Trump on the Back Foot at Philadelphia Debate

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

72% : As Trump moved immediately to take his place behind his podium in the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Harris crossed first to the middle and then to the far side of the stage -- bobbing slightly to try to anticipate where he was headed -- to shake his hand.
59% : "Nice to see you, have fun," Trump told her.
59% : The vice president began the night as she planned to continue it: by putting Trump on the back foot.
54% : "In a slightly less circumspect fashion -- and perhaps tacitly admitting he felt like he had some clean-up work to do after his performance -- Trump opted to stick around at the debate venue and spin for himself.
45% : His outbursts reaffirmed he is a small, petty, and self-regarding man who is in it for one person: Trump.
42% : "But I thought more persuasive was what she elicited from Trump -- Trump's repeated incapacity to assure that he could or would be president of all.
36% : "I had no inflation, virtually no inflation, they had the highest inflation, perhaps in the history of our country because I've never seen a worse period of time," Trump said of price increases during Biden's term.
33% : The vice president was back on offense when it came to foreign policy, where she focused on making Trump seem easily swayed by -- and, indeed, beholden to -- foreign strongmen.
33% : "Trump illustrated that he is far more interested in ending wars than in winning them: He insisted the wars in Ukraine and Gaza could be easily "settled," but didn't say how and multiple times refused to say he wanted Ukraine to win the war against Russia.
32% : online right: Laura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist and far-right activist and social media personality, flew with Trump to the debate yesterday.
27% : Perhaps Trump thought highlighting threats to cats would help win back "childless cat lady" votes, but in fact, it only underscored how enmeshed the former president is in the world of the fringe
21% : "And I will tell you, the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you."From that moment on, Trump's composure -- much ballyhooed during the fateful debate with Biden when Trump seemed content to let the focus be on the president's onstage meltdown -- permanently slipped.
21% : On two of her biggest electoral weaknesses -- the border and various flips flops on left-wing positions -- Harris was largely able to evade serious questioning as Trump demanded more time to redress grievances.
20% : At one point he even hung his own running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, out to dry, claiming he'd never discussed vetoing a federal abortion ban with Vance despite the senator saying Trump would do so if presented with such a bill.
19% : She promised that she'd sign a bill to restore the Roe v. Wade status quo at the federal level, criticized Trump for sinking the bipartisan immigration reform bill from earlier this year, and backed President Joe Biden's foreign policy agenda on Israel and Gaza.
2% : Harris came out swinging, too, poking Trump on Project 2025 -- the policy document drawn up by a conservative think tank that has become an albatross around the former president's neck -- and panning "the same old, tired playbook," from Trump: "a bunch of lies, grievances, and name-calling.

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