DEBATABLE: In his campaign to win the presidency through fear, Donald Trump last night repeated the internet myth that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating household pets. “The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

  He painted a picture of darkness. “Our country is being lost,” Trump said. “We’re a failing nation. And it happened three and a half years ago. And what, what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War III.”

  Harris often responded without words, but with facial expressions. She gave him an arched brow, a quiet sigh, a dismissive hand on her chin. She laughed, shook her head, and even gave a look of pity

  The morning after analysis of last night’s debate is that while Trump spewed lies and fictions, Kamala Harris was calm and even presidential. The problem is that Trump sounds rational when he’s not.

   You can’t keep up with the Trump lies.

   He said tariffs do not raise prices … they do.

   He said Democrats are trying to get illegal immigrants to vote … they’re not.

   Trump said Harris is a Marxist, “everybody knows that.” … she is not.

   He claimed that abortion laws in some states are so extreme that you can execute the baby after it’s born. There is no state where murder is legal.

   He said crime is up and through the roof. It is lower than when he was president.

   Trump bragged that he has good relations with the world’s dictators and strongmen. He said he has the support of Hungary’s near dictator Viktor Orbán, “one of the most respected men.” Harris said world leaders are laughing at Trump.

  Harris took her game straight to Trump as she walked on stage, striding to the former president, shaking his hand, and announcing herself, “Kamala Harris.”

She kept to her game with prepared responses, plans for the economy, border control, affordable housing, and her campaign slogans such as the “Opportunity Economy” and “We’re not going back.” 

  At times Harris dodged like the professional politician that she is, for instance on the issue of fracking in Pennsylvania. Going for the Bro’ vote, she said she and running mate Tim Walz are gun owners.

  At the end Harris got a boost from pop star Taylor Swift who endorsed the Vice President and signed her message, “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady”

  The morning after assessment is that Harris clearly won the debate, but the question is whether people paying more for gas, groceries, and housing notic ed or even care.

CAT MAN: After spreading rumors that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were snatching household pets and eating them, Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance merely said, “It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”

  Then he went on to whip up fear of immigrants saying, “That a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here. That local health services have been overwhelmed. That communicable diseases–like TB and HIV–have been on the rise. That local schools have struggled to keep up with newcomers who don’t know English. That rents have risen so fast that many Springfield families can’t afford to put a roof over their head.”

POLITICAL AND POSTHUMOUS: The 13 US service members killed in the 2021 suicide bombing in Kabul during the military’s messy withdrawal from Afghanistan were posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in a ceremony yesterday at the Capitol. 

  Donald Trump and his Republican backers have made an issue out of those deaths and that Vice President Kamala Harris never met with the families. Just short of 2,000 American service members were killed in Afghanistan and only those 13 have been recognized with the Congressional Gold Medal.

CHANNELING: Saturday Night Live players Chloe Troast and Punkie Johnson, who played Kamala Harris, are not returning this season. Harris will be played by SNL veteran Maya Rudolph.

  Coming back are mainstays Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, James Austin Johnson, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson and Bowen Yang. 

THE OBIT PAGE: Will Jennings, an English professor turned lyricist who won an Oscar for “My Heart Will Go On,” the theme song from the movie “Titanic,” has died at age 80 in Tyler, Texas. He also wrote hits for musicians Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, and Dionne Warwick. 

THE SPIN RACK: The Missouri Supreme Court overturned a county judge’s ruling and allowed a constitutional amendment legalizing abortion in that state to remain on the November ballot. — The average price of a gallon of gasoline in August was down 12 percent from August 2023. — The Securities and Exchange Commission says that Keurig’s coffee pods are not as recyclable as the company claims. — The man who killed Ugandan Olympic marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei by dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire, has also died of burns sustained in the incident. — Today is the 23^rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were expected to attend ceremonies in New York.

BELOW THE FOLD: Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, one of the court’s more freebie-loving members, recently reported receiving $900 concert tickets from a prominent German conservative activist, Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis. She says she’s personal friends with the Alitos.

  The question is whether disclosure excuses corruption. But we also just wanted to write a story including the name, “Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis.”

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