Politics

The debate made the contrast between Trump and Harris crystal clear. Will it matter to voters?

Published

1 year ago

November 12, 2024

The debate made the contrast between Trump and Harris crystal clear. Will it matter to voters?

The choice has now been laid out, and it is stark. Tuesday’s presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump likely won’t be among history’s most remembered, but it delivered what we needed in 2024, showcasing the very real differences between the two candidates.

And yet, I’m left to wonder whether it was enough to dramatically change the race. After nearly a decade of this same Trump in our politics, it’s difficult to have real confidence that an objectively poor performance will cost him the White House. As disorienting as his comments can be, it feels exactly like what we’ve seen from him for years.

After nearly a decade of this same Trump in our politics, it’s difficult to have real confidence that an objectively poor performance will cost him the White House.

The question remains: How many voters are willing to overlook his obvious flaws and bizarre rhetoric out of gauzy nostalgia for pre-pandemic days or a frustration with the current administration’s handling of the economy?

In style and substance, Harris looked the part of a president, the awkwardness of her early stumbles on the national stage gone. She spoke to her plans but more so to the values, principles and priorities that motivate her. She was firm and forward-looking. Harris was speaking directly to the American people.

Trump, by contrast, reprised his familiar role as America’s dark and self-obsessed loudmouth. He did little to appeal to swing voters, diving immediately into conservative culture issues and conspiracy theories. The Trump campaign had hoped to present Harris as a lightweight and a radical. But once again it was undermined by its candidate. The former president leveled many attacks, to be sure, but he got so lost in his own rambles that Harris was rarely put on the defensive.

At times she was able to toy with him, tossing out bait on topics like crowd sizes, Trump’s criminal conviction and his role on Jan. 6. He eagerly took it each time, wasting precious time on self-indulgent rants that serve only to highlight his narcissism. Perhaps the worst moment for the former president was an extended argument that he, in fact, did not lose the 2020 election. None of this does him any good with the undecided voters who will determine this election.

Harris, meanwhile, understood the assignment. She pressed her advantage on issues like abortion while presenting herself as a mainstream Democrat, saying she would be tough on illegal border crossers, promoting the need for a mighty military force and even announcing herself as a gun owner. She had no knockout blows, but in contrast to the brooding, unfocused performance of her opponent she was the clear better candidate onstage.

Tuesday’s debate was much bigger than the differences in their policy proposals. It was a contrast in the character, ideals and seriousness that we should expect from a president.

It’s confounding that the race is so close, making this debate supposedly so crucial, because the choice should not be hard. There is a serious candidate working to earn your vote, running in the traditions of American democracy and offering a vision for moving America forward. And there is another who remains deeply unstable and wants to scare people into going backward.

Brendan Buck

Brendan Buck is an NBC News and BLN political analyst. He was previously counselor to former House Speaker Paul Ryan and press secretary to former House Speaker John Boehner.

Politics

Trump plays Texas hold ’em with Senate endorsement

Published

4 hours ago

March 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

As the MAGA faithful gather for another day of CPAC in Grapevine, Texas, they are openly celebrating what they believe is tantamount to a major midterms victory: keeping President Donald Trump from endorsing John Cornyn ahead of May’s GOP Senate primary runoff.

MAGA world is taking a victory lap — and fresh comfort — in the receipts: A lack of significant spending and polling so far by not only Cornyn’s campaign, but also the NRSC and One Nation, the Senate Leadership Fund-aligned nonprofit. It amounts to a pattern the MAGA cohort reads as Washington making peace with a matchup between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, their anointed candidate, and Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.

“The grassroots stood in the breach and said a resounding ‘NO’ to Cornyn,” Steve Bannon, who has framed Paxton’s bid for the nomination as a battle for MAGA’s soul, told Blue Light News. “Polling and spending indicates that the Republican DC establishment reluctantly concurs. This could be the victory that empowers MAGA through the midterms.”

Paxton, though, hasn’t rested his case. He traveled to Mar-a-Lago last Friday for a Palm Beach County GOP dinner, and was spotted speaking to Trump himself, according to three sources familiar.

Trump and Paxton were on the patio, one source added, with another saying the two discussed the runoff. “It was a positive meeting,” said yet another person. A Paxton spokesperson declined to comment on the meeting.

It’s the latest sign of a fierce and feverish effort to keep Trump from endorsing Cornyn.

Even when all signs pointed to a Cornyn endorsement following the longtime senator’s showing in the primary, MAGA faithful kept pressing for Paxton. Now they’re optimistic their guy can come out on top — and they’re still taking shots at Cornyn every chance they get.

“The Cornyn endorsement looks dead, but it’s Trump, so it’s never certain,” a person close to the White House said. “Cornyn sealed his fate by carrying Mitch [McConnell]’s water on that ridiculous gun grabbing bill. No one thought he would be dumb enough to run for reelection after that but here we are.”

Now, Trump may not give an endorsement at all. Or if he does, he may endorse Paxton after the SAVE Act debate in the Senate is over, three sources tell Blue Light News.

“Nothing is dead,” said a source familiar with the president’s thinking. “It’s all just stasis at the moment.”

“It’s looking like he may not endorse at all,” another White House official said. “But it doesn’t seem like he has made up his mind.”

But the endorsement equation in Texas amid the SAVE Act saga is still very much vexing Trump, according to five Republicans in and around the White House. The president, who will not be in attendance at this year’s CPAC, is “being patient” and “trying to exact” a policy win, another person said.

“Trump isn’t going to endorse against Cornyn while the Save America Act is still being debated,” one White House ally said. “So for now I think he stays out, but if Thune files cloture and Paxton continues to lead in every poll then I could see him endorsing Paxton. No question Paxton wins if Trump stays out though.”

Every Republican who spoke to Blue Light News cautioned that Trump could change his mind at any moment. It’s still early for the runoff, they said, with Election Day still nearly two months away. But the deadline for a candidate to drop off the ballot passed last week.

One person familiar told Blue Light News that the Senate Leadership Fund and NRSC aren’t spending in order to conserve resources. “Not cause they are throwing in the towel,” this person said.

The campaign will be spending soon, a Cornyn spokesperson said. “Ken Paxton said he needed $20M to win this primary and he’s barely raised a quarter of that,” said Cornyn campaign senior adviser Matt Mackowiak. “His professional failures and indefensible personal conduct make GOP donors and Texas primary voters deeply uncomfortable.” He added: “We have a plan to win this race and we are executing it. Ken Paxton is busy whining and hiding.”

Chris LaCivita, one of Trump’s top campaign hands who works as a senior adviser for the pro-Cornyn super PAC Texans for a Conservative Majority, said the runoff boils down to a resource equation. “The question remains the same,” LaCivita said. “Does the GOP want to spend $150-200 million holding what should be a safe seat and giving up other opportunities to gain advantage?”

Joanna Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the NRSC, said it’s “been very clear that the fight to protect President Trump’s Senate Majority should not be fought in Texas, and John Cornyn is the only candidate who ensures that does not happen.”

When it comes to money, Republicans are planning for MAGA Inc. to be “responsible for resources needed in a general election if it’s Ken Paxton,” according to two GOP operatives briefed on strategy (one cautioned that “planning is probably more hoping.”). A MAGA Inc. spokesperson declined to comment.

On the sidelines of CPAC, where bedazzled and sequined conservatives gathered for the base’s annual pep rally, the overwhelming feeling was that most Texas GOP primary voters had already made up their minds — and a Trump endorsement in either direction wouldn’t make much of a difference. Some attendees said they viewed Trump’s silence as a nudge toward Paxton.

“Texans — we’re done,” said Gregorio Heise, a Paxton supporter and Republican running for Congress in Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Dallas district. “It’s already showing, even in the polling. Cornyn doesn’t do what Texans want, and [Paxton] does.”

On Friday night at CPAC, attendees will hear from Paxton, who’s headlining the conference’s Ronald Reagan dinner. Cornyn isn’t planning to attend.

“It’s an opportunity to be able to, you know, share your vision and basically sell yourself to the crowd, to the Texas crowd,” CPAC host and organizer Mercedes Schlapp told Blue Light News. “So Ken Paxton agreed to come, and he has a very high CPAC rating. And you know, we’ve invited Cornyn, and so we are still open. The invitation is still open for John Cornyn to come.”

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