No, Kamala Harris won the debate
Dave Ball continues to live in a fantasy world as demonstrated by his latest essay, “Kamala Harris got trounced in the debate”, which appeared last Tuesday.
Ball fondly looks back upon the economy of Donald Trump, which he states featured “low inflation, people had money to spend, savings were growing, America was energy independent, employment was high, and the nation was secure”.
Ball makes no mention of the coronavirus pandemic, which was disastrously mishandled by his savior, Donald Trump. The economy initially collapsed upon the onset of the virus, bringing about low prices, including for gasoline for which there was little demand worldwide.
Trump has the worst record on jobs in U.S. history – 2.7 million jobs were lost and the unemployment rate increased 1.7% to 6.4%. The unemployment rate as of August was 4.2%.
U. S. crude oil production under President Biden is at the highest level in history.
Inflation has been an extraordinary challenge, but the blame hardly lies entirely with Biden. Massive government stimulus under Trump and Biden played a role, but supply chain issues and the Russian attack on Ukraine were significant factors. Prices have risen markedly throughout the industrialized world, not only in the United States. The Federal Reserve Board has been able to get the rate of inflation close to its target of 2% without inflicting a recession, and it is now poised to make several interest rate reductions in the months to come, making it easier for individuals to purchase a home or a vehicle.
I am not at all surprised that Ball says nothing about any of the grandiose lies Trump told during the debate: that inflation was the worst in history under Biden, that everyone, Democrats, Republicans, and independents, wanted national abortion rights ended and the matter turned over to the states, and that Haitian immigrants are seizing and eating people’s pets. Do you think Trump would have engaged in any disparagement of white Norwegian immigrants or spread falsehoods about them? His embracing of the conspiracy theory about Haitians has brought threats of violence against them in Springfield, Ohio, a city in which many of them currently reside legally.
As far as keeping the nation and the world secure, there is no mention in Ball’s essay about Trump declining to say in the debate that he wants Ukraine to win its war with Russia. That is because he doesn’t. He would have his killer pal, Vladimir Putin, walk away with the gains he has secured militarily as he has brutalized his neighbor and engaged in atrocities.
Ball criticizes the Biden administration for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, which claimed the lives of 13 American heroes. He says nothing of the other 2,446 men and women who were killed as our involvement in Afghanistan continued for two decades, including under Trump.
Ball chides Vice President Kamala Harris for proposing expensive new government programs while saying nothing about his man Trump, who added $8 trillion to the burgeoning national debt. Unlike Trump, Harris seeks to increase taxes on the wealthy to pay for some of what she proposes to aid the working middle-class and poor.
Finally, in concluding that Harris was “trounced”, Ball parts company with the condemnation of his performance offered by Karl Rove, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., South Carolina U. S. Sen. and Trump golfing pal Lindsey Graham, noted Republican pollster Frank Luntz, Fox “News” Channel’s Brit Hume and other Fox personalities, to cite a few. Luntz asserts that his debate performance lost Trump the upcoming election.
I have to believe that Ball knows in his heart who truly trounced who in the debate and that he is mad as a hornet about it.
Oren Spiegler is a Peters Township resident.