Call it literary license or whatever, if the “fact checkers” could they’d nail
me on this one. I didn’t make it through even half the debate. It was just too painful on both sides. That said, I just gotta say stuff about what I did see.
No Word Salad – Kamala did not deliver what I wanted most – one of her famous word salads. She was often incoherent enough for even her staunchest fans but alas she seemed to keep it together. Maybe she denigrated later in the debate. No matter. Point for her.
Lies, Lies, Lies – Kamala again. I swear the woman needs to be bitch slapped with the truth. While even that is not likely to sink in, at least some of us could gain some measure of satisfaction.
Trump was classic Trump but it did not serve him well. Now maybe you see Trump in another light but what I saw was someone who came across as one who was straining to hold it together even though he was pissed off. He was off message much of the time. Oh he made good points but his timing sucked.
The Mods – I have to ask, are there no rules for them? First of all they failed to abide by the rules as stated. This was especially evident when both mics were turned on at the same time. Then I gotta ask – who died and made them fact checkers? More on that real soon.
Neither debater did well answering questions. Harris packaged her non-answers with more glitter and ribbon but that’s about it. She did seem to have mastered the fine art of deflection.
So let’s dig into some meat – shall we? Vegans – feel free to abstain or just sit and chew your cud.
The economy. What a freaking disaster. Okay Kamala, first you attack Trump. Now your first talking point wasn’t exactly a lie – unemployment was high when Trump left office. Your nose should have grown a foot when you blamed Trump for it. We all know the reason for the high unemployment and the most fingers should be pointing directly at the bluest states where they came down hardest with all the lockdown BS.
Then you talked about all these wonderful “tax credits” and how you are going to help poor families buy homes with them and start businesses. Not only is your “economic quotient” at retard level but you have zero understanding of the tax system. For a moment, let’s just go with your “plan”.
So on your first day in office you convince Congress – both houses to pass your tax credits. Wonderful. How much money does this put in the pockets of those poor families you wear on your sleeve? Zero. That’s right – nothing. Nada. They will have to wait a year before they can even file for your tax credit. Same goes for the business tax credit. Worse, unless it is a “refundable” tax credit – it only applies against income you earn. If they aren’t making any money, most tax credits won’t do them any good. So that family you want to give money to so they can buy a child car seat are plum out of luck if they need one in 2025. What does happen is should they get that pretty “refundable tax credit” – a nice fat check that redistributes wealth from those that have to those than don’t – how are they likely to spend it? They ain’t buying a car seat – they will buy the car, or a boat, or a vacation. Those checks are windfalls – money that burns holes in their pockets.
Let’s move on to your $50K “business tax credit”. Again if it is non-refundable, any business will have to spend money to make money. That is not bad business but where will they get the money? They need capitol. There was a pool of COVID money that offered business “loans” to help businesses. They were forgivable. “You borrow the money but you won’t need to pay it back.” Trouble is those business had to already be in business for two years to apply. So what if you redistributed more wealth to help aspiring business owners start new business? Bad idea. Really REALLY bad idea. Overwhelmingly, most businesses fail. One of the biggest culprits is over funding. It’s that fat check syndrome all over again.
What’s wrong with your economic ideas? Can you say Marxism? Trump called you a Marxist to your face and he was spot on. We all know the basic tenant of your ideology is redistribution of wealth. There ya go.
Then you whined about Trumps tariffs – calling them a “sales tax”. That analogy was so brilliant I had to wonder who put those words in your mouth. Face it Kamala – original ideas are not your forté. Once again your economic ignorance is showing.
In this case both you and Donald J. Trump earn a major fail. Donald, you are on the right track with tariffs if you could only express the principle better. Here’s the scoop.
For those who don’t know – a tariff is a tax on imported goods. Thus the actual genius of Kamala’s assertion that it amounts to a national “sales tax”. It kinda really is. Funny thing, many democrats and RINOs alike champ at the bit at the very thought of picking more out of taxpayer pockets with a national sales tax. The idea is not new. That said, while tariffs indeed add to the price of imported goods, the main reason we need tariffs is not to generate revenue (are you hearing me Donald?) but to protect American workers. (Kamala?) Hear me out.
Probably my favorite modern expert here is non other the Kevin O’Leary, aka “Mr. Wonderful” of Shark Tank fame. Lately he’s been quote vocal about national economics and business and he’s usually quite right. (I’ll take the pun.) For the purposes of my example here, I’ll rather look to Kevin’s often stated strategy when talking deals in the Tank. You see what he loves to do is take a great product overseas so he can mass produce it at rock bottom cost to make big profits selling it in the States.
His approach strips away the mystery of tariffs. What is the major cost of producing most products? Labor. So what Mr. Wonderful likes to do is find the absolute rock bottom labor to produce goods – slave labor is fine as long as it is not called such. What does this do for American workers? Nothing. In fact outsourcing manufacturing to take advantage of cheap labor kills American jobs. Tariffs level the playing field providing an incentive to produce more goods employing American workers. And THAT Donald, makes a far better case for tariffs than “it brings in so much money”.
Immigration – rather illegal immigration came up early in the debate. Trump correctly tagged it as an important economic factor but he alluded to the idea that criminals were coming to this country to take American jobs. Uh, no, they are not. Nor are the mentally ill so much. Sure the message got mixed up in the heat of the debate. I’m not sure I would do much better. Chances are I’d sound like a blubbering idiot so no judgment here, just a bit of armchair quarterbacking. Okay, I prefer to think of this as an after action report from an observer – impartial I am not.
While I did cringe a bit when Donald bought up Haitians eating pets, it was because FOX (so kill me) brought it up just before the debate began saying the reports may not be accurate. But Trump is Trum and he said what he said. Furthermore, I cannot remember a time when Trump made some outrageous statement that later proved to be untrue. Several times I’ve seen him vindicated. This last assertion is no different. ZeroHedge this morning reported where a 27 year-old woman was charged with killing and eating a cat. That was fast. The mods were quick to point out a Springfield “city official” stated there was no evidence of such happenings. Oops. I forget how Trump replied but I think another tactic would have served him better. First, if he had said something like, “City official? You mean a politician? You do know how to tell if a politician is lying don’t you?” Then I would look directly at Kamala. Continuing, I would remind all how it was also a “city official” who literally videoed a segment at the wrong complex to “prove” (air quotes here) the reports of Venezuelan Gangs rampaging apartment complexes were false. I might also note how two gang members were arrested then released on $1000 bail.
So, Kamala’s immigration defense centered around a “bi-partisan bill” that Trump supposedly squelched. I know nothing about this particular bill but no doubt is was crap legislation. Most likely it provided a “path to citizenship” for illegal aliens, among other things. Trump should have pointed out the wall that the Biden-Harris administration stopped, as well as the “Stay in Mexico” and other policies that ended with Biden despite their huge success.
The the debacle turned to abortion. I could only groan. It is a stupid argument. It is settled. SCOTUS has rightfully ruled abortion is a state and not a federal issue. Hello. Why – WHY ask the candidates if they would sign a “national abortion bill”? IT IS NOT A FEDERAL ISSUE! It doesn’t matter. As for Kamala’s whining and lying about all those poor working women who can’t afford to go out of state to abort their pregnancies, I’ll chalk up a point for her. I did not know some states have outlawed abortion entirely, or nearly so. Possibly a better response from Trump might have been – Kamala, you have a point, but it is no longer a federal issue. We should have an open discussion on how to approach these contingencies.
That is about as far as I got. I left soon after the “debate” turned into a shouting match with both mics left on. The “moderators” were terrible at their jobs. They didn’t moderate so much as advocate and it was clear what side they were on. Shame on you both.
Word on FOX (don’t go there, my wife told me) is Kamala came out better than Trump. From what I saw, I have to agree. Sadly my assessment is more about the optics than the substance. Kamala Harris did not impress me at all with her presentation. What she did do was appear to at least not be the word salad queen she has become famous for. On Trump’s side, he failed to nail her on many major points. She left the door open many times and he insisted on ramming his head on the door jam. Bad Donald – BAD!
Overall I am not at all enthused about this election. My earlier hopes this opportunity – this ONE shot we have at finally taking the White House AND Congress by storm has dwindled to a thin hope that maybe we can keep that Globalist puppet out of the White House. Of course, in 2016 I had all but conceded to Killary’s inevitable rise to the throne of power. I was wrong then and while I will not give in to despair until the last vote is counted this time around, I do not expect to be surprised no matter how the final tally comes out.
IF we make it to election day. (to be continued…)