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A few weeks ago, Kamala Harris delivered an acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention and told an obvious truth: Donald Trump, the vice president reminded voters, is “easy to manipulate.” In context, she was referring to foreign powers, but the simple observation also proved to be the basis for Harris’ strategy for her first debate against the former president.
Headed into the event, the Democrat’s strategy was hardly a secret. I lost count of how many published reports I saw exploring Harris’ plan to bait the Republican with traps she hoped he’d fall into. Hillary Clinton told The New York Times last week that she’d spoken to her party’s candidate about the debate, and the former secretary of state said her advice was straightforward: “She should bait him. He can be rattled.”
In theory, Trump and his team should’ve seen all of this and prepared accordingly. After all, Democrats spent weeks effectively broadcasting their playbook, telling the whole world exactly what Harris intended to do. It was like watching the run-up to a Super Bowl, in which one team’s coaches speak publicly about which plays they are eager to call.
But in practice, the GOP nominee simply couldn’t help himself.
Harris went out of her way to bring up points that were obviously designed to trigger the former president. There were references to John McCain. And Trump’s bankruptcies. And his inheritance. And the fact that he was “fired” by 81 million people. And Project 2025. And his disparagement of U.S. troops. And the fact that his own alma mater, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, slammed his economic plan.
Just as importantly, the vice president routinely laughed at her Republican rival — knowing that for Trump, there is no greater insult.
Perhaps the most memorable exchange came roughly a third of the way into the debate, when Harris broke new rhetorical ground:
I’m going to actually do something really unusual and I’m going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump’s rallies because it’s a really interesting thing to watch. You will see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills cause cancer. And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. And I will tell you the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you. You will not hear him talk about your needs, your dreams, and your, your desires.”
She was obviously baiting him. Trump took the bait anyway and in the process proved the Democrat’s point.
He began his response by claiming that the Harris campaign is paying people to attend her rallies — a bizarre and false claim — before transitioning to utterly bonkers assertions about immigrants eating pets.
Harris clearly assumed that a reference to bored and exhausted people leaving Trump’s rallies would trigger him and cause him to lose his composure. She assumed correctly.
Indeed, in the hour that followed, he never recovered.
I’ve seen every televised debate in American history, and I can honestly say that there’s never been a more lopsided affair. Trump was unprepared; he lied uncontrollably; he fell into every trap; he came across as rattled and angry; and by all appearances, the GOP candidate didn’t have any kind of strategy whatsoever.
Trump failed in every way a candidate can fail, as Harris succeeded in every way a candidate can succeed.
As the event got underway, the vice president quickly crossed the stage to shake her opponent’s hand — a power move, to be sure — and introduce herself. Trump told her, “Have fun.”
Oh, she had fun, all right.