According to Politico, 67 million people watched Harris’ debate with Trump last week. Although far from the viewership numbers from 2016, when explicit political extremism still seemed new, the presidential debate is still an important milestone for the political season.
Let’s not lose the absurdity here. With the background of Project 2025, the Roe v. Wade repealing and constant fear-mongering about violent immigrant crime, the two were supposed to have a “civilized” discussion about the future of an America that Americans are struggling to believe in.
A presidential debate is difficult to balance. Do you hype up your base who were already going to vote for you, or do you try to appeal to an undecided moderate vote?
The debate rests on responses to classic wedge issues that still galvanize voters. Is abortion healthcare or a crime? Is immigration destroying our country?
When asked about immigration explicitly, Trump didn’t hold back on fear-mongering. For many people the racist tirade about immigrants eating cats and dogs will be the most memorable event of the debate. In the moment, however, it was jarring to hear.
For the debate, Kamala gets free brownie points for not being a belligerent racist arguing with the moderators, but the sad truth is that it really doesn’t hurt his chances of winning. It’s not like it’s the first time Trump has said something racist about immigrants.
It’s just racism. It’s not a new issue.
There’s another interesting moment later in the debate where the racism is explicitly acknowledged. Moderator Adam Muir asks Trump what on earth he has been saying about Kamala not being Black.
“I don’t know,” Trump said. “I mean, all I can say is I read where she was ‘not Black,’ that she put out, and I’ll say that, and I read that she was Black. And that’s okay.”
Here we have the awkward back-peddling of a man who must pretend he’s not racist less than an hour after confidently saying immigrants are eating dogs.
It’s easy to lean into doomerism when you see a former president be so enthusiastically xenophobic, but it’s important to remember how hard he’s trying to make racism seem normal.
