From Kamala Harris, a master class on how to take down a bully | Editorial

The bully was beaten.

For nearly a decade, Donald Trump has tormented his foes, demanded sycophancy from his allies, and debased America’s political discourse. He stiff-armed all comers with derisive nicknames from “Little Marco” to “Sleepy Joe” to “Crooked Hillary.”

Trump fired up supporters with racist rants, snappy slogans, and braggadocio about how he alone would fix everything. He turned American policy upside down by attacking allies and sucking up to dictators. And he counterpunched critics of his incompetence and corruption by claiming it was all “fake news.”

But on Tuesday night, Vice President Kamala Harris pierced the veil of the Trumpian mystique. She pulled back the curtain on the Wizard of Odd.

For perhaps the first time, many Americans saw there was nothing there but a deranged, old man.

Harris delivered a master class on how to take down a bully. She pummeled Trump and put him in short pants. And she did it with style and substance.

Harris punched and prodded. She balanced the contempt for a twice-impeached, racist felon and sexual harasser who has no business running for president with eye rolls, smiles, and sass.

It was a beatdown for the ages. For many Americans who have watched Trump with disgust and dismay as he tweeted his way into the White House and turned the United States into a laughingstock, it was 90 minutes of exhilaration.

Whether it will turn into enough votes for Harris on Election Day remains to be seen. But finally, someone had figured out how to take on Trump, while also appearing presidential and ready to lead and unite the country.

From the minute Harris strode across the stage and invaded Trump’s personal space to give him an unwanted handshake and teach him how to pronounce her name, she owned him. It was a polite reverse of the menacing way Trump stalked Hillary Clinton during their debate in 2016.

The hunter was now being hunted.

Trump was on defense all night. Harris assailed him over his criminal trials and incompetent handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. She hung the abortion albatross around Trump’s neck, telling viewers he would “sign an abortion ban” if reelected.

Harris spoke passionately — perhaps as only a woman can do — about how Trump and the government have no right to tell a woman what to do with her body. She was poignant in discussing how the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade has upended the lives of women and young girls who have been raped and now struggle with where to go for an abortion.

» READ MORE: The Trump Threat | An occasional series by The Inquirer Editorial Board about the risk posed by a second Donald Trump presidency.

Trump, who has repeatedly flip-flopped his position on abortion, squirmed as he struggled to come up with a coherent response. At one point, he claimed babies were being executed after birth.

The ABC News moderators fact-checked him, pointing out that no state in the country allows babies to be killed after they are born.

The moderators pressed Trump on the Affordable Care Act, which now provides health insurance to 50 million Americans since it was passed in 2010 by former President Barack Obama. As president, Trump repeatedly tried to get rid of the popular plan but never developed a replacement.

When asked if, after nine years of railing about Obamacare, he had a plan, Trump meekly offered: “I have concepts of a plan.”

The social media wags rightly roasted him, as the pathetic answer summed up Trump’s lack of policy chops on everything from infrastructure week to building the border wall to his new miracle cure: tariffs.

Perhaps the biggest tell of where Trump wants to take the country if he is reelected came after Harris said world leaders are “laughing” at him because he is weak on national security and easily manipulated with “flattery and favors.”

Trump’s defense was to cite favorable comments about him by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an authoritarian who has cracked down on the press, the judiciary, voting rights, immigration, and LGBTQ rights, all while maintaining close ties to Vladimir Putin.

It was Trump’s own reminder that he would be a dictator on Day One. Indeed, Trump doubled down on an extreme plan to deport millions of immigrants and his claim that the 2020 election was stolen — despite recently admitting he lost by a whisker.

Throughout the night, the split screen that showed the two candidates’ body language told the story. Trump refused to look at Harris or use her name. He contorted his face, pursed his lips, and scowled as Harris, a former district attorney and attorney general, prosecuted her case.

Harris, meanwhile, shot him piercing looks, openly laughed at him, and struck puzzled poses with her hand on her chin during his inane ramblings.

The contrast underscored the difference in temperament and strength.

Trump was angry and rattled. Harris was poised and unflappable.

Trump’s lack of preparation shined through when he argued that Harris does not have an economic plan: “She copied Biden’s plan, and it’s like four sentences, like Run, Spot, Run.” More like, See Donny Run.

Harris, meanwhile, reminded voters that Trump, 78, had no new ideas. Just more of the “same old, tired playbook, a bunch of lies and grievances and name-calling.” She told viewers she grew up in the middle class, while Trump was born rich but still filed for bankruptcy six times.

Trump was angry and rattled. Harris was poised and unflappable.

Harris said Trump only cares about himself. “Donald Trump has no plan for you,” while she envisioned an “opportunity economy” for everyone and not just the wealthy.

But perhaps the biggest turning point came when Harris urged voters to attend one of Trump’s MAGA rallies. She said they would not hear him talk about their needs, dreams, or desires. She said they would see supporters leaving Trump’s rallies early “out of exhaustion and boredom.”

This sent Trump into a Three Mile Island meltdown, claiming his rallies were “the biggest” and “most incredible” in “the history of politics.”

From there he launched into a wild conspiracy about Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

Harris had baited Trump over his obsession with crowd size. He was reeling and flailing. His magic was gone.

Voters got to see the short-fingered emperor fully exposed.

And guess what? There is not much there.