Vice President Kamala Harris is likely “drinking champagne” after her presidential debate performance against her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, a guest on Russian state TV said.
The remarks were made during an episode of the current affairs show Mesto Vstrechi (Meeting Place) on the NTV channel, which was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Julia Davis, the founder of the Russia Media Monitor watchdog group.
“Meanwhile in Russia: hosts and experts were shocked and dismayed by the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump,” Davis said on Wednesday, sharing the clip.
The debate between Harris and Trump on Tuesday night was held less than two months before Americans will cast their ballots in the 2024 presidential election. It marked the first time the two candidates debated, and it could potentially be their only debate before November’s election.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (R) shakes hands with former U.S. President Donald Trump during a presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 2024. Russian state TV guests weighed in on the debate.
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
The pair clashed on several key issues—including immigration, economy, foreign policy, abortion, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—during the 1 hour and 45 minutes presidential debate viewed by an estimated 67.1 million people.
Trump was swiftly corrected by an ABC News moderator when he claimed that Haitian immigrants were eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio. Harris was handed a boost with an endorsement from American pop superstar Taylor Swift on social media shortly after the debate ended.
“Kamala Harris’ campaign HQ popped champagne, and Trump’s campaign HQ did not,” Alexey Naumov, a Russian political scientist, said on state TV. “She managed to lure Trump into every trap that she set for him.”
Meanwhile in Russia: hosts and experts were shocked and dismayed by the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. This and more in my latest article, linked below ⤵️https://t.co/NK8I8cbViL
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) September 12, 2024
“Your goal as a candidate is to attract the undecided voters and to show your moderate side, and you say, ‘illegals are devouring dogs’—this sounds like a premise from hell,” Naumov said. “It attracted no one to [Trump’s] side. His supporters, who worry for their dogs, are already on his side. He had to attract undecided voters. He failed to do so.”
He said: “That’s why Mrs. Harris is the one drinking champagne.”
Gevorg Mirzayan, research fellow at the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies, a Russian think tank, appeared unimpressed with Harris’ debate performance.
“If we consider it to be a victory for Harris to prove that she is not a complete fool, knows how to read, and can form a sentence of three words, then yes, she fulfilled her goal. Is this a goal for a presidential candidate?” he asked.
Ivan Trushkin, co-host of the show, said Harris “came off as a forward-looking woman” in Tuesday’s debate.
“Trump was hunched over. He kept talking about Biden, kept talking about the past. She is looking to the future. He’s an old gramps who keeps looking back to the past,” Trushkin said.
Harris “trashed Trump, smashed him to pieces,” said Kirill Strelnikov, political observer for state-run news agency RIA Novosti.
“I think Kamala Harris is the next president of America. She doesn’t need any other debates. There will be no more debates. She has nothing left to prove,” Strelnikov said.
He added: “The Democrats have a colossal, ironclad argument against any attempts by Republicans to question the outcome of voting. Everyone saw who is worthy of becoming the next president of the United States.”
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova downplayed the debate, calling it a “show.”
“To be honest, I don’t know why you think that’s big news,” she told Sputnik Radio. “Is that big news that we could see yet another show performed by people who clearly take no responsibility whatsoever for their words?”
Zakharova said, “It’s strange to her to hear two people…actually discussing how they will punish the entire world and for what.”
“You should answer for your sins, at least for the second half of the 20th century, for a couple of decades. At least sort things out with yourselves in Afghanistan, with yourselves in Iraq. At least ask each other: ‘Have you managed to do anything anywhere without staining yourselves with blood?'” she added.
The Kremlin previously said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not planning to watch the debate between Trump and Harris.
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