Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris participate during an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept.10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

An Asian American woman just changed the race for the presidency of the United States.

If you ever doubted or underestimated Kamala Harris’ ability to be our nation’s leader, everyone who watched Tuesday’s debate saw how fully capable she is of the job.

Harris not only bested Donald Trump in arguing the facts, she showed how totally inadequate Trump is now to again be our country’s commander-in-chief.

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Harris deftly made her case on issue after issue, while baiting and manipulating Trump on the economy, on abortion, and on immigration.

Imagine how Putin and other world leaders play Trump. Harris exposed Trump for all to see. It wasn’t exactly an “emperor has no clothes” moment. More like a “the twice-impeached, convicted felon on 34 counts” has no business running for president. Trump is unfit mentally for the job, if not unfit morally.

It must have been a disappointment for deep MAGA to see their candidate so incapable of holding his own against Harris. At one point, she had him defending the crowd size at his rallies after she said people were leaving because he was boring.

And then instead of real policies that impact our lives, the former president spoke passionately about crowd size.

When that happened, I think everyone could see, Harris ate his lunch.

Going into the debate the consensus in this tight race was that it was a virtual tie with Trump one point ahead.

But after their first meeting ever in a head-to-head-match up, CNN’s Instant poll showed Harris winning the debate well beyond any margin of error, 63 percent to 37 percent.

There’s more distance between the two than previously understood. The debate exposed that. And it changed the race in 2024’s sprint for the White House.

Trump’s lies

On Monday, I said the only way Trump could be assured a win in Tuesday night’s debate was if he “played nice.”

But the bully just couldn’t do it.

Acting presidential was just one lie Trump couldn’t pull off in another debate night mired in Trump lies.

Did his administration really do “a phenomenal job in the pandemic” when over a million Americans are dead? Is Kamala Harris “a Marxist and everybody knows it”?

And what about those cat-eating immigrants in Springfield, Ohio that when news organizations tried to verify, every local official involved said the story was false. There was even a lie on that Trump lie, when the former president said the immigrants were eating cats AND dogs. No, it’s just one lie. Just cats is enough.

People watch the presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, at the Gipsy Las Vegas in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

And all that was just a fraction of the lies Trump told in the 90-minute debate.

Still, even with all that I wouldn’t say Kamala Harris “whooped” Donald Trump.

It was more like general domination.

In fact, she had him at “Kamala Harris.”

When Trump seemed to dismiss the possibility of an opening handshake, Harris forced the issue. She walked toward Trump’s podium, reached out her hand and spoke her name.

It caught him off guard and put Trump on the defensive for the night.

Issues?

Surprisingly, Trump didn’t do well on what is seen by voters as his strongest suit–the economy. He is after all, a “businessman.”

However, Trump didn’t seem to understand his own plan to place tariffs on Chinese goods that he says would be paid for by China.

Oh, yeah, like the border wall would be paid by Mexico?

Harris corrected him saying the cost of tariffs would actually be passed on to consumers in what is more like a sales tax that would raise prices and be inflationary. Not a great idea, but that’s Trump’s plan.

Harris also cited Goldman Sachs and more than a dozen Nobel laureates who have said Trump’s plan would be disastrous for Americans. Not to mention working families who wouldn’t get the tax cuts Trump has saved for the wealthy elite.

And this was supposed to be the best part of the debate for Trump.

Harris wasn’t perfect and made one misstatement on the economy. She said “Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment since the great depression.”

She didn’t mean the 1920’s economic disaster but the more recent “great recession.”

But that didn’t cost her any debate points. Besides, when the topic turned to abortion, Harris cleaned up.

Trump couldn’t explain his flip-flopping on the issue. And when he talked of “abortion in the 9th month” it sounded like not only did he not understand the economy, he didn’t understand childbirth. No law advocates for abortion in the 9th month. That would be murder.

Meanwhile, Harris reminded everyone that “the freedom to make decisions about one’s own body should not be made by the government.”

You know most at home cheered when she said that.

If you turned down the sound and just looked at the pictures, most of the time Trump was frowning, or scowling. Things got worse.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential debate with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

On immigration, Harris mentioned how Trump ordered a bipartisan effort to address the border be killed, so that Trump “could run on a problem, instead of fixing a problem.”

When asked by ABC moderator David Muir about that, Trump never answered the question (one of many questions Trump just dodged). Instead, Trump brought up the lies about immigrants eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio.

It made Trump look dumb.

Too dumb maybe to be president.

Before the debate, I wondered why we’re even bothering with the exercise.

A simple side-by-side picture of Vice President Harris and former President Trump is all you need. Words are extraneous. They get in the way. By now, the candidates’ images are enough to evoke the truth and make the right decision for America.

When I see a picture of Harris, I think: Vice President.

Trustworthy. Loyal. Competent. Woman. Choice. Fair. African American. Asian American. New America. One of us.

When I see a picture of Trump, I think: Convicted Felon, 34 counts. Insurrectionist. Communist suck-up. (See Helsinki/Putin/2018). Wannabe Dictator. E. Jean Carroll. Stormy Daniels. Liar. Central Park 5. Racist. Sexist. No choice.

All that just from pictures capable of striking those chords inside you.

It’s a big sound. A debate just adds to the noise.

But after the first debate, seeing is believing when the candidates aren’t muted.

Harris was serious, yet charming, and fully capable to be our commander-in-chief.

Trump? He wants to debate his crowd size.

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He writes for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. See his micro-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. Contact: www.amok.com.

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