September 18, 2024 • 31 mins
Join Samuel, Tyler, and Lia as they unpack the latest fallout from the high-stakes debate between Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. They dive into the heated rhetoric surrounding Haitian immigrants and the rising tide of political violence in the U.S. Beyond the national headlines, the team also sheds light on key local races, including the Pennsylvania Senate race and House District 10, and why they deserve just as much attention. Don't miss this critical conversation!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
[MUSIC]
(00:08):
>> Hello and welcome to next Gen P.A.
My name is Samuel Pimental and I'm joined by my co-hosts.
>> Hi, I'm Tyler.
>> Hi, I'm Lia.
>> Now, it's no secret that this is a heated election.
And just coming out of debate,
there certainly is a shake up as well.
(00:30):
There always is after a presidential debate of this scale.
And today, I am so excited to talk about the effects of this debate.
How it will change the top of the ticket,
but as well as the down ballot candidates and issues as well.
And I really do want to start off by talking about this debate.
As I feel like there's just a lot to unpack here.
(00:51):
And Tyler, I really want to get your thoughts on this.
What did you think of the debate?
What do you think some of the effects would be?
>> I just general take away from what happened.
>> Yes, so thank you, Sam.
First off, I believe that this was a very good debate in terms of the formatting.
I really appreciated that there was real-time fact checking.
(01:11):
I thought the moderators did a good job generally of keeping everyone within their times.
Although I saw there was like,
an a little uneven in terms of the end about who had the chance to get the final point on each subject.
But I think in terms of rhetoric,
I thought Kamla came definitely prepared in terms of her prep on each topic.
(01:35):
She definitely tried to make herself sound confident and be more concise and more moderate on some of the topics.
Whereas Trump seemed less prepared in terms of the points he wanted to hit.
He generally seemed to want to tie her thing back to immigration.
But he kind of fell for those little hooks and baits as a lot of people noticed the talks about their allies is kind of a sore point for him.
(02:05):
So I thought with Trump coming back to the spin run after the entire debate,
it definitely felt like they didn't want those headlines to kind of be just about the debate.
And one headline they did create, of course, as everyone knows, was the topic of the Haitian remembrance.
His run-of-meat Vadevance kind of populized that and kind of blew up all over social media, particularly Twitter.
(02:34):
It's very dangerous to put an unsubstantiated claim like that on national television,
especially when that's a community where there has been a large influx of immigrants.
And we already know that like racial tensions.
It's an impact of immigration on different communities is kind of like under great scrutiny all across the US for many different groups.
(03:03):
So I think that will prove to be a misstep in the long run as I definitely feel that people are seeing like this was a community that was struggling.
The Haitian immigrant students just magically moved there and people have had good things to say that they've been working hard.
And I've seen lots of posts about their businesses being supported.
(03:25):
So I think that the overall theme of there's one ticket is more divisive.
Another ticket that's kind of being more inclusive and trying to be uplifting and positive definitely stood out to me in terms of optimism versus the negativity regarding kind of the fair of America right now.
(03:46):
And Leah, what were your thoughts on the debate? What takeaways did you have?
Yeah, I agree with a lot of Tyler's points.
Overall, I was pretty like happy with the debate in that comparing it to the previous debate with Biden versus Trump.
I think that it was a lot stronger in that at least Kamala, she had a lot more like prep done.
(04:12):
So I think it flowed better and stuff and they were able to like kind of narrow down some specific topics and it was less rambuly.
Overall, I think that it was pretty disappointing and kind of shocking some of the points that Trump was making.
(04:32):
But also, I think that Harris did a good job with backing her points up and like putting in context for her potential policies and lines of reasoning behind her political moves.
(04:54):
I do want to ask some, so there are many thoughts about the candidates and I'm curious to see what you guys thought biggest strength reach one was and biggest weakness as we talked about some Trump's weaknesses with the patient immigrant comments, but I'm curious to see what you thought they did both did well and both did wrong.
(05:15):
I think that in terms of Kamala, one of her strengths was I think she was a strong speaker.
She was able to back up a lot of her points and like for example, I thought that the first topic when they were talking about the economy, she was able to like clearly say, if I were elected, these are what I would, the things I would implement to uplift like the middle class with her texture.
(05:45):
And then compare that with Trump's intended policies and how different sources like Goldman Sachs and then the war in school would like say that that could be potentially bad for the economy.
So I was like kind of drawn to that. I think that was really smart.
(06:08):
In terms of her like negatives, I think Trump made this one point, but he kind of kept like talking about her role as vice president and how in Biden's presidency, it hasn't been like super positive.
Like it hasn't had great like ratings. So I think that to some degree was valid like, okay, if she's like in such a high position, like will she be able to do what she said she's going to be able to do.
(06:43):
So yeah, and then with Trump, I think definitely his negatives were the comments about the immigrants and migrant workers.
That was really bad. Like when you're campaigning and stuff, you're not going to want to like put down those groups so harshly.
Like, you're not going to gain support.
(07:05):
So then positives, I don't know, maybe.
Okay, well, we'll give you some time to think Tyler, what were your things for that?
Yes, I guess it may be a bit tough to think of positives in terms of Trump's performance, but I will say it's kind of a positive for Trump in general is that some way he finds a way to always make the attention be framed about him.
(07:33):
So generally, the national headlines after the debate were what did Trump say, what did Trump do?
Like the concepts of a plan thing is a really bad look, but there's still people of his base. They're going to take that and run with it.
So I think that's kind of his one thing is he always has kind of that attention on him, which is a positive or negative depending on it's probably a positive for him, but a negative based off things he says.
(08:03):
But I agree, Kamala was very generally well spoken. She definitely addressed the points better than Trump did and she stayed more focused and she didn't react to anything that he was trying to throw at her in terms of like the Marxist comments or any type of things to get her riled up.
(08:23):
She just generally kind of and she started the debate with the handshake and kept those kind of positive formalities kind of what we would expect from politician.
So I think she definitely made herself seem more of a kind of a strong political candidate to maybe some people aren't really aware of what she's done or who she is.
(08:44):
She comes off as like a leader versus kind of the bully talk a lot of people talk about Trump comes off more as like an aggressor or kind of assertive.
And I think her points that one point that really stuck well for her was talking about the world leaders and how they react to the Trump and the comments that people are laughing at him and his policies or his rhetoric internationally.
(09:11):
So I think her her positive would be that I think a negative could be also the that talk that Trump is kind of point to her the points about fracking or kind of points where she's either changed her position or potentially could change her position kind of creating more doubt about like what is her political status or policies.
(09:32):
How is she differentiating herself from the Biden administration. Does she differentiate herself.
So I think that's a point she's also working at is making sure people see her as her own candidate.
And I think with Walz they're also doing a good job of kind of him supporting her enough with her.
I do think those are very good points and are very true as Trump for as he's been running for a long while.
(10:00):
I think has established himself already as his own candidate right people you think of Donald Trump.
You can pretty much pick out positions rhetoric and style.
I do think com love while on that track she does have some ways to go with really differentiating herself from Biden.
I do think in the next couple months we'll kind of see where that lands.
(10:20):
Now this is slightly on topic but just a developing story.
Apparently there were gunshots outside of Trump's golf course where he was at.
I know that's not really what I was expecting to see today but it is quite concerning how much this is happening around our presidential candidates.
(10:43):
And I guess I want to get your guys's reaction to that developing story and what you think about the fact that our candidates are really being put in danger right now.
And Lia will start with you.
Yeah that's kind of shocking. I mean I think when Trump had this assassination attempt before it like really riled the nation up.
(11:05):
So I think it's just like heightening the tensions leading up to an already really tense election.
Tyler. Yes I think it's very concerning because for elections to occur you at least need two things and that's the security and safety of the candidates.
(11:30):
And then the willingness to pass on the torch to the to winning party and to concede if you lose.
So I think we're so politically charged and things are so dangerous with just like the safety of candidates where things are becoming more.
Not necessarily dangerous for people around the candidates but for the candidates themselves.
(11:55):
Like this would technically be the second plus time Trump's been in danger and you know we've had threats.
Just in general recently for schools back to the Asian issue in the communities.
So I think it's kind of what's the emphasis that violence is an issue where it's schools communities families.
(12:21):
Everything we do is very very charged so I hope that's not a serious attempt.
Maybe most likely not a false alarm but something definitely to keep an eye out.
And I think it also comes back back to the last assassination attempts where their security has to be very very secure because any attempts on a president's life or any type of dangerous event for the people around them kind of very massive ramifications especially within the last 100 days of an election.
(13:01):
I definitely agree with those points and while it seems that from what I am reading and it's developing story of course what I am reading is that they were in his vicinity.
Not necessarily directly towards him. It's still very concerning that a gunshots would be fired within a former president's vicinity.
And I think it really speaks to the fact that there is violence in this country and I did feel while we heard about it.
(13:28):
We heard there is violence at the debate. We didn't get many solutions and that comes from both candidates. I don't feel many of them offered policy positions on it.
And I want to hear your guys' thoughts on what do you think they need to be talking about more?
What do you think you get here enough about whether it be specific issues or just general ideas that we need to hear more of and Tyler I'll start with you this time.
(13:53):
Yes so one big thing that stood out to me and also a lot of other people that are concerned about climate change.
It was not one of the first couple questions asked.
Kind of fell into the last hour, hour and a half of the first hour and hour and a half was the love of immigration abortion.
(14:15):
Different issues but climate change is definitely kind of an issue that kind of great impacts particularly pertain to immigration as well.
Which wasn't really brought up at all. In terms of policies I don't really expect the Trump administration to have much concern regarding that but I still believe it should be kind of something that those candidates have pushed kind of to respond to because we're closing in on 2025.
(14:46):
The next administration will be in charge close to 2030. The warnings kind of the policies, the impacts that are being felt around the world.
Eventually we will run out of time. We want to be proactive in kind of fighting climate change and yet it kind of seems like it's it's an afterthought.
(15:09):
So I would hope that that's something that would be addressed policy wise administration. I know it's not the sexiest topic so an debate maybe that's probably why it's not pushed more but that those were my thoughts.
I'm sorry, a topic needs to be addressed more.
Lia, your thoughts?
Yeah, I instantly agree. The whole time like the debate was happening, the moderator like especially like David Lawyer, like he is camping like okay we have a lot to talk about.
(15:41):
Let's move on stuff. So I think that maybe some of the smaller points that were maybe like kind of crammed into it's the later part could have been a spending one.
Like I think also like gotten control and like that aspect I think was one maybe where like is a huge issue in our country.
(16:07):
Honestly, like just like recently you've already started hearing about school shooting and like barely into the first couple weeks of school.
Like it's a huge issue so I think that maybe that was one of the points that they could have touched more on.
I certainly agree with both those points. I mean you had fortunately the tragic shooting in Georgia recently which took many people's lives.
(16:33):
And I feel nobody whether you take a conservative or liberal position on it is talking about how to fix it right.
I mean everyone has different ideals and we want to hear those ideals we want to hear the conservative side how to fix one here liberal side and yet.
I don't debate you don't get that and same with climate change I mean even if you don't necessarily believe it's an issue which differs person by person some people do believe it's an issue some people don't but nobody brought it up anyway nobody taught brought up energy shortages nobody brought up how to produce energy.
(17:07):
And these are big issues I mean you do have global warming didn't hear much about it you do have brown outs in some states with power didn't hear much about it so it is concerning that people running our country either aren't aware or don't care about the issues facing us.
And now we've spent so much time talking about the top to ticket and I think it's important to have the ticket tickets a huge deal.
(17:32):
But what if we move down let's move down to a little more local and Pennsylvania the Casey/McCormick race what are our thoughts on that based on what we're seeing on the polls and candidate positions we haven't heard much about it let's be honest it's been a very quiet Senate race I think most people can agree in 2022.
Fenderman and Oz was a huge deal because it was close and understandably if same McCormick was leading 20 points in every poll or Casey leading 20 points in every poll I would understand why you would hear much about it but it's close I mean the polls basically have them virtually tied.
(18:08):
Some have Casey with more of a slight lead but still pretty much a close race and yet where's the publicity on it they already had a debate and I can guarantee you most people don't realize it and didn't watch it.
We all watched the federal minnows debate but we didn't watch the Casey McCormick debate Tyler I want to get your thoughts on this race in particular.
(18:29):
Yes so I think kind of the general election soaked up so much of that attention but we can't forget that the local kind of electorates really do have an impact on our lives.
Maybe the candidates are seen as boring by a lot of people.
I don't know it's tough because you would think with elections in the schools being so politicized like every position in government should be really tight especially in Pennsylvania but it does seem that it's kind of an afterthought which I don't know that's a benefit of to Casey as the incumbent or for McCormick that the polls are showing it's close.
(19:15):
I bet it's really hard to read kind of what the turnout will be like for an election like that.
I would say in terms of McCormick's chances like being in Lancaster County I do see a lot of his ads.
Generally seems focused on immigration.
So I don't know if that's that's probably a key issue for most of voters in Lancaster County but I don't know
(19:41):
impact wise how those ramifications will affect the whole state. I feel like probably the greatest concern would be economy.
So in terms of the I don't know who has the lead but in terms of the election itself I think as we come up closer to it maybe we'll see something that kind of spurs it into the national news but I think maybe both the candidates prefer to be quiet.
(20:06):
I hope maybe just as a slight edge will get them in.
Well I think you mentioned with the candidates being seen as boring.
Don't you kind of want that from your senator?
I'm not sure if I necessarily want my senator to be outlandish and comical.
I would prefer and I do think it's great that you have a race with two candidates who are very respectful people and either one has said something outlandish.
(20:31):
Doesn't matter if you agree with the policy wise but you want your senator to be upstanding and these are the people who are voting for policies right.
The president cannot just make a policy and enacted they need Congress and they need Senate and it's important that we are aware of who we're electing.
Now one thing I will notice regarding to that election is I've seen many of Casey and many of the McCormick ads and they're both trying to tie them to top ticket.
(20:58):
So I do think in Pennsylvania what you're going to see is you're going to see the correlation between top ticket.
I think Harris wins Pennsylvania 90% chance it's going to be Casey of Trump wins Pennsylvania high chance it's going to be McCormick.
As McCormick has tied Casey to the Biden and thus Harris future heirs potentially administration while Casey is trying to tie the
(21:19):
McCormick to the past Trump potentially future Trump administration and I think that is really going to help kind of like we're going to see whatever naturally happens is going to help guide.
Now I also want to get even more local even more local to US congressional with the Stelston area race.
Now what are your thoughts on that your Lira Tariola you can start off.
(21:45):
I've heard even less about that and generally people in my area are very very supportive of Perry.
So I do think in terms of these races back to your point about the candidates being boring.
I think that is better. We don't really need to have salacious headlines for kind of local candidates.
(22:07):
It should be mostly policy based which I think they have.
So I do think in terms of the voting down party lines we're going to see a lot of that just because I think I've also seen a lot of people are burned out with our current political climate even if you are more liberal or more conservative.
Like people don't necessarily want this to be every part of their their day lives.
(22:32):
So they kind of either feed in only to the national general election or nothing at all.
I would like to see kind of more more ads more just kind of local meetups kind of with the constituents.
But it will be interesting to see kind of how Pennsylvania falls because it seems like there's not a really good read on the whole what the voter turnout will be like.
(23:01):
In my opinion I would think Philadelphia has to be generally energized but I don't know how that stands up to the rest of the state.
I really am glad that we have a state but that's kind of a background state where it's not just a clear wash for whoever.
I definitely agree with you on that point.
(23:24):
As in other states if you're in New York you pretty much know where how the state's going to turn out and due to the electoral college system your vote necessarily won't change the election as much as it say does in Pennsylvania.
Right. Pennsylvania. There's high chance you could Trump could win and his high chance Harris could win.
So I think there is something exciting about being in Pennsylvania and regardless of political affiliation to anybody listening please do go out and vote.
(23:51):
As if you want to see one candidate win this is how you do it you go out and you vote in battleground states.
Now Lia I just want to ask you on what's your opinion on the importance of local elections and should we be emphasizing them more and giving them more about media spotlight.
Yeah I was just going to say I think well I'm in high school so I can vote yet but when I think of like my peers and like the people I interact with.
(24:19):
Generally kids my age don't really think that much about local elections when kids are getting like political it's usually more like focused on the national level like Trump versus Harris and stuff which I think reflects just like how local elections do need more coverage because I feel like is it true that.
(24:48):
There's less like civic engagement with like local elections than there are national elections usually so I think it's important that people should do their research and vote locally because oftentimes that's what the local policies are most like directly affecting our day-to-day lives wherever we live so yeah.
(25:14):
That's certainly a good point I mean yeah president is a huge deal and a very important election right they will be heavily involved with foreign policy economics on a massive scale however locally with our state representatives state senators and even US representatives US senators.
They're the ones who are really putting in the policies that affect our daily lives right what you want your kids to be learning is based on the school board.
(25:42):
If you want your kids to have a more conservative education or more liberal education you have to vote to what you want your kids to learn I mean that's the beauty of Americans Republic Democratic Republic is that you can vote for people we're going to hopefully at least share some of your values and I think it is important that we do bring the media spotlight to it so people.
(26:04):
And live in the talented cities and states that reflect what they feel and they believe now I do want to get just some closing thoughts from both Leah and Tyler what do you think and what do you see for this election cycle and what do you hope to see and you hope to see a higher turnout what are the thoughts and start with Tyler.
So what do I hope to see well obviously I hope to see I turn out I hope that people are very engaged because I think.
(26:33):
With Roe v Wade being overturned what's the issue of immigration of gun violence being another topic that people are kind of.
Engaging with these topics and voting just because that nihilism of kind of like both parties sucks so why should I vote like that won't change anything and those issues are only going to continue to grow worse because.
(27:02):
People are going to stop kind of wanting to come to America gun violence will magically fade away.
Like if we are nihilistic then.
The politicians don't really have to do much to seek reelection so I think pushing turnout pushing votes writing letters kind of just engagement everywhere possible kind of.
(27:28):
Knowing blame politicians know that you're there and then trying to hold them accountable that's what I'd like to see in terms of the results of the election.
I don't really know who has a clear edge I can right now it kind of seems like after the debate he risk I would think we have a slight majority will see kind of the moves that Trump administration.
(27:50):
Like I saw just posted on true social he hates Taylor Swift that's probably not a great move so I feel like the depends on really the moves the Trump administration makes.
Because if they continue kind of to the bombastic and kind of aggressive in their moves I feel that's a losing strategy for them because the mega base is generally going to vote for them anyway.
(28:14):
Seems like the fight for moderates are on the side of voters is leaning towards Harris right now but we'll see certain events could come up that really frame the issue for one side or the other and that could be all it takes on election day.
We are your final thoughts.
(28:36):
Yeah, obviously I hope that civic turnout is good and that everyone should vote. I think that Biden dropping out of the race in the Harris is the new candidate was actually probably an official for like the Democrats and stuff because Harris seems a lot more like well spoken and I think that the debate went a lot better and
(29:00):
Trump obviously hasn't been having great luck with like his choices and also the Taylor Swift thing you brought up that Tyler brought up I think is really interesting with the whole younger generation the Gen Z vote they're trying to get young voters involved which brings up an interesting
(29:24):
idea of like how will the elections and campaigns change as time goes on and like younger people are voting. So I'm inclined to think that Harris is probably having the leg up from when I can tell right now and then also local elections.
(29:49):
I think Sam's point that national elections cannot determine how local elections might turn out is pretty good point and Pennsylvania's a swing state so it'll be interesting you see how that works out.
(30:10):
I certainly wanted second a lot of what was said during your closing remarks I think whoever's listening please do go out and vote and do your research to there's no reason why you unless you believe in the ideals have to vote party line we're allowed to split balance and I believe if you feel that way you should.
Because it is important to know who is running for your school board your city council your mayor elections governor same representative state senator these elections do influence your personal life and they are just so essential so valuable so do your research on presidential candidates of course but don't forget about the little guys to I want to thank you both for joining us today and I hope everyone has a safe and good week thank you.
(30:58):
Next Gen PA is a podcast for the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg for more information on the world affairs council of Harrisburg visit our website at wacharrisburg.org
(31:20):
[Music]
[MUSIC]
(00:08):
>> Hello and welcome to next Gen P.A.
My name is Samuel Pimental and I'm joined by my co-hosts.
>> Hi, I'm Tyler.
>> Hi, I'm Lia.
>> Now, it's no secret that this is a heated election.
And just coming out of debate,
there certainly is a shake up as well.
(00:30):
There always is after a presidential debate of this scale.
And today, I am so excited to talk about the effects of this debate.
How it will change the top of the ticket,
but as well as the down ballot candidates and issues as well.
And I really do want to start off by talking about this debate.
As I feel like there's just a lot to unpack here.
(00:51):
And Tyler, I really want to get your thoughts on this.
What did you think of the debate?
What do you think some of the effects would be?
>> I just general take away from what happened.
>> Yes, so thank you, Sam.
First off, I believe that this was a very good debate in terms of the formatting.
I really appreciated that there was real-time fact checking.
(01:11):
I thought the moderators did a good job generally of keeping everyone within their times.
Although I saw there was like,
an a little uneven in terms of the end about who had the chance to get the final point on each subject.
But I think in terms of rhetoric,
I thought Kamla came definitely prepared in terms of her prep on each topic.
(01:35):
She definitely tried to make herself sound confident and be more concise and more moderate on some of the topics.
Whereas Trump seemed less prepared in terms of the points he wanted to hit.
He generally seemed to want to tie her thing back to immigration.
But he kind of fell for those little hooks and baits as a lot of people noticed the talks about their allies is kind of a sore point for him.
(02:05):
So I thought with Trump coming back to the spin run after the entire debate,
it definitely felt like they didn't want those headlines to kind of be just about the debate.
And one headline they did create, of course, as everyone knows, was the topic of the Haitian remembrance.
His run-of-meat Vadevance kind of populized that and kind of blew up all over social media, particularly Twitter.
(02:34):
It's very dangerous to put an unsubstantiated claim like that on national television,
especially when that's a community where there has been a large influx of immigrants.
And we already know that like racial tensions.
It's an impact of immigration on different communities is kind of like under great scrutiny all across the US for many different groups.
(03:03):
So I think that will prove to be a misstep in the long run as I definitely feel that people are seeing like this was a community that was struggling.
The Haitian immigrant students just magically moved there and people have had good things to say that they've been working hard.
And I've seen lots of posts about their businesses being supported.
(03:25):
So I think that the overall theme of there's one ticket is more divisive.
Another ticket that's kind of being more inclusive and trying to be uplifting and positive definitely stood out to me in terms of optimism versus the negativity regarding kind of the fair of America right now.
(03:46):
And Leah, what were your thoughts on the debate? What takeaways did you have?
Yeah, I agree with a lot of Tyler's points.
Overall, I was pretty like happy with the debate in that comparing it to the previous debate with Biden versus Trump.
I think that it was a lot stronger in that at least Kamala, she had a lot more like prep done.
(04:12):
So I think it flowed better and stuff and they were able to like kind of narrow down some specific topics and it was less rambuly.
Overall, I think that it was pretty disappointing and kind of shocking some of the points that Trump was making.
(04:32):
But also, I think that Harris did a good job with backing her points up and like putting in context for her potential policies and lines of reasoning behind her political moves.
(04:54):
I do want to ask some, so there are many thoughts about the candidates and I'm curious to see what you guys thought biggest strength reach one was and biggest weakness as we talked about some Trump's weaknesses with the patient immigrant comments, but I'm curious to see what you thought they did both did well and both did wrong.
(05:15):
I think that in terms of Kamala, one of her strengths was I think she was a strong speaker.
She was able to back up a lot of her points and like for example, I thought that the first topic when they were talking about the economy, she was able to like clearly say, if I were elected, these are what I would, the things I would implement to uplift like the middle class with her texture.
(05:45):
And then compare that with Trump's intended policies and how different sources like Goldman Sachs and then the war in school would like say that that could be potentially bad for the economy.
So I was like kind of drawn to that. I think that was really smart.
(06:08):
In terms of her like negatives, I think Trump made this one point, but he kind of kept like talking about her role as vice president and how in Biden's presidency, it hasn't been like super positive.
Like it hasn't had great like ratings. So I think that to some degree was valid like, okay, if she's like in such a high position, like will she be able to do what she said she's going to be able to do.
(06:43):
So yeah, and then with Trump, I think definitely his negatives were the comments about the immigrants and migrant workers.
That was really bad. Like when you're campaigning and stuff, you're not going to want to like put down those groups so harshly.
Like, you're not going to gain support.
(07:05):
So then positives, I don't know, maybe.
Okay, well, we'll give you some time to think Tyler, what were your things for that?
Yes, I guess it may be a bit tough to think of positives in terms of Trump's performance, but I will say it's kind of a positive for Trump in general is that some way he finds a way to always make the attention be framed about him.
(07:33):
So generally, the national headlines after the debate were what did Trump say, what did Trump do?
Like the concepts of a plan thing is a really bad look, but there's still people of his base. They're going to take that and run with it.
So I think that's kind of his one thing is he always has kind of that attention on him, which is a positive or negative depending on it's probably a positive for him, but a negative based off things he says.
(08:03):
But I agree, Kamala was very generally well spoken. She definitely addressed the points better than Trump did and she stayed more focused and she didn't react to anything that he was trying to throw at her in terms of like the Marxist comments or any type of things to get her riled up.
(08:23):
She just generally kind of and she started the debate with the handshake and kept those kind of positive formalities kind of what we would expect from politician.
So I think she definitely made herself seem more of a kind of a strong political candidate to maybe some people aren't really aware of what she's done or who she is.
(08:44):
She comes off as like a leader versus kind of the bully talk a lot of people talk about Trump comes off more as like an aggressor or kind of assertive.
And I think her points that one point that really stuck well for her was talking about the world leaders and how they react to the Trump and the comments that people are laughing at him and his policies or his rhetoric internationally.
(09:11):
So I think her her positive would be that I think a negative could be also the that talk that Trump is kind of point to her the points about fracking or kind of points where she's either changed her position or potentially could change her position kind of creating more doubt about like what is her political status or policies.
(09:32):
How is she differentiating herself from the Biden administration. Does she differentiate herself.
So I think that's a point she's also working at is making sure people see her as her own candidate.
And I think with Walz they're also doing a good job of kind of him supporting her enough with her.
I do think those are very good points and are very true as Trump for as he's been running for a long while.
(10:00):
I think has established himself already as his own candidate right people you think of Donald Trump.
You can pretty much pick out positions rhetoric and style.
I do think com love while on that track she does have some ways to go with really differentiating herself from Biden.
I do think in the next couple months we'll kind of see where that lands.
(10:20):
Now this is slightly on topic but just a developing story.
Apparently there were gunshots outside of Trump's golf course where he was at.
I know that's not really what I was expecting to see today but it is quite concerning how much this is happening around our presidential candidates.
(10:43):
And I guess I want to get your guys's reaction to that developing story and what you think about the fact that our candidates are really being put in danger right now.
And Lia will start with you.
Yeah that's kind of shocking. I mean I think when Trump had this assassination attempt before it like really riled the nation up.
(11:05):
So I think it's just like heightening the tensions leading up to an already really tense election.
Tyler. Yes I think it's very concerning because for elections to occur you at least need two things and that's the security and safety of the candidates.
(11:30):
And then the willingness to pass on the torch to the to winning party and to concede if you lose.
So I think we're so politically charged and things are so dangerous with just like the safety of candidates where things are becoming more.
Not necessarily dangerous for people around the candidates but for the candidates themselves.
(11:55):
Like this would technically be the second plus time Trump's been in danger and you know we've had threats.
Just in general recently for schools back to the Asian issue in the communities.
So I think it's kind of what's the emphasis that violence is an issue where it's schools communities families.
(12:21):
Everything we do is very very charged so I hope that's not a serious attempt.
Maybe most likely not a false alarm but something definitely to keep an eye out.
And I think it also comes back back to the last assassination attempts where their security has to be very very secure because any attempts on a president's life or any type of dangerous event for the people around them kind of very massive ramifications especially within the last 100 days of an election.
(13:01):
I definitely agree with those points and while it seems that from what I am reading and it's developing story of course what I am reading is that they were in his vicinity.
Not necessarily directly towards him. It's still very concerning that a gunshots would be fired within a former president's vicinity.
And I think it really speaks to the fact that there is violence in this country and I did feel while we heard about it.
(13:28):
We heard there is violence at the debate. We didn't get many solutions and that comes from both candidates. I don't feel many of them offered policy positions on it.
And I want to hear your guys' thoughts on what do you think they need to be talking about more?
What do you think you get here enough about whether it be specific issues or just general ideas that we need to hear more of and Tyler I'll start with you this time.
(13:53):
Yes so one big thing that stood out to me and also a lot of other people that are concerned about climate change.
It was not one of the first couple questions asked.
Kind of fell into the last hour, hour and a half of the first hour and hour and a half was the love of immigration abortion.
(14:15):
Different issues but climate change is definitely kind of an issue that kind of great impacts particularly pertain to immigration as well.
Which wasn't really brought up at all. In terms of policies I don't really expect the Trump administration to have much concern regarding that but I still believe it should be kind of something that those candidates have pushed kind of to respond to because we're closing in on 2025.
(14:46):
The next administration will be in charge close to 2030. The warnings kind of the policies, the impacts that are being felt around the world.
Eventually we will run out of time. We want to be proactive in kind of fighting climate change and yet it kind of seems like it's it's an afterthought.
(15:09):
So I would hope that that's something that would be addressed policy wise administration. I know it's not the sexiest topic so an debate maybe that's probably why it's not pushed more but that those were my thoughts.
I'm sorry, a topic needs to be addressed more.
Lia, your thoughts?
Yeah, I instantly agree. The whole time like the debate was happening, the moderator like especially like David Lawyer, like he is camping like okay we have a lot to talk about.
(15:41):
Let's move on stuff. So I think that maybe some of the smaller points that were maybe like kind of crammed into it's the later part could have been a spending one.
Like I think also like gotten control and like that aspect I think was one maybe where like is a huge issue in our country.
(16:07):
Honestly, like just like recently you've already started hearing about school shooting and like barely into the first couple weeks of school.
Like it's a huge issue so I think that maybe that was one of the points that they could have touched more on.
I certainly agree with both those points. I mean you had fortunately the tragic shooting in Georgia recently which took many people's lives.
(16:33):
And I feel nobody whether you take a conservative or liberal position on it is talking about how to fix it right.
I mean everyone has different ideals and we want to hear those ideals we want to hear the conservative side how to fix one here liberal side and yet.
I don't debate you don't get that and same with climate change I mean even if you don't necessarily believe it's an issue which differs person by person some people do believe it's an issue some people don't but nobody brought it up anyway nobody taught brought up energy shortages nobody brought up how to produce energy.
(17:07):
And these are big issues I mean you do have global warming didn't hear much about it you do have brown outs in some states with power didn't hear much about it so it is concerning that people running our country either aren't aware or don't care about the issues facing us.
And now we've spent so much time talking about the top to ticket and I think it's important to have the ticket tickets a huge deal.
(17:32):
But what if we move down let's move down to a little more local and Pennsylvania the Casey/McCormick race what are our thoughts on that based on what we're seeing on the polls and candidate positions we haven't heard much about it let's be honest it's been a very quiet Senate race I think most people can agree in 2022.
Fenderman and Oz was a huge deal because it was close and understandably if same McCormick was leading 20 points in every poll or Casey leading 20 points in every poll I would understand why you would hear much about it but it's close I mean the polls basically have them virtually tied.
(18:08):
Some have Casey with more of a slight lead but still pretty much a close race and yet where's the publicity on it they already had a debate and I can guarantee you most people don't realize it and didn't watch it.
We all watched the federal minnows debate but we didn't watch the Casey McCormick debate Tyler I want to get your thoughts on this race in particular.
(18:29):
Yes so I think kind of the general election soaked up so much of that attention but we can't forget that the local kind of electorates really do have an impact on our lives.
Maybe the candidates are seen as boring by a lot of people.
I don't know it's tough because you would think with elections in the schools being so politicized like every position in government should be really tight especially in Pennsylvania but it does seem that it's kind of an afterthought which I don't know that's a benefit of to Casey as the incumbent or for McCormick that the polls are showing it's close.
(19:15):
I bet it's really hard to read kind of what the turnout will be like for an election like that.
I would say in terms of McCormick's chances like being in Lancaster County I do see a lot of his ads.
Generally seems focused on immigration.
So I don't know if that's that's probably a key issue for most of voters in Lancaster County but I don't know
(19:41):
impact wise how those ramifications will affect the whole state. I feel like probably the greatest concern would be economy.
So in terms of the I don't know who has the lead but in terms of the election itself I think as we come up closer to it maybe we'll see something that kind of spurs it into the national news but I think maybe both the candidates prefer to be quiet.
(20:06):
I hope maybe just as a slight edge will get them in.
Well I think you mentioned with the candidates being seen as boring.
Don't you kind of want that from your senator?
I'm not sure if I necessarily want my senator to be outlandish and comical.
I would prefer and I do think it's great that you have a race with two candidates who are very respectful people and either one has said something outlandish.
(20:31):
Doesn't matter if you agree with the policy wise but you want your senator to be upstanding and these are the people who are voting for policies right.
The president cannot just make a policy and enacted they need Congress and they need Senate and it's important that we are aware of who we're electing.
Now one thing I will notice regarding to that election is I've seen many of Casey and many of the McCormick ads and they're both trying to tie them to top ticket.
(20:58):
So I do think in Pennsylvania what you're going to see is you're going to see the correlation between top ticket.
I think Harris wins Pennsylvania 90% chance it's going to be Casey of Trump wins Pennsylvania high chance it's going to be McCormick.
As McCormick has tied Casey to the Biden and thus Harris future heirs potentially administration while Casey is trying to tie the
(21:19):
McCormick to the past Trump potentially future Trump administration and I think that is really going to help kind of like we're going to see whatever naturally happens is going to help guide.
Now I also want to get even more local even more local to US congressional with the Stelston area race.
Now what are your thoughts on that your Lira Tariola you can start off.
(21:45):
I've heard even less about that and generally people in my area are very very supportive of Perry.
So I do think in terms of these races back to your point about the candidates being boring.
I think that is better. We don't really need to have salacious headlines for kind of local candidates.
(22:07):
It should be mostly policy based which I think they have.
So I do think in terms of the voting down party lines we're going to see a lot of that just because I think I've also seen a lot of people are burned out with our current political climate even if you are more liberal or more conservative.
Like people don't necessarily want this to be every part of their their day lives.
(22:32):
So they kind of either feed in only to the national general election or nothing at all.
I would like to see kind of more more ads more just kind of local meetups kind of with the constituents.
But it will be interesting to see kind of how Pennsylvania falls because it seems like there's not a really good read on the whole what the voter turnout will be like.
(23:01):
In my opinion I would think Philadelphia has to be generally energized but I don't know how that stands up to the rest of the state.
I really am glad that we have a state but that's kind of a background state where it's not just a clear wash for whoever.
I definitely agree with you on that point.
(23:24):
As in other states if you're in New York you pretty much know where how the state's going to turn out and due to the electoral college system your vote necessarily won't change the election as much as it say does in Pennsylvania.
Right. Pennsylvania. There's high chance you could Trump could win and his high chance Harris could win.
So I think there is something exciting about being in Pennsylvania and regardless of political affiliation to anybody listening please do go out and vote.
(23:51):
As if you want to see one candidate win this is how you do it you go out and you vote in battleground states.
Now Lia I just want to ask you on what's your opinion on the importance of local elections and should we be emphasizing them more and giving them more about media spotlight.
Yeah I was just going to say I think well I'm in high school so I can vote yet but when I think of like my peers and like the people I interact with.
(24:19):
Generally kids my age don't really think that much about local elections when kids are getting like political it's usually more like focused on the national level like Trump versus Harris and stuff which I think reflects just like how local elections do need more coverage because I feel like is it true that.
(24:48):
There's less like civic engagement with like local elections than there are national elections usually so I think it's important that people should do their research and vote locally because oftentimes that's what the local policies are most like directly affecting our day-to-day lives wherever we live so yeah.
(25:14):
That's certainly a good point I mean yeah president is a huge deal and a very important election right they will be heavily involved with foreign policy economics on a massive scale however locally with our state representatives state senators and even US representatives US senators.
They're the ones who are really putting in the policies that affect our daily lives right what you want your kids to be learning is based on the school board.
(25:42):
If you want your kids to have a more conservative education or more liberal education you have to vote to what you want your kids to learn I mean that's the beauty of Americans Republic Democratic Republic is that you can vote for people we're going to hopefully at least share some of your values and I think it is important that we do bring the media spotlight to it so people.
(26:04):
And live in the talented cities and states that reflect what they feel and they believe now I do want to get just some closing thoughts from both Leah and Tyler what do you think and what do you see for this election cycle and what do you hope to see and you hope to see a higher turnout what are the thoughts and start with Tyler.
So what do I hope to see well obviously I hope to see I turn out I hope that people are very engaged because I think.
(26:33):
With Roe v Wade being overturned what's the issue of immigration of gun violence being another topic that people are kind of.
Engaging with these topics and voting just because that nihilism of kind of like both parties sucks so why should I vote like that won't change anything and those issues are only going to continue to grow worse because.
(27:02):
People are going to stop kind of wanting to come to America gun violence will magically fade away.
Like if we are nihilistic then.
The politicians don't really have to do much to seek reelection so I think pushing turnout pushing votes writing letters kind of just engagement everywhere possible kind of.
(27:28):
Knowing blame politicians know that you're there and then trying to hold them accountable that's what I'd like to see in terms of the results of the election.
I don't really know who has a clear edge I can right now it kind of seems like after the debate he risk I would think we have a slight majority will see kind of the moves that Trump administration.
(27:50):
Like I saw just posted on true social he hates Taylor Swift that's probably not a great move so I feel like the depends on really the moves the Trump administration makes.
Because if they continue kind of to the bombastic and kind of aggressive in their moves I feel that's a losing strategy for them because the mega base is generally going to vote for them anyway.
(28:14):
Seems like the fight for moderates are on the side of voters is leaning towards Harris right now but we'll see certain events could come up that really frame the issue for one side or the other and that could be all it takes on election day.
We are your final thoughts.
(28:36):
Yeah, obviously I hope that civic turnout is good and that everyone should vote. I think that Biden dropping out of the race in the Harris is the new candidate was actually probably an official for like the Democrats and stuff because Harris seems a lot more like well spoken and I think that the debate went a lot better and
(29:00):
Trump obviously hasn't been having great luck with like his choices and also the Taylor Swift thing you brought up that Tyler brought up I think is really interesting with the whole younger generation the Gen Z vote they're trying to get young voters involved which brings up an interesting
(29:24):
idea of like how will the elections and campaigns change as time goes on and like younger people are voting. So I'm inclined to think that Harris is probably having the leg up from when I can tell right now and then also local elections.
(29:49):
I think Sam's point that national elections cannot determine how local elections might turn out is pretty good point and Pennsylvania's a swing state so it'll be interesting you see how that works out.
(30:10):
I certainly wanted second a lot of what was said during your closing remarks I think whoever's listening please do go out and vote and do your research to there's no reason why you unless you believe in the ideals have to vote party line we're allowed to split balance and I believe if you feel that way you should.
Because it is important to know who is running for your school board your city council your mayor elections governor same representative state senator these elections do influence your personal life and they are just so essential so valuable so do your research on presidential candidates of course but don't forget about the little guys to I want to thank you both for joining us today and I hope everyone has a safe and good week thank you.
(30:58):
Next Gen PA is a podcast for the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg for more information on the world affairs council of Harrisburg visit our website at wacharrisburg.org
(31:20):
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