Harris Commands Debate with Trump

Harris kept Trump on the defensive during the debate

Tonight was the highly-anticipated debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, and there was little doubt who the winner was.

Broadcast on ABC, the two anchors asked the two candidates questions on abortion, the economy, and on foreign policy, such as the war in Ukraine and Afghanistan.

It should have been easier for Trump to attack the incumbent, but he lost his footing when she baited him about the crowd sizes of his rallies, how people leave because they're bored.

She went over to shake his hand at the start

Unable to keep it together, Trump rambled on about topics that had nothing to do with the questions that were asked, and what he said was mostly false, as the New York Times fact-checked both his and Harris' points. 

The most egregious was about Springfield, Ohio, where he claimed Haitian immigrants were eating people's pets. Harris for her part laughed that Trump resorted to pulling out this outrageous claim that he said he saw on television.

Perhaps the best part was when she chastised Trump for being weak, which is why dictators liked him.

"This dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again because they're so clear -- they can manipulate you with flattery and favours, and that is why so many military leaders who you have worked with, have told me you are a disgrace," she said.

Minutes after the debate was over superstar artist Taylor Swift published an Instagram post endorsing Harris and Tim Walz, and encouraged her Swifties to do their research and register to vote, and signed off as "Childless Cat Lady".

Swift publicly endorsed Harris after the debate

Walz found out about this live on TV with MSNBC, and was thrilled when Swift said she was impressed by his work supporting the LGBTQ community and women's reproductive rights. 

Seeing Trump and Harris tonight was literally night and day respectively; while he pitched darkness, negativity and hopelessness, she promoted change for the future, better lives and optimism.

It will be interesting to see the polling done after this debate, and what Trump's dictator buddies think of his chances now...

Walz's Passionate, Nuanced Stance on China

Hope, Gus, Tim and Gwen Walz at the DNC in Chicago tonight

Tonight US vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz took to the stage of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and explained to the audience who he was, and what he stood for. 

He is a former soldier, high school teacher, and football coach who was the brains behind labelling Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance as "weird".

During his 20-minute speech, Walz talked about growing up in Minnesota in a small town of 400 people, how there were only 24 students in his graduating class and how he and his wife spent years trying to conceive a baby and now have a son and a daughter.

Walz addressed Democrat delegates

He mentioned how they, Hope and Gus and his wife Gwen, "you are my entire world, and I love you", to which Gus, Walz's 17-year-old who has ADHD and a non-verbal learning disorder, jumped to his feet crying and pointed to his father and said, "I love you dad."

While Walz has shown himself to be a family man, he is also well versed in geopolitics, in particular China. He has had on-the-ground experience being there, having taught English and American history in Foshan, Guandong province in 1989. 

At the time Walz was 25 years old, fresh out of college and signed up for Harvard University's WorldTeach program, where he was one of the "first government sanctioned groups of American educators" to arrive in China after reform and opening up.

And yes 1989 was the year of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations.

"It was my belief at that time that diplomacy was going to happen on many levels, certainly people to people," Walz recalled during a 2014 congressional hearing commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown. "The opportunity to be in a Chinese high school at that critical time seemed to me to be really important."

He has met HK activist Joshua Wong

He did go up to Beijing see Tiananmen Square after the massacre was over.

That one year teaching in China made an impression on Walz, so much that he and his wife not only married on June 4, 1994, but also honeymooned there. Subsequently he made some 30 trips there promoting student cultural exchanges.

While Republicans are trying to label Walz as a panda hugger, he is not. Walz has shown his support for Tibet and Hong Kong, having met the Dalai Lama and activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung. 

It is Walz's personal experiences in China that help shape his nuanced view of the country and its politics, which will serve him well should he and Kamala Harris get voted into the White House.