Two months before the General Election, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump faced off and engaged in a fiery debate. (Photo Courtesy of ABC News)

On Tuesday, September 10th, I spent a good hour and a half watching what felt like bad reality television. It’s pretty obvious that presidential debates are important, especially since the debaters are meant to represent a nation so you’d expect them to hold themselves with a certain level of grace, confidence, and diplomacy. You do not, however, expect the two people meant to speak for an entire country to squabble like children.

While the initial start of the debate started out well, with the two shaking hands and introducing themselves, it all started to go downhill from there. Unfortunately for America, our two candidates’ ability to present themselves with grace diminished the second the first question was asked. Both candidates had numerous incidents where they cut the other off. 

When asked by moderators about their plans on abortion rights, Former President Trump began to respond before being cut off. “Would you do that? Why don’t you ask her that question –” he said, before promptly being stopped as Kamala Harris, the current Vice President said, “Why don’t you answer the question would you veto –” she said, before quickly being cut off by Trump. “That’s the problem. Because under Roe v. Wade.-” 

I could hardly believe that either one of the two would be our future president, especially when they can barely debate in a substantive way. 

When it came to immigration, Harris managed to turn the conversation to Trump’s rallies. How this had anything to do with it, I have no idea. Trump then responded, rather heatedly, by insulting her campaigns in retaliation and saying “People don’t go to her rallies. There’s no reason to go. And the people that do go, she’s bussing them in and paying them to be there. And then showing them in a different light. So, she can’t talk about that,” and this was barely even a quarter way through the debate. 

A few more minor verbal altercations took place all the way up until Trump began to speak on Joe Biden, the current President of the United States. “But when this weak pathetic man that you saw at a debate just a few months ago said that if he weren’t in that debate he’d be running instead of her, she got no votes, he got 14 million votes, what you did, you talk about a threat to democracy. He got 14 million votes and they threw him out of office. And you know what? I’ll give you a little secret. He hates her. He can’t stand her.” This was said in the context of world leaders weighing in their opinions on America and its leaders. This felt redundant and honestly felt as if he was more focused on insulting rather than answering properly. 

And clearly that wasn’t enough for Trump because after answering a question on the Russia-Ukraine war, he decided that the best course of action would be to critique Harris and say, “She goes down as the worst vice president in the history of our country. But let me tell you something. She is a horrible negotiator.” 

Putting political views aside, this was an embarrassment for our nation as a whole. With that said, you expect a certain level of propriety from both sides. You expect potential presidents to introduce themselves in a respectable, well mannered way. Instead, we are left with two nominees who’s debate consists of thinly veiled insults and cutting the other off. 

Which begs the question: What happened to decorum? 

We all share differing views, see things in different ways, and, at times, have opposing beliefs, but I’m sure we can all agree that this debate was akin to watching two children bicker over who stole whose lunch money. Fortunately, there aren’t any more presidential debates scheduled after this, I’m not sure our country would be able to survive the humiliation.