Our Debate Reactions
Plus: After 9/11, We Went to War Against the Terrorists. The Terrorists Won.
Recently in The Bulwark:
BILL KRISTOL & ANDREW EGGER: The Beginning of the End for Trump
MARC CAPUTO: ‘Trump Blew It:’ Cat Scratch Fever on The Debate Stage
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WILL SELBER AND BILL ROGGIO: After 9/11, We Went to War Against the Terrorists. The Terrorists Won.
TWENTY-THREE YEARS AGO TODAY, al Qaeda, supported by their Taliban allies, murdered nearly 3,000 Americans. In response, the United States not only invaded Iraq and Afghanistan but also sent combat troops and advisors to Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Niger, the Philippines, Yemen, and a host of other countries. The Global War on Terrorism lived up to its name.
The United States paid a heavy toll to wage the GWOT. Terrorists killed 7,000 U.S. service members and 8,000 U.S. contractors in post-9/11 operations. (This tally doesn’t include the nearly 31,000 suicides by members of the military in the same period.) The GWOT will likely cost at least $8 trillion when future health care bills and disability ratings are tabulated, though that number could skyrocket as more GWOT veterans retire.
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: S.E. Cupp: A Sucker and a Loser [YouTube]
First Reactions to the Trump/Harris Debate with Sarah, JVL, Tim, A.B., and Sam.
The Top 10 Moments in the Trump/Harris Debate: JVL on the curb stomping.
The Next Level: Alpha Harris 🔐 [YouTube]
Did you know? Bulwark+ members can listen to an ad-free version of these podcasts on the player of their choice.
Learn more at Bulwark+ Podcast FAQ.
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DEBATE REACTIONS
SAM STEIN: Harris Managed To Do TV Better Than Trump
THERE IS A THREAD OF CONVENTIONAL WISDOM that the best way to watch a debate is with the sound off. This may seem utterly illogical since—after all—it’s a debate, not a silent movie.
But there’s something to that idea. This is a visual medium as much as an aural one. How the candidate looks, reacts, and responds is arguably more important than what he or she says. There’s plenty of history to back this up: Nixon’s five-o’clock shadow, George H.W. Bush looking at his watch, Al Gore’s weirdly space-invading body language.
TIM MILLER: Inside Trump’s Spin Room From Hell
WHEN IT COMES TO SPIN ROOMS there is one unimpeachable truism that political hacks of all stripes can agree on: A winning candidate needn’t show up there.
So when the Secret Service arrived at the Pennsylvania Convention Center after Tuesday night’s presidential debate across the street at the National Constitution Center, the room began to buzz. We all knew which of the night’s two combatants felt compelled to appear before the assembled press.
The one who spent the evening on the receiving end of a spanking
WILL SALETAN: The Narcissist Lost the Debate
DONALD TRUMP LOST TUESDAY NIGHT’S DEBATE for many reasons. In theory, some of his mistakes could be fixed. Some Republican politicians are blaming his debate prep team and suggesting that officials in his campaign should be fired.
But Trump’s problem is bigger than a bad debate. He can’t fire the person responsible for his bad performance, because that person is himself. And he can’t repair his many bad answers, because those answers were driven by a fundamental defect: He simply doesn’t care about other people.
MONA CHAREN: The Deepest Difference Between Trump and Harris
IN THE WIZARD OF OZ, the stentorian power of the great Oz is revealed to be a sham when Toto the dog (how apt) pulls back the curtain to unveil a squat, middle-aged man speaking into a microphone. Oz’s power was all artifice.
There were many such moments in the Harris/Trump debate. Kamala Harris pulled the curtain to reveal a shallow, insecure, addled bully so easily baited that he lapsed into raging and sputtering rather than prosecuting a case against his opponent.
A.B. STODDARD: Swift’s Endorsement Caps Harris’s Epic Night
THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT dropping her endorsement of Kamala Harris on Instagram right after the vice president mopped the floor with Donald Trump at the debate last night.
It was girl power.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Due to the amount of content from the debate, today’s Overtime section will be shorter than usual.
It’s Thursday, September 11. I hope that you’re having a great evening on this meaningful day in our nation’s history. This picture by Garrett Graff on Instagram stuck with me recently, as I, too, distinctly remember the sky on that fateful day. Today’s sky was kind of like that. If you’ve never read it, go read his Politico instant classic “We’re the Only Plane in the Sky.” (And the book is fantastic.) Brings back a lot of memories.
How Swing Voters Reacted… to the Trump-Harris Debate, by Sarah Longwell in The Atlantic 🎁.
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.