 The second night of the first 2020 Democratic Party primary debate is officially over and I have quite a bit of thoughts running through my head Although I think that I've collected my thoughts enough to where I can certainly distinguish between Who I think are the winners and who are the losers and I think that the outcome overall It I feel like I'm surprised but at the same time I'm not surprised there were certain people who I knew would do well There are other people who I thought would probably fail, but some people did in fact Surprised me and people surprised me for both good and bad reasons. So we're gonna get to all of that I'm gonna give you my general breakdown We'll talk about some statistics first as we started with last night when it comes to talk time Joe Biden clocked in a total of 13.6. He's pulling the highest and he got the most talk time You have Kamala and Bernie along with Pete Buddha judge coming in second third and fourth place respectively with about an equal amount of talk time and then you had the rest of the candidates You know not doing too. Well Andrew Yang got the least amount of talk time with three minutes now Usually you would think that if you have the most talk time that's certainly an advantage However with Joe Biden, it's a disadvantage because we all know even his own advisors know that the more he speaks The more likely he is to turn away voters. So if I'm Joe Biden, I'm not gonna butt in on that stage I'm gonna keep my mouth shut Unless I'm invoked or called on and I think he probably tried to emulate that strategy but when you're pulling ahead and you're the front runner you're gonna talk you're gonna have to face Americans and Boy did that hurt him and I'm kind of spoiling who I think one of the losers is but I'm Not a good night for him But before we get into the specifics because I'm certainly ready to talk about that. Let me show you this graph it talks about how many times Donald Trump was invoked and Predictably the front runners did in fact invoke him the most you have Bernie Sanders Kamala Harris Joe Biden all invoking Donald Trump the most and again as I stated last night I think that this is a strategy that's good because it shows that you're confident It shows that you are not afraid to speak out against the opponent who you may be facing this early So that's important. So Getting into who I thought the winners and the losers were I'm gonna break this down into four different categories as I did last night There's a category for the losers There's a category that I will place people in that I call meh because they weren't necessarily great didn't do bad And then there is the they did good category that it okay, you know, they didn't do bad They weren't standouts, but they performed You know in a passably good way and then we have the winner category Although I do think that there is one clear winner and one clear loser last night I thought that it was evident that bill de Blasio was kind of the breakout star and the overall clear winner but this This debate really had one clear standout that I think it's probably going to get a boost in the polls Because of how well this individual performed, but we're gonna do that last first. Let's talk about the losers biggest loser first of all Unquestionably is Joe Biden Unquestionably because if you're the front runner you have the most to lose you have the most to lose So you have got to expect all of these attacks It was evident to me that he was completely Unprepared unequipped to rebut any of these attacks and it hurt him badly. He's already been sliding this didn't help him at all and One moment in the debate that was so powerful was when Kamala Harris challenged him on Segregation if he drops out, I believe that a lot of us will look to that moment as the beginning of the end of His campaign. That's how powerful I think that was and how detrimental that was to Biden's campaign And it was so bad that as he was trying to explain himself He just cut himself off and said oh my time's up. I agree that everybody one stay in five this anyway My time's up. I'm sorry. Now if you're a normal candidate You're not gonna ever want to stop talking You're gonna talk as long as you possibly can until they cut you off now again Joe Biden doesn't want to Exercise the same strategy But there's a caveat there if you're in the defense if you're back into a corner you don't cut yourself off He did that It was a bad look, but even though Joe Biden, I think was the biggest loser I did put other candidates in this category as well in the loser category. I placed John Hickenlooper who I think is the second biggest loser Because he really had nothing of value to add to the conversation he just kept trying to attack socialism because that's his thing, I guess and It was mentioned that he was booed at a Democratic Party convention when he attacked socialism So that didn't work well for you, but he's still choosing to utilize the same strategy. I mean If you thought that you know, this is gonna be your moment John. I've got bad news for you It wasn't now for the next person who I'm placing in the loser category It kind of hurts me to do this because I didn't actually expect this person to perform this badly And I'm going to kind of contradict what I said in My pre-debate analysis I'm gonna have to place Andrew Yang in this category He got the least amount of talk time and what I said in my pre-debate analysis was that all he needs to do Essentially, I think, you know, he's gonna have the easiest time because all he needs is to get his point across about UBI He needs enough time to pitch it like a minute and he'll do well Well seeing that play out and seeing how much of a non entity he was. I Just don't think this debate did him any favors at all I think he needed a breakout moment and where I went wrong was that I thought he would just Automatically have that breakout moment if he got a chance to pitch UBI but seeing it in action It just wasn't enough. It wasn't enough. So I was wrong about that and he's got to do more Okay, that's my losers. I have Biden Hickenlooper and Yang moving on to the meh Category I have two people Eric Swalwell and Michael Bennett now Michael Bennett barely made it out of the loser category But because he chose to hit Biden on tax cuts that benefited the Tea Party at the end there He did it for himself. He got himself out of the loser category But with that being said he was pretty much a non entity throughout this debate and he was just one of those I'm against policies X Y and Z candidates like John Hickenlooper And you just have to come with something unique and he didn't do that now Eric Swalwell He is someone who he was originally also in the loser category And I'll be honest with you. I hated him throughout this debate He was incredibly smarmy and smug and basically his entire pitch was I'm young vote for me Dude, what are you bringing to the table? That was my question. And finally he talked about what he's bringing gun reform That's great But I don't know that he was knowledgeable about any other issue Overall again, like I said, he was just so smarmy that every time he spoke it was a turnoff He came across as a really rehearsed focus group driven thumb pointing politician However, one moment that was great for him That I don't want to give him credit for Because it was bad for Bernie was when he kind of went after Bernie When it comes to gun reform now he went after Bernie on age He said pass the torch when it comes to I forgot what the issue was what Bernie said No, the issue is taking on these special interests. That's the answer not pass the torch and Bernie was right about that But where he actually got Bernie is where he was pushing Bernie on a gun buyback program for automatic assault weapons And he said listen Do you support a gun buyback program and Bernie then said well if the government wants to do that I'd support that And where swalwell hit him was when he said well, you will be the government if you're president That was not a good look for Bernie and Bernie should have been prepared On this issue because we saw back in 2016. That's what the democrats and media hit him on was guns So he should have came prepared And Eric swalwell exploited that perceived weakness and I don't think it worked out in Bernie's favor Now with that being said Bernie isn't a bad performer here But that moment was a low light for me and for Bernie And unfortunately it helped out Eric's while while I think because going after the frontrunner is a smart strategy Um getting to the good category The first person is Pete Buttigieg the second person Is Marianne Williamson, even if I think she was all over the place But I think she settled in the good category. But first let me talk about Pete Buttigieg What I said going into this debate was he needed um a redemption Performance here. He needed to stand out. Did he do that? I don't think he did however He didn't do a bad job. He spoke intelligently about certain issues and even though I disliked some of the answers that he gave The crowd seemed into what he was talking about and I think he said things that will play well With the democratic party base. So I just think he did good. Um, I personally wasn't a fan But putting my bias aside just objectively speaking and basing this off of performance I think that he performed well Marianne Williamson She really She performed in the way that I honestly expected Andrew Yang to perform because as someone who has no name recognition You've got to get in there You've got to insert your name in there and what I said in my pre-debate analysis was I need her to bring the policies and not just love And she brought both and we'll get into the specifics about her love, um agenda But um, she kept jumping in She hit some of the candidates. She brought up some really great points other points Maybe cringe and incredibly hard Um, the moment let me tell you this The moment when she very seriously looked at the camera and spoke to donald trump directly and said Mr. President, I'm going to harness love for political purposes. I will meet you on that field and sir Love will win I wanted to jump out of my fucking skin. That made me cringe so hard, but simultaneously I was laughing to the point where I almost had tears in my eyes like Getting to the winners here, there's three left. So, you know who the winners are in this category bernie sanders Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris kirsten Gillibrand Was in the meh category for a large portion of the debate But towards the end she shut up in terms of performance She started talking inserting herself into conversations where she had knowledge and value to add And where she really was strong and just shined was when she talked about corruption She brought up publicly financed elections and talked about how you need to get rid of the money in politics And she didn't add the dark money caveat She said full stop get rid of money and then you could proceed to other issues because the money in politics is what's preventing progress Very very strong. She came off as someone who was knowledgeable. She came off as someone who did her homework Parts of her answer seemed overly rehearsed and I think that she's got to work on that But overall I think she performed well and I wouldn't be surprised if she got a bump In the polls now when it comes to bernie sanders, he started out incredibly strong He ended incredibly strong But here's the thing bernie sanders in my opinion kind of had the same issue that elizabeth warren had Where you're one of the front runners and you technically don't have to do much All you have to do is maintain and once the field kind of thins out then you start to take off the gloves So, you know, don't go out of your way to attack and Come off as vindictive if you don't have to However, there's a line between you know being overly vindictive and playing it too safe I think bernie ultimately Erred on the side of playing it a little bit too safe Like when he attacked joe biden for his what on the iraq war That was a powerful moment, but it was so short and we needed more of it And furthermore when you see how much of an influence bernie sanders has on all of these candidates To where they're influenced by his policies where what he's been pushing and popularizing over the last couple of years Is brought up constantly at these debates for him to not brag about that and brag about how he influenced it I think he's doing a disservice to himself Now even if he was strong and I think he did a good He did he performed well I kind of hold him to a higher standard in terms of debate performance because I think he's just such an excellent Debater and he is an effective communicator simply because he comes across as authentic But I think at this next debate because there was someone who was such a breakout star He does need to do more. I loved that him and kamala Harris kind of tagged each other on medicare for all It's important for them to team up for now While they take out the bigger targets, but later on him and kamala can go head to head and butt heads But for now I like both of their strategies. So bernie performed. Well He was he was pretty solid. However, there's one clear winner in this debate And even if I desperately desperately wanted it to be bernie sanders objectively if I'm basing this on performance And not who I agree with more overall I don't even think it was a question kamala harris won this debate Hands down and not only did she win. I think this is one of the best debate performances I've seen in quite some time. She won basically both nights. That's how strong I think her performance is now. That's not me endorsing her policies. That's not me endorsing her as a politician That's me saying that in terms of sheer debate performance She absolutely Did enough to where I wouldn't be surprised if she started to pass elizabeth warren Possibly bernie in the polls simply because her performance was so strong and in this debate She may have single-handedly Taken down joe biden I'm impressed. I'm absolutely impressed and if you listen to lefty political commentators back when she announced We were all saying Watch out for kamala harris. I know how kolinsky said it. Emma viglin said it a lot of us said it because When you recognize that raw political talent Just in terms of being a skilled orator in terms of being able to effectively communicate a message and demonstrate knowledge and passion She has it She has it credit where it's due. You can't deny her that so kamala harris the clear winner um better than bill de blazio And she's the one To look out for and even if I think that her and bernie should team up currently He may have to turn his sights to her and start going on offense sooner rather than later because as this um field thins which probably won't substantially happen until after iowa But after the first couple of debates It wouldn't be you know impossible to imagine some candidates dropping out But as the field thins she's gonna stand out more And she's gonna start cutting in to bernie and elizabeth warren's territory now the progressives in my audience We know the difference between a real progressive and someone who just Knows that they have to be and present themselves as progressives for purposes of political expediency But the general population isn't going to be able to tell the difference That's why bernie I think he's going to have to step up and not necessarily attack You don't have to attack or be vindictive, but you need to differentiate yourself. You need to say look this Support that we're seeing for medicare for all who did that? I did that nobody wanted to talk medicare for all until I talked about it Nobody started to talk about issues x y and z until I popularized these issues He's gonna have to do that because kamala is a very strong candidate. She's no hillary clinton. She's no joe biden She is someone who's solid and I can see her outlasting the likes of pete buddha judge as well So that is you know the winners the losers and whatnot. Let me get to some specific moments So the debate opened with kamala harris just impressing me right out the bat um She was asked how do we pay for all these progressive policy proposals that people like you and bernie support? And immediately she had the right answer. She flipped it I didn't hear the media ask Donald trump how they're gonna pay for tax cuts for the rich That's exactly what we have been telling politicians to say And it's part of the reason why i'm impressed with her She also talked about the economy and how donald trump brags about how good the economy is But he always references how well stock markets are doing when most people don't even have stock So of course, that's not a good indicator Uh pete buddha judge He said a lot of things that made him seem smart, but in actuality if you know your shit You know that he's being disingenuous So he talked about why he doesn't support free college because he believes in you know a prototypical Uh neoliberal version of free college. Oh, let's make it free but let's beans tested He also used the same line that amy klobuchar used last night. He said I don't want to pay for college for rich kids Rich kids are not going to go to publicly funded universities. They're going to go to private schools Stop saying this because it's very clear that you're lying he also um He said that whenever somebody says medicare for all whenever whenever that word leaves a candidate's lips They need to explain How to get to medicare for all Now he says this and he thinks he's saying something that's so profound, but it's not profound stop over complicating it The way that you get to medicare for all is you pass medicare for all that's Exactly what you do pass it four years later. It gets implemented now I would opt for Jaya paul's bill or for bernie's bill because that has a two-year rollout as opposed to bernie's four-year rollout But that is the quickest way now since we're on the subject of health care I want to continue here because we had joe biden and michael bennett say You know the quickest way the way that they're pitching it is the quickest way To get to universal care, of course is to build on the aca But again, that doesn't even make sense. You're building on something. So you implement it. You wait a few years You you know add something else. That's not how you get to universal coverage. That's factually incorrect and it's logically Inconceivable if you want medicare for all if you want universal care more specifically Which is the buzzword they use then you pass medicare for all it's that simple Anyone who says that anyone who says access Please understand they are bullshitting you and while we're still on the subject of health care The question again was posed to the candidates about whether or not they want to get rid of private health insurance Again to kamala's credit she raised her hand and not surprising You know to anyone bernie sanders also raised his hand and they both declared boldly so that they want to get Rid of private health insurance companies now kamala can't get too much credit here because she did waver before At her first scene in town hall. She said let's get rid of them and then less than 24 hours later She backtrack, but I mean regardless I'll give her credit here because it is important to commit to that if you want a really robust medicare for all system We interrupt this program to bring you a special report. Hello everyone. I hope you're all enjoying my post debate analysis I am in the process of editing the video that you're watching now, so I'm coming to you from the future um However, as I'm trying to google the article so I can Show you when kamala harris flip-flopped when it comes to the question of eliminating private insurance Look what I found She literally flip-flopped Again hours later Faster than she flip-flopped before so let me recap At her first scene in town hall She was asked if she should get rid of if we should get rid of private health insurance companies She said yes get rid of them And then she backtracked she was asked again. Raise your hand if you want to get rid of private insurance companies And she says yes And she flip-flops again This wishy washyness on medicare for all is definitely a weakness that we will have to exploit as progressives Now what's funny is I actually want to play a little bit of a clip from the last time when I was editing a video Talking about kamala harris because in the last time I talked about her scene in town hall She flip-flopped so fast then that I literally had to do another one of these segments where I kind of cut in while i'm editing To tell you that she flip-flopped that fast where I couldn't get it into this video But i'm in the process of editing this video And I can't even finish editing the video And I find out this That kamala harris already Backtracked Like you can't make this shit up So I get it this is getting confusing because this is a video within a video within a video This is extremely meta, but just so you know just so we're clear kamala flip-flopped on eliminating private health insurance For a second time. You've got to know the details of medicare for all and where you stand So um, this is a big deal So certainly keep in mind that I gave her a lot of credit here. You've got to take some of that away um, but with that being said Back to um, you know the post-debate analysis. We'll talk more about this later. I'm sure Now moving on uh, just a little random thing to throw in here There was a moment that lasted about four to five seconds But it was such an awkward moment perhaps the most awkward moment of the night Besides joe biden basically saying i'm out of time Um, it was when eric swollwell asked pete buddha judge why he hasn't fired a racist police chief Pete buddha judge just simply stared at him And gave him the death glare and it was so awkward the tension was palpable And I just had to point this out because this really stood out to me Michael Bennett then played offense and attacked bernie sanders saying, you know, he wants to ban every insurance company And he wants to ban it for everything except for, you know cosmetic procedures like plastic surgery now that's so That's such a stupid argument because nobody cares about their private insurance We care about keeping our doctor and the reason why We ban duplicative care is because it's already covered under medicare for all So we don't need a two tiered system where the private companies can jump in and offer You know a plan that the government is already offering So there's no need for anything But you know, unless you want supplemental care for something like plastic surgery, which honestly you're just going to finance anyway So it's a non issue that he's bringing up. It is a non issue But he thinks he's being profound But then kamala Harris jumped in and she kind of took the heat off of bernie by saying this is an issue This this is something that affects people and she brought in a personal anecdote We're not a personal anecdote, but a story about how you know the private health insurance companies are ripping people off That was great and predictably bernie sanders was incredibly strong on the issue of health care. He's the best on this hands down He's the best on it. So of course he was great on this issue Now here is what I want to get into next immigration because we had A really bright spot here for maryanne williamson because she did something that I rarely hear She brought up how the reason why Immigration is is an issue and why people want to move here to begin with is because Of us foreign policy in latin america. We destabilized these countries. We Catalyzed these crises That was great that she brought that up. That was huge That was a very substantive point to make. Um, john hickenlooper didn't have a good answer. He just immediately Went to platitudes when he was asked kamala gave a strong answer I believe that bernie sanders Also brought up latin america. I would have liked him to explore that further But kind of touching on you know why we need to get countries together in latin america And we'll solve this together But I think that maryanne williamson hit the target a little bit better But still bernie's answer was good and you have to touch on latin america when you're talking about immigration because Our policies have destabilized a lot of latin americans countries Directly and indirectly and we have to address that we need a president who will address that Additionally when it comes to the border buddha judge Endors this idea and I think all the candidates endorse the idea that we should end the criminalization of people who cross the border and um He then brought up religion He then brought up religion now I think this could be persuasive because you're essentially saying well republicans can't use religion If they treat immigrants this way when that's against religion But I don't want to hear about your religion and it really seems like he's pandering To moderate voters when he does this and he talks about oh, we want the christian left to rise Yeah, that just it turns me off every time I hear him say that um moving on to eric's wall well I'm going to summarize his performance for you um In one quick sentence pass the torch pass the torch pass the torch whenever bernie or biden Would say something he'd say pass the torch and it came off as agist But then maryan williamson swooped in again And basically told him to eat shit and die She said just because you have a young body doesn't mean that you won't have old ideas That was So good maryan williamson. This is why I put her in the good category She then speaking of maryan williamson brought up reparations when talking about the issue of criminal justice And she is the strongest on this issue I loved the fact that on a national debate stage a presidential candidate invoked reparations This is awesome. This is you know, it demonstrates the power that progressives Have we are moving the overton window to the left. That's evidence of that Now joe biden i'm going to summarize his entire performance when he wasn't playing defense when he was talking about his record and his accomplishments This is About the way that he he performed um Mr. Vice president you have 30 seconds to answer the question go Okay obama obama obama obama obama obama obama obama obama obama obama how much time do i have left? Um, you have ten seconds. Sir, perfect obama obama obama obama obama obama obama obama obama obama i'm done my time. Is up i'm sorry. It was all about obama Now, I get it, Hillary tried to do this strategy as well, but Kamala, she actually had a pretty strong strategy where she set herself apart and she said, look, this is where I disagreed with Obama's administration was when it comes to immigration because even if Obama and you were not as cruel as Donald Trump, obviously, they still had a lot of draconian aspects about their immigration policy. They had the Alien Transfer Exit program, which Kamala didn't bring up, but Obama had this. This was cruel. It's where you take an immigrant man, drop him off somewhere randomly in the country where he came from, which can potentially put them in danger, and use this as a deterrent to dissuade people from coming. I hate that. It's cruel on the subject of Yang. He hurt himself when he brought up how Russia is our greatest geopolitical threat because they hacked or stole our democracy. I don't like this talk because they didn't hack or steal our democracy. No voting booths were affected. There's no evidence that that's the case. Releasing the DNC emails, posting memes online and influencing the election in other social media-centric ways, that's not tantamount to hacking the election. So the reason why that's bad is because you need to take responsibility as a party as to why you were wrong. And you can't just say that without proposing a solution, like increasing cybersecurity, moving the paper ballots. Again, Tulsi Gabbard was one of the first to come up with a solution here. Anybody who talks about how Russia is such a big threat, like Yang and Eric Swalwell, they haven't supported Tulsi's bill. So they shouldn't speak on this topic because they're not serious here. One moment that I did like was when Bernie Sanders said he'd bring countries together and he'd talk about the common enemy that we all have in climate change. Very powerful. John Hickenlooper, conversely, talked about bringing businesses together to attack climate change. So you're gonna bring oil and gas companies together, in other words, and ask them how we can do something that will definitely cut into their profits. John Hickenlooper, I'm sorry, is a fucking gigantic dipshit. He's just so bad. A weird moment for me was when Marianne Williamson, she said the first thing she'd do as president is she would call the prime minister of New Zealand and she would say, And I will tell her girlfriend you were so wrong because the United States of America is going to be the best place in the world for a child to grow up. That was such a weird moment, a really weird moment, and it would have been the weirdest moment of the night for Marianne Williamson had she not looked the camera in the eye and said, I'm gonna harness love politically. So this is why, you know, she was all over the place. Some moments were awesome, where I loved it. Other moments had me scratching my head. By and large, Kamala Harris was definitely a winner. Joe Biden, definitely a loser. Bernie Sanders, he did what he needed to do in terms of maintaining. But next time him and Elizabeth Warren and Tulsi Gabbard, the progressives need to step up a lot more. There's a lot of really great speakers in this race, like Kamala Harris, and to a much lesser extent, Corey Booker and Pete Buttigieg. And they're going to outshine some of the progressives if they don't start really getting forceful and elbowing their way into the conversation more. But great debate, really entertaining two nights, informative, much better than anything we've seen in the White House. I could tell you that. However, you know, we'll see how this plays out. It's still incredibly early. This is the first debate. And, um, yeah, hopefully you guys enjoyed my coverage.