‘Trump came across as angry, backwards-looking, frankly unhinged’ – Democratic Senator

We spoke to Senator Chris Coons, a close ally of President Biden who was co-chair of his re-election campaign.

Chris Coons: A great debate performance does not win an election, but it helped clarify and sharpen the differences between Vice President Harris and former President Trump.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: I suppose history tells us that debates are important. It was very important for President Biden. So how important do you think this performance was? I mean, how nervous were you at the beginning?

Chris Coons: This was a particularly important performance. Former President Trump came across as angry, grievance-filled, backwards-looking, frankly unhinged – and Vice President Harris came across as positive, forward-looking, upbeat. Kamala Harris is clearly focussed on addressing the issues that average Americans say they’re facing day in and day out. And Donald Trump seems to be focussed on his own issues, relitigating the 2020 election, his sense of anger and grievance at how he frankly was fired by 70 million Americans in 2020.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Were you surprised at how easy it seemed to be for the vice president to distract President Trump? She laid trap after trap and he just sort of fell into them it seemed?

Chris Coons: I wasn’t surprised because Donald Trump has shown over and over when he was president and as a candidate – at home and abroad – that he is easily distracted and manipulated. One of the most important points that Kamala Harris made was that Vladimir Putin is not his friend and ‘will eat him for lunch’. That as someone who is desperate to be liked and to be important and to be in the centre of the news, Donald Trump can be led astray. And he frankly would be putty in the hands of a dictator like Vladimir Putin.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Is there a danger, though, that Americans will look at it and say: ‘Well yes, she’s a better debater. But when I look at my bank account, when I look at my standard of living, am I better off now than I was before? No, I’m not. I’m going to go for Trump.’ How do you counter that?

Chris Coons: So a majority of Americans do think the country is headed in the wrong direction. That’s why it was important for Kamala Harris to make it clear that she’s the candidate of change, that she’s got a different focus, a different set of priorities than former President Trump. Next year, the massive tax bill that Donald Trump got passed on a Republican straight line party vote back in 2017 expires. And we’re going to have a fight here in Congress and with our president over how to spend trillions of dollars. Donald Trump wants to spend that money to benefit billionaires and the most profitable companies. And Kamala Harris made it clear that she wants to spend that money on tax cuts for the middle class. That will help with the costs of housing, prescription drugs, the cost of higher education, of day-care and child care, of having a child and a bigger family. So they laid out very different visions going forward for what’s going to be one of the most important fights coming up next year.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: How difficult is it for Vice President Harris to lay out her economic vision without implicitly criticising President Biden?

Chris Coons: She has drawn some contrasts. For example, in the last few weeks, she’s made it clear that while she does think we should raise the capital gains rate, she’s proposing not raising it anywhere near the amount that, say, Bernie Sanders would like – or that President Biden has proposed. She’s drawn some distinctions in what her priorities are. That reflects the fact that she’s got years of experience as vice president and as a senator, and that we’re now facing a different economic situation than the one in which President Biden grew up as a senator and as vice president and as president.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Do you think they should do another debate? Might she be tempted to say, consensus is that I won one…

Chris Coons: Absolutely, I look forward to it. I would buy a ticket to that next debate.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Right, I mean, you don’t think it’s a risk, you know, if you’re ahead – quit?

Chris Coons: I don’t think there’s a risk that Kamala Harris, who is a very capable and seasoned prosecutor, public speaker, senator and vice president, that she would somehow fail at a second debate.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Ultimately, what do you think this election is going to come down to in those swing states where it’s going to be won?

Chris Coons: At the end of the day, it’s going to come down to people’s sense of trust. Which of these two candidates has their interests at heart? Which of these two candidates is going to make our country a better place, safer abroad, and stronger at home? And I think when it comes down to that question, Kamala Harris will win.