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FIERY CLASH
Trump’s righteous indignation in debate with Harris will win him key votes – she was smug and scripted, expert says
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DONALD Trump's indignant performance in his debate with Kamala Harris could help him win vital swing state votes, a political expert has said.
Editor and Trump pal Raheem Kassam told The Sun's that Harris' performance was "smug and scripted" as she pelted Trump with personal attacks.
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Speaking to political editor Harry Cole, chief of the National Pulse website Kassam said: "The closing statements all really did it for me.
"She was very smug and scripted and he was very indignant about the state of the nation which a lot of those people in swing states are."
He claims it played in Trump's favour that he was "righteously and consistently indignant".
The political commentator said both candidates were appealing to a "very small sect of swing voters in swing states" during the fiery debate.
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"They were both making their pitches to Michigan and Wisconsin and South Carolina and Pennsylvania and Georgia," Kassam explained.
Swing states can go either way for Democrats or Republicans and can make or break an election win for a nominee.
Kassam said Harris "jumped in first with the personal attacks" against her Republican opponent.
"He took the bait on those things," the expert added.
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"At the end of the day, she tried to get a rise out of him. She did get a rise out of him."
The pair clashed on abortion, immigration, defence and the economy among other issues in the fiery debate.
Harris levied a series of accusations against Trump, repeatedly calling him a "liar" and saying he was "fired by 81 million people" in 2020.
She said he is “clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that.”
Meanwhile Trump, referring to Harris only as "she" and avoiding eye contact, dubbed her the worst Vice President in American history.
Our panel of experts were left shocked by some of the comments made by Donald Trump.
He spouted bizarre claims about illegal immigrants eating pets, refused to side with Ukraine in talks on Putin’s war and said some states allow babies to be “executed” after birth.
Debate moderators stepped in more than half a dozen times to correct Trump's inaccurate statements.
Kwasi Kwarteng, former Chancellor, said: “She’s just edged it. Nobody knew who she was and she’s done well enough for people to remember who she is.”
He said Harris’ more personal attacks on Trump’s political rallies caused him to freeze up.
Labour peer and broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika said of Kamala: “She was well prepared, she rehearsed, and it shows,” dubbing her strong response on Trump’s abortion comments “powerful and compelling”.
“She was focused, calm, articulate and powerful,” Hazarika added.
Meanwhile she dubbed Trump “unhinged, negative and angry”.
But Harry Cole described Harris’ opening minutes - which saw her drop over one per cent in Betfair polling - as “low energy”.
He said she failed to give straight answers on the economy and immigration, but “just nudged it” by the time of closing statements.
Harry also said Trump had a “very strong closing speech” where he touched on key topics including immigration, the economy, healthcare, Biden and more.
The former president “threw Kamala to the wolves” in his powerful round-up, Harry added.
Kassam also took a swipe at the debate moderators - ABC hosts David Muir and Linsey Davis.
He said: “Well, look, I don't like to blame the refs.
“You know, in advance of these debates, it was made abundantly clear to everybody who wanted to know, who runs the news division at ABC?
"That's a friend of Kamala Harris's for the last 30 years, and the best friend of her husband is that person's wife.
“Both the debate moderators have spoken glowingly of Kamala Harris, and have spoken very negatively of Donald Trump in previous years.
“But at the end of the day, you know, Trump and Trump's team agreed to the debate on those terms, so I don't think you can complain about it.
“You walk into that arena, you know who the referee's going to be, you know what the rules are.
“And, yes, they intervened more for her than they did for him. They intervened zero times on his behalf, seven times on her behalf, but that is what we've come to expect.”
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Kassam - who is a close associate of the Republican candidate - said the Trump campaign team had been beefed up in recent weeks in the run-up to the November 5 election.
He said: “They've added campaign veterans such as Corey Lewandowski. They've added another layer of sort of deputies like Alex Pfeiffer, like Alex Brusewitz, like Taylor Budovich, who are all working in adjunct to the campaign.”
HARRY COLE: Both landed blows - but race is still too close to call
By HARRY COLE, Political Editor
AFTER a slow start, it was only once Harris began prodding and poking at the size of his rallies, a particular issue that is dear to his heart, that he actually went really on the personal attack about his personal wealth, his inherited wealth from his father, and his business career that the old Don that we recognize and entertains us, began to come out.
He was angry. He got more orange. He got more aggressive. There was tax, illegal migrants, eating cats and dogs.
There were the two camps really talking to their bases. They were addressing their fans because elections are decided on who can get their face out to a large degree.
Really strong moments from Harris on abortion, very strong moments for her on healthcare. She was a lot weaker on the economy.
Very tricky for someone who's been in power for four years as Vice President to not be able to really defend the record.
She dodged questions on inflation, she dodged questions on cost of living, and then Trump really went on the attack.
He tried to link everything back to immigration. That is what he wants to talk about. He wants to talk about immigration and fracking.
He's swinging states. He needs to win. Fracking is a big issue.
Kamala Harris' record on that is dubious at best.
She's saying the right things now but there wasn't a real knockout blow on either side, the bar was lower for Harris.
She needed to prove that she could do the no notes, the no scripts, the no sound bite moments without a sort of prompt or without a soft soap interviewer to help her.
She was being very restricted and kept on a very tight leash during this campaign.
And you know, frankly, she she hit that, she cleared that, that low bar.
The money markets were moving tonight, Trump started out as favourite at the Betfair exchange and Kamala Harris ended up just nudging it.
It’s still too close to call, but really gaining on Donald Trump in the betting markets.
At the end, Trump had a very strong closing statement where he hit all of his key points on immigration, Biden, the economy, national security and defence. The race is still too close to call.
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