RICHMOND, Va. -- Longtime CBS 6 political analyst Dr. Bob Holsworth watched the September 10 Presidential Debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. He joined CBS 6 on set right after the debate to share his thoughts on what transpired on the debate stage.
Dr. Bob's overall impression:
I've never seen anything quite like this.
You've seen the absolute, visceral disdain that Donald Trump clearly has for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and what happened in their administration.
He talked about inflation, he talked about immigration. And at the same time, Harris was very skillful in baiting Donald Trump time and time again, whether it be about crowd size, whether it be about race, whether it be about abortion, into positions or into comments that he really didn't want to make in some ways, but she got under his skin and that and she looked quite presidential and poised throughout the entire event.
Dr. Bob on issues like abortion, immigration, and the economy:
Certainly, with abortion, Harris had a very good night, because Donald Trump basically wanted to say that everybody wanted Roe v Wade overturned. That wasn't the case. And at the same time, he really didn't want to say that he would veto a national abortion ban, largely because of some of his anti-abortion supporters.
[Trump] hammered on immigration time and time again. He clearly went too far when he started talking about immigrants killing the pets and eating the dogs, but clearly this is not an issue that Kamala Harris wanted to talk very much about, other than to suggest that the Biden administration supported a very conservative bill, and Donald Trump killed that bill.
So that's how I would look at that issue.
With the economy, what Trump is trying to do there is basically to blame Harris-Biden for what happened during inflation and tie Kamala Harris to Joe Biden. He says Harris is Biden. And what Harris did was to suggest that we've had some struggles, and she has a plan, and she articulated that plan and claimed time and time again that Donald Trump really had no plan other than to say he'd make it better and he'd restore the past.
Dr. Bob on timing and fact-checking
[The debate moderators] gave [Donald Trump] more time. I think Kamala Harris was happy to give him that time because she thought she was just sort of giving him some rope to hang himself on in some places.
And then secondly, however, what they did do is they fact fact-checked him more often than they fact-checked Kamala Harris, and that's what annoyed so many of the conservative commentators.
Dr. Bob on a winner
I don't think Donald Trump hurt his case very much because his supporters are really in line. They probably like the claims that he made about Biden. And at the same time, I thought Harris had a very good night, if she had to make the case that she could be president, I think she did a good job of that.
One indication was that many conservative commentators tonight who were watching this debate in real-time started criticizing the moderators.
During the first debate against Joe Biden, they loved the moderators because Trump was doing much better.
[This time] it seemed if he wasn't doing well, they were going to blame it on the moderators.
So by and large, I don't think Trump lost anything tonight. Harris may have gained something, though.
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