Washington bar packed for Harris-Trump duel

In a crowded bar in the American capital, Tuesday night’s debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris could have been mistaken for a boxing match.

As pitchers of beer flowed freely, the crowd, mostly young professionals, reached capacity well before the show began.

“Let’s get ready for a fight,” someone shouted amid cheers as televisions showed the two candidates taking the stage.

As Harris prepared to make her first statement, a dead silence fell over the largely Democratic crowd gathered at the Union Pub near Congress.

There were no big cheers after she finished listing her prepared campaign promises.

Trump, however, drew a wave of laughter when he began his speech on a radically different tone, harshly attacking Harris and quickly moving on to false exaggerations about the economy and immigration.

The first cheers came only when Harris criticized Trump for his actions during the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, which is just a few hundred yards from the pub.

The crowd was expecting that kind of verbal punch, something President Joe Biden failed to deliver in his June debate against Trump — a disastrous performance that largely motivated his withdrawal from the race and replacement by Harris.

Anthony, 26, said Biden’s performance in that debate was like “watching an old dog get hit with a stick.”

Harris, on the other hand, “spoke more coherently,” and both she and Trump were “much quicker,” the federal employee, who declined to give his last name, told AFP.

Remy Salinas, a longtime Republican in town for a work event, said he “felt bad” for Biden, 81, after the June debate debacle.

He said he hoped Trump, a “master negotiator,” would “calm down” during the debate against Harris.

But it’s clear that the 78-year-old billionaire decided to take another tactic, raising his voice repeatedly and appearing angry throughout the speech.

– Drinking game –

A table of political revelers surprisingly cheered when Trump attacked Harris on immigration, calling her a “border czar.”

AFP later learned that the term was part of a drinking game organized for the event, with specialty cocktails made with “coconut” and “orange” also on the menu.

Salinas acknowledged that Trump “slipped up a few times” and “took the bait” when attacked by Harris, but argued that the vice president nonetheless remained “on the defensive.”

He didn’t seem too upset to be in the middle of a crowd of Democrats, laughing at the thunderous cheers for Harris and the boos for Trump.

As the debate drew to a close, the sentiment among a group of women in their 20s was unanimous: Harris had clearly come out on top, they said.

Shannon, 23, a federal government employee, said Harris’ performance in the debate left her “excited.”

“I definitely feel better” than after the Trump-Biden duel, she said.

It was a “bewildered” Trump versus a “refined” Harris, she added.

Her friend Olivia, 24, a nonprofit worker, agreed, saying Harris had given her new enthusiasm for the election.

“You don’t vote for someone just because you have to, but because you really want to,” she said.

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