[Music] it's time again for the Insiders with Chuckwalla and Scott Jensen sponsored by the Wisconsin counties Association and the Tommy G Thompson Center on public leadership hi I'm Scott Jensen former assembly speaker I'm Chuck paa former Senate Majority Leader and we're the Insiders and we were watching the presidential debate this week we weren't the only ones looks like a lot of America was watching the debate we've heard from everybody else Chuck what do you think about the debate and its impact on the election well I can tell you I had a lot of people texting me during the debate and it was like unbelievable uh it's I don't think it was as dramatic as the as the Biden debate but it was clear that KLA Harris was winning overwhelmingly and Trump just could not get out from the grievance and Etc that he talks about and I I know that that his hand was could not have been happy what I thought was the most significant thing in the debate and there hasn't been a lot of discussion about this I think it is very hard for a for women and Hillary Clinton saw this who thread the needle of being strong and yet not so assertive that somehow or another people react negatively to it very hard for women to do it she struck I thought the perfect tone on that and that was what I think really came through in all the debate topics and I I I think that even though Trump tried to go after her saying that she didn't do say much or what no she actually had some specific items the $50,000 down that are $25,000 down payment the $6,000 when you have a child some very specific items that she could refer to on the economy and I'll tell you what America remember Ronald Reagan mourning in America it was about the future of America and being positive and I think Scott has actually talked about this in the past I think that she hit that out of the park let's look at you not we're not talking about Donald Trump here we're talking about you and your future and our future our future is bright Americans are optimistic they want to look to the Future in an optimistic way I thought she hit the right tone and and frankly Donald Trump with the skull I think that I honestly believe that his dick is wearing thin so um I think Harris was solid uh during the debate and I think that Trump had some good moments and some bad moments he was inconsistent he was easily distracted by the ABC refere re and by Harris um and uh wandered off to topics that I didn't realize were going to be an important part of this presidential election like cats so apparently the Republican presidential candidate and the vice presidential candidate both chose to address the issue of cats during the last week now of course uh the top issues are issues that Trump should be doing very well on uh two of the top three issues the economy and immigration he is favored by the public his positions are on abortion her position is favored so he should have stayed on safe ground but we wandered off to cats and Grievances and all sorts of other things so I think it was very frustrating for Republicans to watch but I would remind them that Trump lost all of the debates for uh the general election to Hillary Clinton in 2016 it didn't matter he went on to win uh in 2020 Biden narrowly ethic and most and one I think he handly beat Trump so Trump is didn't do particularly well in the debates in 201 20 the only one he's sort of won in the general election was the one where Biden fell apart um so this is really not his strength I didn't I he had some really good moments but I don't think it's going to make a difference with regards to the polling that we're going to see in the next couple weeks I do think it's going to make a difference though in turnout um the more long the longer she can keep the Democratic base extremely enthusiastic about this Choice as compared to the one they had a few months ago um as long as she can keep them really jacked up and excited that's going to affect turnout and that will help her in the general election so I don't think it's a matter of like uh persuading voters as much as a matter of getting your team really inspired to go out and vote and I think she accomplished that and you know that's showing up now in the polling with Biden it was it was abysmal it was very difficult the enthusiasm that I hear when I talk with people on the ground who are working this across Wisconsin and even some people in other states it is amazing that the enthusiasm that they're seeing you're seeing that also that's reflected in registration not just po it's in registration for voting it's in volunteers it's I was talking with one candidate that said I'm having a really hard time keeping up with making sure that the volunteers have something to do that's the kind of enthusiasm you're want and Scott is exactly right at the end of the day a lot of this polling it it isn't one of the reasons it's not so accurate is are people going to turn up at polls and right now I think that the whole act that Trump has is not doing well he his final statement by the way saying well why didn't they do this for three years he should have used that earlier in the debate and he may have been able to make some points there were other things that but he just seemed he took the bait it was clear to everyone watching when KLA Harris would get done with her statement then she would poke the bear with some bait and Trump would latch onto it and go off on a case of grievance and I really think that this is not going to work for him going forward I think already we're seeing it it may or may not show up in the polling but I think it does turn down enthusiasm he has this D look everything is terrible our country is going to hell in a hand basket that's not what people want to hear Ronald Reagan was morning in America and Donald Trump is midnight in America midnight in America is not a theme to win with American voters so I think Trump hopefully um learned something from this debate um you know he's one of those folks that everyone's trying to tell him what to do um but sometimes you almost end up showing yourself when you make a mistake right so I I'm hopeful uh that he now spends the rest of the campaign focused on imig on immigration and inflation those are two winning issues for him the public is overwhelmingly on his side he has good roric with regards to that and good positions and he should stick to that in the days ahead I'll tell you what though Scott I I before we let go because I think this is an important topic graci they've got a great answer you were the guy who didn't want to help America you wanted to help your campaign that's why the immigration thing wasn't solved although we went off and solved so I think that one doesn't play so well but at the end of the day here I think we could be looking at a more substantial KLA Harris win than I think even I was hoping for and if it's 3% or more in Wisconsin you're going to see some that impacts the assembly majorities and other things I think that you're going to see some bigger differences than the percent that we've seen in the past Donald Trump is running a terrible campaign and this is one really good example the race in Wisconsin is a dead Heat at the moment and it's going to be a Dead Heat on Election Day well see you next time you've been listening to the Insiders with Chuck waa and Scott Jensen sponsored by the Wisconsin counties Association and the Tommy G Thompson Center on public leadership