Harris hit it out of the park. Trump looked like yesterday's trash. The debate could not have gone better for Democrats.
So where does that leave climate change, which for the first time blew onto the stage of a Presidential debate, even as it turned out to be the very last question?
It's almost humorous to point out the very different responses of Harris and Trump—but well worth reviewing if you went to bed by 11:
ABC’s LINSEY DAVIS: President Trump, thank you. We have another issue that we'd like to get to that's important for a number of Americans, in particular younger voters, and that's climate change. President Trump, with regard to the environment, you say that we have to have clean air and clean water. Vice President Harris, you call climate change an existential threat. The question to you both tonight is what would you do to fight climate change? And Vice President Harris, we'll start with you. One minute for you each.
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Well, the former president had said that climate change is a hoax. And what we know is that it is very real. You ask anyone who lives in a state who has experienced these extreme weather occurrences who now is either being denied home insurance or is being jacked up. You ask anybody who has been the victim of what that means in terms of losing their home, having nowhere to go. We know that we can actually deal with this issue. The young people of America care deeply about this issue. And I am proud that as vice president over the last four years, we have invested a trillion dollars in a clean energy economy while we have also increased domestic gas production to historic levels. We have created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs while I have been vice president. We have invested in clean energy to the point that we are opening up factories around the world. Donald Trump said he was going to create manufacturing jobs. He lost manufacturing jobs. And I'm also proud to have the endorsement of the United Auto Workers and Shawn Fain, who also know that part of building a clean energy economy includes investing in American-made products, American automobiles. It includes growing what we can do around American manufacturing and opening up auto plants, not closing them like what happened under Donald Trump.
LINSEY DAVIS: Vice President Harris, thank you.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: That didn't happen under Donald Trump. Let me just tell you, they lost 10,000 manufacturing jobs this last month. It's going -- they're all leaving. They're building big auto plants in Mexico. In many cases owned by China. They're building these massive plants, and they think they're going to sell their cars into the United States because of these people. What they have given to China is unbelievable. But we're not going to let that. We'll put tariffs on those cars so they can't come into our country. Because they will kill the United Auto Workers and any auto worker, whether it's in Detroit or South Carolina or any other place. What they've done to business and manufacturing in this country is horrible. We have nothing because they refuse -- you know, Biden doesn't go after people because supposedly China paid him millions of dollars. He's afraid to do it. Between him and his son. They get all this money from Ukraine. They get all this money from all of these different countries. And then you wonder why is he so loyal to this one, that one Ukraine, China? Why is he? Why did he get 3 1/2 million dollars from the mayor of Moscow's wife? Why did he get -- why did she pay him 3 1/2 million dollars? This is a crooked administration, and they're selling our country down the tubes.
LINSEY DAVIS: President Trump, thank you.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thank you.
And that’s it.
Trump instantly slid off the reality of climate change to talk about the Chinese wanting to build cars in Mexico, which is not happening. In fact, the Harris Biden administration just today put 100% tariffs on electric vehicles from China.
In the usual Trump fashion he blames others for his own mistakes, in this instance, the Democrats for causing the loss of the US edge in manufacturing electric vehicles, batteries, and electronic components. But
“America did not just happen to fall behind China in the years after he killed our climate policies. America has fallen behind China in large part because Mr. Trump killed our climate policies,” as Robinson Meyer, of Heatmap, explains.
Meyer cites the rollback and attempted rollbacks by Trump’s fossil fuel regime of Obama’s restrictions on pollution from tailpipe emissions, a rollback of protections that helped to sell more gas and oil but let China get ahead on crucial technologies. Trump also made it harder for wind and solar permitting, and if elected says he would end all spending for all the renewables he can get his hands on from the Biden/Harris Inflation Reduction Act. This would slow down the energy transition. By intent.
At this point the Artful Dodger slid off the track, thinking he was debating old Joe Biden, not Harris, and moved into “Hunh? What’s he talking about territory?” finishing up with something about the mayor of Moscow’s wife. Was this a debate tactic, what the Wall Street Journal’s debate coach calls smart “gish-gallup” avoidance tactics or was Donald J. Trump losing his marbles before 67.1 million viewers?
It’s a stunning irony lost on Trump that red-state Texas will soon be providing more wind and solar than California and 7 other top states combined, since solar is so much cheaper than new gas. The old Republican memes of not picking winners and leaving market forces alone mean nothing to Trump, who would rather soak rate payers for bluster and political contributions from fossil fuel funders.