Mike Gomez

Mike Gomez

IƵve always enjoyed a well executed planƵwhether it be sports, dominoes, or a presidential debate. Tuesday night, I saw Kamala Harris execute her plan to perfection.

The Trump campaign tried to insulate its candidate by having the mics muted after a question was asked and answered. That worked for about the first seven minutes. But then the vice president told the viewing audience to go to a Trump rally where you would see that half the audience would leave during the middle because of the same old gibberish.

That did it, Trump took off his restraints and away he went.

Kamala smiled and proceed to keep throwing coals onto the fire and then looked at the camera and told the viewers her plans for the future. The best part of the debate was when I heard a former president spreading the conspiracy theory that Haitians were eating the pets of the citizens of Springfield, Ohio. He said he saw it on TV.

I couldnƵt stop laughing when David Muir asked Trump about his health care plan. Trump answered, and I quote Ƶ I have concepts of a plan.Ƶ Really. After eight years. Must be in that same box where he kept the idea that Mexico would pay for a wall.

I set my alarm so I could get up and listen to what the other side said. I looked at my phone and saw Donald Trump Jr. was the cohost, so I rolled over and went back to sleep because it was too early early in the morning to hear conspiracy theories.

I was surprised that both Bill Pozzi and Carter said Kamala won the debate.

I went back and heard a replay of the Bill Pozzi show where Trump Jr. uttered the conspiracy that Kamala Harris wore earbuds Tuesday night. What for? The questions were not that hard and anyone could have anticipated them. That was another "Trump mightƵve lost the debate, but it was not his fault.Ƶ It had to be ABC and the debate moderators , or the people who prep Trump.

I was yearning for a debate analysis from a Republican point of view, so I called the Ash and Carter Show, but my call was sent directly to voicemail. I did get to send some comments but, again it was too early in the morning to hear conspiracy theories.

I also needed material to write this blog for the Victoria Advocate

After the debate, CNNƵs Kaitlyn Collins interviewed JD Vance. IƵve got to admit, he is a great spinner. JD said that his staff was still investigating the Haitians eating pets hoax in Ohio. He said that meme, if false, at least put a spotlight on the 20,000 Haitians being brought into Springfield. Last I heard it was 8,000 to 12,000, but that is still a lot for a city of 58,000 to absorb.

I just finished General HR McMaster's book ƵFighting with OurselvesƵ (which I would not recommend). McMaster's only criticism of Trump was that he could be manipulated with flattery and disrupted by criticism because of his gigantic ego. That is pretty much what the other security advisors and cabinet members said about Trump.

General McMaster spent a great deal of time criticizing George Bush and Barack Obama for not staying the course. At the end, he criticized Trump for his withdrawal plan without consulting the Afghan government.

He said we donƵt consult with terrorists as Trump did. He spent the majority of the time explaining how he was the only one who understood foreign policy, and his advisors did a bad job of convincing him to stop making bad decisions.

A presidential debate is different from a college debate because presentation and optics in a presidential debate carry more weight than substance. For example, NixonƵs 5 oƵclock shadow allowed a much younger JFK to squeeze out a narrow victory, ClintonƵs ƵI feel your painƵ and last nightƵs optic of a cool prosecutor versus an unhinged opponent won the night.

Michael GomezƵis a retired, opinionated left-of-center, political junkie who likes to discuss issues, as opposed to ideology.

Michael Gomez writes a politics blog on VictoriaAdvocate.com.