There’s no Debate About the Influence of Social Media and American Politics.

The debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump revealed an aspect of politics hidden by previous debates: humor.

By: Daimler Koch, Online Editor

On the night of September 10, many Americans dialed in on their TVs and devices, and watched what was perhaps one of the most entertaining broadcasts in recent American history. From Donald Trump falsely claiming that Springfield, Ohio’s immigrants were eating cats and dogs to Kamala Harris flaming Trump for being “fired by 81 million people,” it seems as if a kind of dark comedy has entered into politics this time around – and probably for a long while, too.

Surprisingly, televised presidential debates were a fairly recent invention in American politics. The first major one was between JFK and Richard Nixon, a debate that was broadcasted on both radio and TV. Its sway was unmistakable: those who listened said that Nixon performed better, but those who watched said that JFK had the better showing, as he looked far more composed than the sweaty, unshaven Nixon.

The popularity of presidential debates only continued to climb. The most viewed presidential debate in U.S. history is the Hillary Clinton-Trump debate in 2016, which clocked in at 84 million viewers. The Jimmy Carter-Ronald Reagan debate comes in second at 80.6 million views, with Trump and Joe Biden’s debate in 2020 garnering 73.1 million viewers.

One might call it challenging to find a debate that might be considered funny. Triumphant? Yes. Dismal and disheartening? Also yes. But none as outright humorous as the Harris-Trump debate, which, if you’re curious, clocked in at 67 million viewers on Tuesday night. 

The way Harris set up so many traps to let Trump expose his own stupidity is a rhetorical marvel. His outlandish claims and defensive remarks – and the slow dawning on viewers that this is somehow one of the best America has to offer for the presidency – makes one realize how quickly one can fall from appearing to be an unstoppable force to the most clownish of farces in two hours. And if you do not believe this, ask his Republican friends – or the man himself, for that matter. According to a Republican strategist who talked to Politico, “He is taking all the bait from Kamala and not focused on her being a part of the current administration and awful policies. Simple strategy that he is not executing. Total missed opportunity and failure from Trump.”

It is possible that Trump will be seen this way for a while, at least through election day, due to the myriad of news stories, TikToks, and yes, memes pointing out his buffoonery on social media. In fact, Americans have probably learned more about the candidates online than through this debate, which is another layer of irony and deviation from the debate norm.

In a time when information did not spread as quickly, these debates served as precious windows into not just the policies but the characters of the candidates, too often condensed into brief news stories on televisions and in newspapers. Now, though, voters see them all the time, whether they would like to or not, and know far more about them than candidates can ever project onto a TV camera.

And, to be honest, that’s pretty funny.