The biggest loser in the first (and likely only) presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump was ABC News, which hosted the faceoff. The moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, embarrassed themselves and their network by, among other things, fact-checking Trump in real time on more than one occasion – sometimes incorrectly – while allowing Harris to spout serial lies and distortions.
Perhaps that was inevitable; the liberal media is in full panic mode now that Harris’ honeymoon appears to have faded and Trump has pulled even and, in some polls, moved back into the lead.
Social media blew up early on in the debate with commentators on the right, in particular, calling Tuesday night’s faceoff the worst and most one-sided debate in history.
Some of the non-truths Harris could (and should have been) fact-checked on:
1. Talking about Project 2025 as if it were Trump’s manifesto, and saying that he will pass a nationwide abortion ban
2. Dredging up Trump’s Charlottesville comment – that there were “very fine people on both sides” – which has been debunked
3. Saying Trump had overseen the worst unemployment since the Great Depression, which was caused by the pandemic
4. Saying Donald Trump has opposed IVF
5. Denying that Kamala Harris ever called for gun confiscation (there are videos of her doing just that)
6. Saying that Trump’s tax cuts only helped rich people
7. And my special bete noir – saying that she and Biden have “created” 800,000 manufacturing jobs, which is simply not true.
There were others. Harris lied about her record and about Trump’s and was not challenged on any of it.
Perhaps that was inevitable; the liberal media is in full panic mode now that Harris’ honeymoon appears to have faded and Trump has pulled even and, in some polls, moved back into the lead.