Last Tuesday’s presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, which could have been a good opportunity for the American public to get to know in depth the positions of both on a host of critical issues, resulted instead in a sad spectacle of misinformation and lies.
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Lee este artículo en español.
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Of course, the one responsible for this unacceptable outcome was Trump, whose reputation as a phony is by no means undeserved. In the debate, this horrible behavior of the former president reached unsuspected levels, such as the totally unfounded, absurd and, to top it all, dangerous for the victims of the attack, claim that Haitian immigrants eat the pets of the residents of a city in Ohio.
In contrast, Harris displayed a demeanor and performance more in line with what is expected of a person aspiring to lead the most powerful country in the world.
Amidst Trump’s pack of lies, which also included the insane allegation that there are states sanctioning the murder of unborn babies, there was very little for voters, including the six million Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. whose vote is highly coveted by both parties, to weigh in on as a specific proposal.
It was very unfortunate that such an important exercise as a debate between presidential candidates ended without Harris being able to present her platforms, which is important because she remains an enigma to many.
She is accused of being a Marxist because her father was a Marxist. Is one guilty of what one’s parents do or don’t do? If indeed the vice president’s father was.
We live in times when there are more tools than ever to inform ourselves. Yet misinformation is a noxious virus that spreads throughout society and contaminates, often irreparably, the healthy debate of ideas that should be part of any political contest.
While Trump’s allegations may seem absurd, there is no shortage of people who, for lack of interest in becoming informed or other reasons, believe and in turn continue to propagate the same lies just like parrots who do not think. For others, the hemorrhage of lies leaves them bewildered, having to search, in reliable and unreliable sources, for ways to assess or disprove what the former president has said.
The mettle shown by ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis, who went to great lengths to keep Trump in the lane of verisimilitude and confronted him with some of his most outrageous lies, such as those about Haitians eating cats and dogs, is to be commended.
To the politicians in the courtyard, who are currently negotiating their appearances at different debates before the crucial electoral event on November 5, we ask them not to take as an example what we saw in that encounter. We urge them, instead, to take advantage of debates, forums and any other appearance at their disposal to explain their ideas and proposals to address the very serious problems facing our country, without resorting to lies, half-truths or personal attacks.
Election time is a very special privilege enjoyed by those of us who live in a democracy. It is not something, it is known, that all peoples can take for granted. Those who first have to become aware of this are those who enjoy the greatest privilege of all, which is the possibility of aspiring to a position in a democratic election.
The best way to value that privilege is to make responsible, sensible and, above all, honest use of the unparalleled platform that a candidacy provides. We expect no less from the aspirants there, nor from those here.
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This content was translated from Spanish to English using artificial intelligence and was reviewed by an editor before being published.
