Vice President Kamala Harris’s performance during her first (and now only) debate against Donald Trump last Tuesday was one of the most dominant in modern American history. In many ways, it was a mirror image of President Biden’s massive failure of a debate against Trump months earlier. Harris utterly exposed the corrupt ex-president for the racist, ignorant, demagogue, and blusterous aspiring dictator that he truly is.
As I and others have explained, Donald Trump is best understood as a political version of a professional wrestling heel (villain) who lies, cheats, steals, and will do anything to win as he gains power from the boos and ire of the crowd. Trump is truly excellent in the role; the mainstream news media and political class are still unable to effectively grapple with Trump and his MAGA movement because they refuse to understand fascism and Trumpism as forms of political performance art.
