There Was No Debate When It Came to Gaza

Harris, Trump, and the moderators all seemed to agree: genocide was a topic to dispense with quickly.

ABC News

Hand on heart, I think Donald Trump won the debate.

Just kidding obviously. Trump did not win the debate. Kamala Harris won the debate. She needled him in the most obvious ways—crowd sizes, things of that nature—and Trump decided to lean into his most agitated “parent screaming about trans goldfish at the school board meeting” persona in response. It was a shellacking. Of course, that’s what everyone said in 2016, and we remember how that turned out, don’t we? Anyone getting too cocky this morning might want to reel themselves in.

But you probably watched the debate. You know these things already. So instead of being the one zillionth blog to go over that ground, I want to focus on a debate topic that highlights everything that is rotten about American politics: the genocide in Gaza.

The genocide has now been going on for nearly a year, with the full assistance of the administration in which Kamala Harris currently serves. It is one of the greatest atrocities of modern times, and every U.S. taxpayer is helping to fund it. There could hardly be a more urgent, or relevant, issue to discuss in a presidential debate.

But ABC News, which hosted the debate, clearly didn’t think that Gaza was too important, because moderators Linsey Davis and David Muir waited nearly an hour before bringing it up. Davis—who referred to the genocide as the “Israel-Hamas war,” a description that has never been accurate—asked Harris what she would do to actually secure the mythical ceasefire deal that is supposedly on the horizon.

Harris replied:

Well, let's understand how we got here. On Oct. 7, Hamas, a terrorist organization, slaughtered 1,200 Israelis. Many of them young people who were simply attending a concert. Women were horribly raped. And so absolutely, I said then, I say now, Israel has a right to defend itself. We would. And how it does so matters. Because it is also true far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Children, mothers. What we know is that this war must end. It must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out. And so we will continue to work around the clock on that. Work around the clock also understanding that we must chart a course for a two-state solution. And in that solution, there must be security for the Israeli people and Israel and in equal measure for the Palestinians. But the one thing I will assure you always, I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself, in particular as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel. But we must have a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza, where the Palestinians have security, self-determination and the dignity they so rightly deserve.

This is, word for word, the same rote response Harris has been giving virtually since the genocide began, right down to the dehumanizing phrase “far too many Palestinians have been killed.” It’s the same answer she gave to CNN during the lone extended interview of her candidacy. She has nothing new to offer on Gaza. The genocide will rumble on, and she won’t move to end it.

Despite the fact that Harris had completely failed to specify what she would do to make a ceasefire deal happen, Davis moved things along—a telling sign of the rote, box-checking nature of the whole exchange. She asked Trump what he would do. Trump went on a long, tedious, content-free rant that I won’t repeat here, which included the assertion that Harris “hates Israel” and also “hates the Arab population.”

Davis sidestepped the comment about Arabs, instead focusing on Israel. “Vice President Harris, he says you hate Israel,” she said.

“That's absolutely not true. I have my entire career and life supported Israel and the Israeli people. He knows that,” Harris replied. Then she pivoted to a lengthy denunciation of Trump’s stance on Ukraine and other military matters, culminating in the line, “That is why so many military leaders who you have worked with have told me you are a disgrace.” We love military leaders, folks!

And that was that. The discussion about a genocide bankrolled and armed by the United States, on behalf of a fascist government whose soldiers murdered an American citizen just last week, was done. Got that one over with, let’s move on.

In one way, this makes sense. There’s little practical difference between Harris and Trump on Gaza, and Harris refuses to move beyond vague talking points, so what is there to debate?

But the things the candidates don’t fight too much about—the things that the politicians and the moderators are visibly uninterested in litigating—are as important to mention as the things they do fight about. Because that’s where we see the deeper, bipartisan American project at work.

There was a good deal of agreement in the debate room on Tuesday night, as many people pointed out. Harris and Trump were both eager to stress how much they adore fracking, and war, and the demonization of immigrants. Harris crowed about how many Republicans adore her. Slay!

And there appeared to be universal agreement, from the candidates and the moderators, that genocide was a topic to get through as quickly as possible. Ultimately, what more do you need to know about this country?