Laffy

"Kamala #Harris won the #debate not with a line but a look - mixing barely suppressed laughter with utter pathos at the fall of an unhinged 78-year-old

Her Perry Mason moment made #Trump look like every Fox News grandpa, not an ex-POTUS

How KDH made an ex-POTUS sound like your Fox News-addled uncle

My debate column"

If @willbunch wrote it, you should read it.© & I thread it. 🧵 1/...
🎁 #GiftLink https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/trump-harris-debate-philadelphia-taylor-swift-dogs-20240911.html?utm_source=social&utm_campaign=gift_link&utm_medium=referral

The night Donald Trump choked like a dog (Kamala’s version)

In their Philly debate, a poised, presidential Kamala Harris turned Donald Trump into a raving Fox News grandpa and lost Taylor Swift.

The Philadelphia Inquirer
Sep 11, 2024 at 9:42pmWeb
Show threadLaffySep 11, 2024

2/ "But here’s the thing that I — and probably most of the 70 million or so Americans watching on TV — will remember long after we cast our ballots in November.

The look.

For 100 gobsmacking minutes, the Californian who would be America’s first woman president was all of us, as the split screen showed Harris’ highly expressive face ranging from bemused puzzlement to barely suppressed laughter to blinking eyeballs of shock..."

Show threadLaffySep 11, 2024
3/ "There’s no ques that the poised & prosecutorial VP won the debate — as reflected in almost every instant poll (63%-37% in CNN’s flash survey), focus group (a 23-2 rout for Harris in a WaPo gathering), & virtually every pundit, but for a few MAGA diehards. At the So. Philly watch party, liberal-leaning crowd giggled & occasionally broke into an uproarious laugh track at Trump’s answers, which made what was supposed to be a momentous night feel like watching a rerun of The Beverly Hillbillies"
Show threadLaffySep 11, 2024
4/ "But whether this was enough to move the needle in a nation that is tribally & hopelessly divided 50-50 on barely moveable fault lines from educ'l attainment to geog remains to be seen. It was clear from opening handshake that the debate strategy concocted by a Democratic former district attorney was less about her upbeat but mostly vague middle-class agenda & more about baiting Trump to incriminate himself on the witness stand, with the unbearable lightness of his nonsensical agenda & lies"
Show threadLaffySep 11, 2024

5/ "When Harris goaded Trump that his beloved campaign rallies are actually incoherent when they’re not totally boring, she got her Perry Mason moment...

The tirade about QAnon-level internet conspiracy theories about Springfield, OH was debunked in real time—& kudos to him— by David Muir, & there’s also a richer irony. Throughout Trump’s endless time in pub eye, he revealed himself as a sociopathic dog hater, even falling back on a line that someone “choked like a dog” as his fiercest insult"

Show threadLaffySep 11, 2024
6/ "As someone known to sometimes file his column from a Delaware County dog park, I can assure you that canine choking is another Trump-fried fiction. Dogs don’t actually choke, but Donald Trump did Tuesday night in front of 70 million people."
Show threadLaffySep 11, 2024

7/ "“I’ve seen people on television,” a humiliated Trump insisted to Muir.

No wonder that America’s most popular woman — especially with young voters that Harris needs to fire up by November — took to Instagram the moment the debate ended to post her endorsement. Taylor Swift wrote that Harris is a “steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”

Show threadLaffySep 11, 2024
8/ "...Policy stuff wasn’t what really mattered at the end of the night. Under the white lights of the South Philly tap room, the mostly millennial and very urban debate watch crowd told me again and again that what won the debate for Harris was her command of the room — which came across the second she strolled over to the recalcitrant Trump and forcefully shook his hand, booming out “Kamala” with the right pronunciation — and her poise that never wavered."
Show threadLaffySep 11, 2024

9/9 "“I think she won in the first five minutes — her demeanor, her presence in being so beautiful and young. And him? ... ehhh,” added Julia Angstrom, a 68-year-old retiree and former Democratic committee person, the next voter I spoke with. Then she and about 200 other watchers drifted away into the darkness of Washington Avenue, convinced — just like Taylor Swift — they had just seen the 47th president of the United States, Kamala’s version."

Please read the entire column.

Show thread⚜️Δρakakiς🍁Sep 11, 2024

@GottaLaff

My mastoville, Universeodon, has been down or glitchy for over 48 hours. So glad it’s back in time for Laffy’s Daily Snark Thread! As for Will Bunch, I live in Ottawa and I’m paying a discounted digital scrip just to read his column. I’m not sure if that’s cool or pathetic. (My usual paywall lock-picks don’t seem to work in Philadelphia).

Show threadGrassroots JoeSep 12, 2024

@drakakis

I call the Inky at the end of each digital subscription period and get another one for $0.99...

@GottaLaff

Show threadselje 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇳🇴 🇮🇪Sep 11, 2024

@GottaLaff
A good column but I felt this comment was unfair and unrealistic:
Harris’ flaws: "She continues to offer canned speeches instead of answering questions about her own agenda."

It is patently absurd that people, journo's in particular, expect detailed policy discussions in a two minute response.
Come on folks get real. If you want a detailed response go to her campaign page. https://kamalaharris.com/issues/ .

🤔 🤨 🧐

Issues

BUILD AN OPPORTUNITY ECONOMY AND LOWER COSTS FOR FAMILIES Vice President Harris grew up in a middle class home as the daughter of a working mom. She believes that when the middle class is strong, America is strong. That’s why as President, Kamala Harris will create an Opportunity Economy where everyone has a chance to […]

Kamala Harris for President: Official Campaign Website
Show threadlolonurseSep 12, 2024
@selje @GottaLaff
Yes!! Thank you. Yes, we'd love more developed, nuanced, actionable plans... yet nobody challenges TFG in that way. They just take him as he is ("that's just Donald. What can you expect?"), but want Harris, who still has to tiptoe around current policies without letting foreign leaders know what she plans to change, to broadcast her ideas & plans. They want her policies, but don't want to bother TFG for any of his (nonexistent or absurd).
Show threadT.WllmsSep 12, 2024

@lolonurse

people still want to get to know her... I agree, to a degree, with a columnist who said she needs to do some discussions with local reporters and news programs.. like your favorite channel 5 news or whatever... not a lot, as she doesn't have a lot of time, but once or twice a week on the biggest local station. can't hurt to go on a local morning show.

@selje @GottaLaff

Show threadlolonurseSep 12, 2024
@tdwllms1 @selje @GottaLaff
I absolutely agree - her canned speeches are become very predictable, and therefore it does seem she can't or won't dig deeper, or answer harder or more specific questions. It's fine to be perky, smart, energetic, hopeful - but she won't keep the interest or trust high if she doesn't delve a bit deeper, or touch a few hot wires. And I'm a supporter!!
Show threadselje 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇳🇴 🇮🇪Sep 12, 2024
@lolonurse @tdwllms1 @GottaLaff
All good points. As some have pointed out she may be keeping things back because there may be international implications and she is not president yet.
Some may be to prevent her opponents on the right from stirring up trouble. Some as you pointed out may be because she does have a day job.
In any case where is the same scrutiny of Trump? It is an absolute double standard that needs to stop. Hold both candidates to the same standard. Thanks for the input all. 😀
Show threadlolonurseSep 13, 2024
@selje @tdwllms1 @GottaLaff
Yes!!
Show threadSherBearethSep 11, 2024
@GottaLaff You’re killing it!
Show threadCassandraVertSep 12, 2024
@GottaLaff
Trump could have presented that response in a way that sounded mature and sensible, but he doesn't have those gears. He can only sound like a petty tyrant (wannabe)
Show threadRiaResistsSep 11, 2024
@GottaLaff 😂🤣🤣😂
Show threadAlex P Roe - OLD ACCOUNTSep 11, 2024
@GottaLaff Can we have Taylor Swift Vs JD Vance next, please? 😁
Show threadCharJTF  (she/her)Sep 11, 2024

@alexproe She addressed him when she signed the post "Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady" 🤣

@GottaLaff

Show threadAlex P Roe - OLD ACCOUNTSep 11, 2024
@CharJTF I know, it was delicious 🙂 @GottaLaff
Show threadRiaResistsSep 11, 2024
@CharJTF @alexproe @GottaLaff 😂
Show threadDanielleSep 11, 2024
@GottaLaff one of those looks was “how dare you denigrate the United States of America, your words are a travesty, and below the lowest standard of humanity.“ yeah, I saw all that
Show threadWallyapplebee 🌈 ☀️🌵Sep 11, 2024
@GottaLaff and pity. Genuine pity
Show threadJonChevreau 🇨🇦Sep 11, 2024
@GottaLaff priceless: they could make an ad just from her facial expressions last night
Show threadLaffySep 11, 2024
@JonChevreau They should!
Show threadSteve HerseySep 11, 2024

@GottaLaff
Trump, on the other hand, seems to have had a fixed rotation of facial expressions that he cycled through, utterly without reference to what was being said at the time.

Example: Several times he nodded when VP Harris was recounting awful things he'd said and done.

It was quite weird to watch.

Show threadS. NewberySep 11, 2024
@GottaLaff @willbunch I *love* that he mentioned Sarah Cooper!!!
Show threadLaffySep 11, 2024
@ssnewbery Me too
Show threadMegatronicThronBanksSep 11, 2024
@GottaLaff "Lost Taylor Swift" - huh?
Show threadCharles HeroldSep 12, 2024
@GottaLaff @willbunch Kamala had so many great facial reactions, but what I loved most were those brief moments of a delighted, "OMG he took the bait" look.
Show threadDoreen32128 ready to rumble!Sep 12, 2024
@GottaLaff @willbunch Like a dog!! lol hahaaaaaa