How much will last week's debate change this election?

Harris likely "won" the debate but the issues might take far longer to settle

It's been a week since the Presidential debate. A week since Donald Trump accused Haitian immigrants of killing pet cats and dogs and eating them in Springfield, Ohio. A week since the debate where Kamala Harris waited – a long beat – before saying “former President,” which some of her supporters are proudly holding as a sign of her implying he was a Mother F-er.  

It is likely to be the only debate between the two candidates, one of whom will be our next President of the United States of America. The question is will it matter? It’s very hard to say. 

I watched the debate with my friend Brandon Cobb, who I have known for more than 20 years. Raised in Wyandotte County, Kansas, Brandon’s dad was a proud Kansas Black Republican, in the legacy of Kansas freedom fighters. 

Brandon and I have spent years debating politics.  More and more, he has become disaffected by what he sees. He doesn’t lean towards one party, he leans away from both, and has become an apathetic, infrequent voter. 

“I just feel bad for the country if that’s the best we have to offer, for real,” he said after the debate. “Neither one of them moved me enough to support either one of them.” 

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In just a week since the debate, there has been another assassination attempt on former President Trump’s life at his Florida golf course, legal immigrants working in Springfield, Ohio have rightly voiced concerns about their safety after pet-eating accusations continue, Springfield’s schools have closed down due to bomb threats, and during all of this, polls have shown little movement between either candidate when it comes to voters’ decisions. 

There was an increase in voter registration after Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, but that also coincided with the debate, so it’s hard to tell if that’s the cause.  Either way it led President Trump to declare his “hate” for Taylor Swift, not that it will change minds. 

Inside dark blue and dark red pockets there’s worry, talk of moving to a different country — or resorting to violence — if a preferred candidate doesn’t win. 

On debate night with Brandon, and on programs afterwards, I shared my own view:  Harris outperformed Trump. 

Brandon didn’t disagree. He just wasn’t really persuaded.  “She had a list of responses ready for whatever he said, and she took control of the debate,” he said.  

On reflection, I do wonder how much we actually learned about the policies that will impact Americans. And how much any of it could move those entrenched in their camps.  

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Photo by visuals on Unsplash

We love to hype up debates, but they rarely settle issues in America. They raise issues, and in the aftermath of the election, the victor may keep working to settle those issues, sometimes in what takes years, decades or even centuries.   

In 1994 a group of American historians hosted reenactments of the 1858 Lincoln — Douglas debates across Illinois.  Galesburg, Ill., my hometown, hosted one of those debates at Knox College.  C-SPAN recorded the reenactment —  based off of the original text — to preserve it for history. 

The candidates were given at least an hour each for their opening statements.  Can you imagine? 

In his statement, the sitting Illinois Sen. Stephen Douglas talks about the new Republican party which Abraham Lincoln represents — as one without consistent moral character. He argues that slave owning should be a state’s right issue, and that the framers of the US Constitution never intended to grant equality to slaves or to allow states to impose restrictions on other states. 

Abraham Lincoln argues Douglas’s party — most especially the division between southern Democrats and northern Democrats — lacks consistency and humanity for enslaved people who deserve a “right to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  He argues Douglas and the Democrats fail to make the case for the Constitution protecting slavery, even if they want to believe they know the intentions of the framers. 

Despite Lincoln’s popularity, Stephen Douglas would go on to defeat Lincoln, retaining his Senate Seat, which was then elected by the State Legislature. 

Two years later in 1860, Abraham Lincoln would sweep the Northern States in the Presidential Race, and face assassination attempts before even getting to Washington, DC. With the secession of southern States, Lincoln would oversee the Union forces as they worked to defeat the Confederate uprising. 

It was five years after the Lincoln-Douglas debates that Abraham Lincoln would sign the Emancipation Proclamation declaring all those enslaved were henceforth free.  That freedom would take years to come to fruition, and still many would argue the fight for freedom and opportunity continues today. 

Hard-fought debates — about the direction of the country — continue after the election, not just during it. 

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In watching the debate with Brandon last week I got a very different perspective than when you’re surrounded by political insiders or true believers.  

One of frustration he shared: Too many politicians hold on to power for too long, he complained they were or are getting rich and are disconnected from the average experience.

Another thing he found dissatisfying: The talk of plans — or a “concept of the plan” as Trump said he had  — doesn’t actually tell him what to expect out of either candidate.  He’s disenchanted.  

Brandon was once motivated by politics.  While he might slightly lean right, he worked for a Democratic Mayoral candidate in Kansas City, Kansas.  He can agree with both sides or neither, has strong opinions not always represented. 

He’s just frustrated by democracy in America.  The popular vote is too often irrelevant because of the Electoral College, he tells me.  He also doesn’t think Harris should have been anointed the leader of the Democratic Party without a more long fought process. 

Brandon knows what it takes to be involved in Democracy — at all levels — and it takes a lot of work and will. He feels jaded. Will either party be able to motivate him and others like him that now is the time to get involved? That’s unlikely based on last Tuesday night.

For him, this debate changed very little.