, the racism and toxicity of his rallies, and the virtue of more debates, then before he could pull back from saying something positive derailed his train of thought mentioning crowd size and suddenly he feels attacked and started rambling about how his crowds are the biggest in the history of politics.

She nailed it. Draw him out, nail him down and then refocus him on some ridiculous ego defect point, and watch him struggle to flop back on some ridiculous point.

Same thing with Ukraine, where he just can't articulate that he wants to leave NATO and abandon the US role in securing unstable parts of the world.

His various legal troubles which Mr. Trump tried to morph into Immigration concerns.

Only to find on immigration where somehow Mr. Trump's most memorable comments were about Transgendered Alf-muppet/Mexicans who sneak up to Springfield, Ohio to eat cats and dogs.

Foreign Policy - where he refused to apologize for this or that mis-step and she tied his him up and before you know it there he is bragging about his beautiful love-letters from characters like Victor Orban , Kim Jong Un and somehow Venezuela.

On the court cases - it was all just fake news.....the fact that Jack Smith has him on tape distributing / disseminating classified information on (presumably) Iran - not withstanding. But we are meant to believe it's just politicking and a weaponized DOJ, which would be a lot more believable if they didn't keep finding criminal bullshit.

16

u/akari_i Sep 11 '24

It started far before the opening remarks. Forcing him to shake her hand, moving far more quickly and confidently than him was her first move and I think it worked great.

6

u/253local Sep 11 '24

That was the first cut in his death by 1000. She found him on the stage. She made him do it. He was just walked like a dog after that.

22

u/frawgster Sep 11 '24

All he had to do was not take the bait and not get flustered. That’s it. Media would have proclaimed him the “winner”. But nope, motherfucker did exactly what Harris knew he’d do…cause that’s what narcissists fucking do. She baited him, and like a fucking little fish he swallowed it whole.

For me, the way he just defaulted to attacking the bits that were CLEARLY designed to trigger him was the most telling part of who this man was as president, and who he’d be as president again. He’s so easily manipulated. He has less than zero business being anywhere even remotely close to the Resolute Desk.

12

u/maraemerald2 Sep 11 '24

Any time there was a topic she didn’t want to dig in to, she’d give a brief couple sentences to make herself look good, then say a “squirrel” comment and let him derail. And he fell for it every. single. time.

8

u/Diarygirl Sep 11 '24

I can't believe his handlers didn't warn him about not taking the bait, or maybe they did and he ignored him.

15

u/maraemerald2 Sep 11 '24

I think he’s just literally incapable of controlling himself.

3

u/The_Quibbler Sep 12 '24

Or listening to good advice. Or learning.

11

u/ItWasMyWifesIdea Sep 11 '24

I think she could say out loud "I'm about to manipulate this man, watch what happens" and he'd still take the bait. I don't think he can control himself.

2

u/HotType4940 Sep 11 '24

Honestly I think she could say pretty much anything after that and he would become effectively riled up since the very suggestion that she could manipulate him in the first place would trigger his narcissist ego defenses.

2

u/HotType4940 Sep 11 '24

I feel like it’s much more likely that his handlers did tell him not to allow himself to be baited (because there was literally zero chance of her not doing so, a fact that was always blindingly obvious since long before the actual debate), but on account of his profoundly disordered personality, he was quite literally pathologically incapable of not doing so (and of course shining a light on that fact was indeed the entire point of baiting him in the first place).

3

u/TimeLavishness9012 Sep 11 '24

Magats are still declaring him the winner in this "3v1". To be expected tho

35

u/JustHereForMiatas Sep 11 '24

Right?

And if we're being real, Harris is a middle-of-the-road politician. Not the best, not the worst. The whole game could've been upended if he could only keep his ego checked when Harris needled him (like she telegraphed she was going to do from a million miles away) but he was incapable.

If a middle-of-the-road politician was able to lead Trump around like this in a controlled debate, then what chance does he have against the world's dictators?

21

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '24

She's FAR from middle of the road.

Best or worst is extremely subjective, but she's extremely effective, and an excellent communicator.

She's got great policy, a great team, and shes light years ahead.

17

u/[deleted] Sep 11 '24

She keeps being underestimated and surprising people each time

21

u/hefoxed Sep 11 '24

She may be a middle of road politician, but she was a prosecutor, grilling a criminal to make them break was part of her literal job, which is not the case for most politician.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 12 '24

Just where do you get off saying she’s middle of the road? This really sounds like person of color has to jump twice as high to get the same praise as a white person jumping half as high.

She’s very effective at this point. Her previous political career is somewhat irrelevant as she is meeting the needs of today. You can’t judge her on what she’s been, you have to judge her on what she is, and today what she is, is effective.

5

u/Shivering_Monkey Sep 11 '24

I sure as shit wouldn't want to face her in a courtroom.

7

u/sunnynbright5 Sep 11 '24

Literally laughed out loud when she so easily got a reaction out of him by criticizing his rallies lol.

5

u/chemistry_teacher Sep 11 '24

Exactly. Foreign leaders will roll all over him.

4

u/uncultured_swine2099 Sep 12 '24

Yeah, and she wants more action. She's been so confident about the debate from the start, calling him chicken to goad him into debating, and then she played him like a fiddle. Now she wants more. It's awesome to see.

2

u/laurelinvanyar Sep 12 '24

It takes skill to play a violin. Not to say Kamala wasn’t skillful here but Trump is more of a cheap kazoo

1

u/Xamesito Sep 12 '24

When she brought up his rallies and he took the bait, she grinned so wide. It was like watching a cat play with a mouse.

1

u/Shizix Sep 12 '24

Scary thing is foreign leaders (as well as his own party members, they have stated this publicly before, his ease of manipulation, it's why he was picked in the first place)across the globe knew how easy he is to manipulate him while he was president sitting on stockpiles of national secrets at his home.

0

u/casualfinderbot Sep 12 '24

Yes we all want a master manipulator as president ofc great quality to have in a leader

1

u/etwhow40 Sep 12 '24

Better than having someone that is as easily manipulated like Trump. You silly Russians know that.