Is there anything better on the weekend than a languid Sunday morning with a mug of fresh, hot coffee, and the Sunday newspaper? These Sunday Morning Coffee posts are my occasional accompaniment to the Sunday paper. Just some topics I’ve been reading or thinking about. Today, some leftover thoughts about last week’s presidential debate, along with a few links to various other pieces that you may (or may not) find intriguing.
Aftermath of the Presidential Debate
Debate takes from conservatives
It’s been five days since the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Lots of observers had opinions about the event, of course. You surely know what liberals thought, but what about conservatives? Here are a few takes:
From Peter Wehner, a speechwriter for three Republican presidents:
Kamala Harris did to Donald Trump what Donald Trump had done to Joe Biden: She broke her opponent on a debate stage.
From Karl Rove, GOP consultant, Fox News analyst, and George W. Bush’s campaign manager:
Tuesday’s debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was a train wreck for him, far worse than anything Team Trump could have imagined. Ms. Harris was often on offense, leaving Mr. Trump visibly rattled as she launched rocket after rocket at him.
From the conservative and Trump-supporting National Review:
If you’re obsessing over how bad, how in the tank for Kamala Harris, the two ABC news moderators were, it’s because you don’t want to come to grips with the brute fact that Donald Trump was a disaster last night. He was unhinged, often incoherent, incapable of completing thoughts and sentences when he had points to make, and led into self-absorbed rabbit-holes.
MAGA’s response
Most objective conservative viewers had a similar response to the views expressed above. But the most passionate MAGA acolytes had a different take. Since they didn’t believe Trump could lose a debate to Harris, there had to be some other explanation for what happened.
One obvious scapegoat was the media, and specifically the debate moderators. Trump aide Stephen Miller, for instance, suggested the moderators were “aggressively working to sabotage and undermine the democratic process.” And Sean Davis, a co-founder of The Federalist, went further, saying the ABC journalists should be criminally charged with “election fraud and interference.”
An even better conspiracy theory, though, was this one:
Yes, apparently Harris was so incapable of debating Trump on her own that she resorted to audio earrings so that someone offstage could direct her on what to say.
Needless to say, the charge has been debunked numerous times. But that didn’t stop the allegations from going viral on social media. Trump, not surprisingly, has even picked up on the story and is now repeating it at some of his rallies.
The thing is, many on the MAGA right had already convinced themselves that Harris was “dumb as a rock.” My own social media feed even filled up with posts by (some) conservative friends making these same allegations about Harris’ supposed intellectual deficiencies. And someone that dumb couldn’t defeat Trump in a debate, right?
Whatever helps you sleep at night.
But will it impact the polls?
There’s little question about who won the debate in the minds of voters. A CNN poll showed that 63% gave Harris the win, similar to the percentage that judged Trump the winner in his June debate with Joe Biden.
But will the result impact the election result? We’ll find out about the post-debate polling soon enough, but it’s still not clear that the contest will be anything but a toss-up for the third consecutive election.
“If debates matter, this one should,” wrote Dan Balz of the Washington Post. “But the overriding question in such a divided country is whether it will.”
As Politico noted:
Trump has been impeached twice, been held liable for sexual abuse, faced 88 criminal counts — been found guilty of 34 — effectively ended Roe v. Wade, insulted the sacrifices of soldiers, and punctured nearly every shibboleth in politics. All the while, the GOP lost the House, Senate and White House on his watch.
And yet despite all that and more, here we are, 55 days out from the election, and Trump still remains in a photo-finish race. He is either in the lead or within striking distance in every battleground state.
Jonathan Last, meanwhile, wonders what else Harris could possibly do to win over moderate voters:
Harris talked about her support for family formation (a big conservative talking point) and her recognition of the importance of small-businesses (a key Republican constituency).
She emphasized her plan for tax cuts. She was hawkish on Russia and China. She offered an unwavering commitment to Israel. She noted that she and her running mate are both gun owners. She talked about the importance of supporting law enforcement and making the criminal justice system work. She is in favor of the strictest border control bill ever passed by the Senate …
What else do people want?
I’m serious about this: What else could Harris possibly do? Because it looks to me like she’s an above-average candidate, running in a good economic environment, playing near-perfect baseball against a guy who says he wants to be a dictator.
And yet, Trump’s poll number look better than they did in 2016 or 2020. There are seven states that will apparently decide the Electoral College. Harris seems to be running slightly ahead in Michigan and Wisconsin, while Trump leads in Arizona. Pennsylvania is a toss-up. North Carolina, Georgia, and Nevada are close.
If one candidate is going to pull away late, it will likely be Harris because she has more room to grow her support. But otherwise, the election will be decided in a small number of states by just a few thousand voters, most of whom pay little attention to the news or to presidential debates.
Taylor Swift’s endorsement
If the election really is that close, then every little thing will matter. One of those things might be this week’s support from Taylor Swift, who endorsed Harris in an Instagram post that drew more than 10 million likes.
Again, the same caveats apply as with the debate, which is that many people have already decided how they’re going to vote. Neither a debate nor an endorsement will change many minds. But it could matter at the margins. And it could very well matter in getting more people to show up and vote. Notably, after Swift’s post, more than 400,000 people visited a link she provided for information about registering to vote.
The response from the Trump side has been predictable. First, Trump suggested that Swift will “pay the price for that in the market.” Then he took to Truth Social for a four-word, all caps post: “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”
Supposed journalist Megyn Kelly chimed in with: “F— you, Taylor Swift!” And Elon Musk, well, I have no idea what he was doing other than being creepy: “Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”
You know, it’s really not that hard to say something like, “We live in a democracy and everyone has the right to their opinion. But voters are smart enough to make their own decisions.”
Simple. Move on. Or start another controversy to distract the media.
Of course, J.D. Vance did try to suggest that most voters wouldn’t be swayed by a celebrity endorsement. He probably could have phrased it better, however:
Life Beyond Politics
If you also want to spend some time thinking about things besides politics (as I do), here are a few links. Maybe you’ll find something interesting.
Alex Morgan’s greatest moments
Alex Morgan is one of the most accomplished U.S. women’s soccer players ever. Fifth on the all-times goals scored list. Two World Cup titles. An Olympic gold medal. But the end comes for all athletes, and Morgan recently announced her retirement with a video in which she also announced she and her husband are expecting their second child. The Athletic has a nice rundown of five of her greatest moments, while CBS Sports also looks at her social impact off the field.
Van Life
Ever wanted to ditch the grind for van life? The Wall Street Journal takes a look at both the highs and lows of such a leap.
The idea of #VanLife offers a range of promises: affordable housing, minimalist living, Instagrammable beach and mountain vistas. With rent prices high and the cost of buying a home even higher, living on wheels seems, to many, a reasonable route.
Oftentimes, it isn’t. The ups and downs of gas prices are hard to budget for, and return-to-office mandates have made roaming, for many, impossible. Finding a place to park each night is no picnic. Dating can be a stretch. And daily showers? Forget it.
Whatever happens in the sauna, stays in the sauna
You’ve heard, no doubt, about the popularity of the sauna in Nordic countries. But for the Finns, as this New York Times piece notes, even diplomatic meetings can be sauna worthy.
“When you are half-naked or even sometimes completely naked, it allows for deeper discussion,” said Mikko Hautala, the ambassador of Finland to the United States. “You talk in a way that doesn’t happen when you are sitting around a table with a tie on or at some formal thing.”
Diplomacy takes shape in different ways: formal meetings in the Oval Office and state dinners in the White House’s grand East Room; casual receptions at embassies; and one-on-one meetings over martinis in the lobbies of five-star hotels.
And then there is the way the Finnish government prefers to conduct business. They like for their networking and meetings to happen in the sauna and, for the most part, in the nude.
Rules for writing (and maybe life)
Wanna be a writer? Even if you don’t, some of Stephen King’s rules for writing could also be considered rules for a more interesting life. See the whole piece for 21 suggestions, but here is a sample:
Stop Watching Television. Instead, Read as Much as Possible
Don’t Waste Time Trying to Please People
Don’t Be Pretentious
Take Risks; Don’t Play It Safe
Don’t Try to Steal Someone Else’s Voice
Paul McCartney. Carpool karaoke.
This has been around for a few years. But if you haven’t seen it, give yourself a few minutes to watch. It’s a classic. Paul McCartney joins James Corden for “carpool karaoke,” and the two of them spend a lovely day reminiscing in Liverpool and even surprising some locals with a concert at a local pub.