(gentle bright music) - Okay, gentlemen, so the early indicators are that Kamala Harris won the debate.

Nolan, you first, what do you make of that headline?

- Well, I think she won decisively.

I mean, I don't know that I would say it was because of a sterling performance on her part.

Just I think Donald Trump was nearly as bad in that debate as Joe Biden was in the first debate.

And, you know, when he gets flustered, when you get under his skin, he falls apart, and he just was all over the place.

I don't even think folks who are on his team thought he did all that well.

I mean, she did good in terms of her ability to take this debate to him, but still was evasive on questions.

And one of the things we needed from her last night was some revelations about who she was, and we didn't get a whole lot of that.

You know, it was her first live unscripted appearance and we still don't know answers to a lot of the key questions.

- Stephen.

- So how high on the checklist of don't dos for Donald Trump do you think was, "Hey, don't talk about that dog-eating thing in Springfield, Ohio"?

Like, how many times did his advisors probably say to him, "You know, just don't bring that up.

It's not gonna help you during the debate."

And, of course, she baited him very, very skillfully, which, you know, she can, she's a prosecutor.

I mean, this is somebody who is very accustomed to leading people to say things that maybe they're a little reluctant to say or that they've been told that they shouldn't say.

She got him real early.

And once he was off the rails, he couldn't find his way back on.

- No.

- I mean, the lack of focus and discipline was the debate after that point.

- That's right, I mean, he's an easy target when it comes to taking him off the rails, getting under his skin, and she was very, very good at that all night long.

You know, touching his hot buttons, "Nobody stays at your rallies."

You know, he took the bait every single time.

And you've gotta believe, if he did preparation, they say he did, you know, he's not really known for debate prep.

I mean, he didn't prep at all for his debate with Joe Biden in 2020, and, you know, so he showed up again thinking his sheer brilliance was gonna carry them through this.

You know, instead of, turning things around and taking this back to her, he took every piece of bait she threw out there, she kept him on the defensive all night long.

- Yeah, so I do think though, and I agree that there wasn't a whole lot of substance at the debate from either side, there never really is, debates aren't the place, it's not a policy lecture, but we did get some specific ideas from her.

This idea of a $50,000 credit for people who wanna start businesses, expanding the child tax credit so that it's $6,000.

There were a number of other sort of economic initiatives that she laid out.

But more important than anything I think is this vision she kept coming back to, of us seeing in each other more in common than what we see different, of us looking to the future together and working together to get to the future.

There was some very soaring language that she went to over and over again, all of it scripted, no question this was planned.

But I think that, if you're an undecided voter in this race, you are more likely to find that appealing than, you know, name calling, or denigration of the opponent, or of immigrants, or some of the other folks that Donald Trump took after last night.

And I think on that score, he lost much more spectacularly.

I mean, he was undisciplined and unfocused during the debate, I think everybody expected him to do that, but he has got to appeal to people who want something better.

And she laid out some things that she said would be better, but more than that, she talked about them in that optimistic togetherness tone that I think is awfully powerful at this stage in the presidential race.

- Nolan, I'm curious from your standpoint, the candidates needed to do two things on Tuesday night.

They needed to get their base, you know, excited and riled up.

I think, check, both candidates did that.

But they needed as well to persuade the persuadables.

In your mind, did former President Donald Trump do anything, to Stephen's point, to get some of these independent undeciders to go, "Yes, this is the candidate I wanna vote for come November?"

- You know, I don't think Donald Trump's gonna move those.

I think it'll be Harris who moves those voters one way or the other.

And one of the things we didn't hear from her is a clear separation from the last four years, and the last four years have not been great for people.

You have a lot of dissatisfaction out there, a lot of angst and anxiety still.

People have been through some rough times during the Biden administration.

I don't think she effectively separated herself from that.

She never answered the question that was asked to her about, "Is America better off than they were when you all took over four years ago?"

There was no talk about debt and deficits.

And all these, you know, wonderful plans that were being thrown out cost money, and we're running this year a $2 trillion deficit.

And I thought the moderators were amiss in not asking, "Hey, how are we gonna pay for all this?"

And I think Trump missed an opportunity in not pressing her on, "How are we gonna pay for all this?

What are we gonna cut?

What aren't we gonna do?"

- Do you think that this optimistic message then that the vice president is really working hard on, this sort of joyful warrior, can overcome some of these questions and real concerns that voters still have about the economy?

We've got about a minute left.

- Yeah, I mean, we'll see.

I mean, look, this narrative that Republicans are pushing about the last four years being miserable is, of course, selective.

Inflation is high, that's true.

But unemployment is 2% now, it was 7% when Donald Trump left office.

- 6.1.

- The Dow hit 40,000 recently.

People who are investors are making all kinds of money.

My house is worth 40% more today than it was in 2021.

There are all kinds of indicators that the economy is actually turning along.

It's that inflation, the things that you see at the grocery store and the gas pump are going wrong.

They've gotta be more disciplined about what that message is, that it is a complicated picture, and that if they've got a solution for inflation, they need to talk about it.

But the other things that we measure the economy by are going wonderfully, and they are certainly going way better than they were when Donald Trump left office.

I mean, the last two Republican presidents have left spectacular messes for Democrats to clean up.

That's the message that Kamala Harris needs to focus on.

- Look, gentlemen, as always, never enough time.

We have to leave it there, but we still got two more months to talk all about this, and, who knows, possibly even another debate.

So thanks so much, you two.