So What. Chris Cillizza

At 9 pm eastern tonight, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will meet, in person, for the first time — amazing! — when they take the stage in Philadelphia.

I will be live-chatting — via the Substack app — with paid subscribers during the debate. If you aren’t a paying subscriber yet, make today the day!

Right after the debate, my friend Gabe Fleisher and I will be doing a live chat on Substack — with our first impressions of what we just saw. You can RSVP for that chat here.

In the meantime, I wanted to provide you a little food for thought. And it goes like this: The debate is likely to be decided more by, well, vibes than any specific policy position.

But, at root, it’s VERY important to remember that these debates are performances. They are watched by tens of millions of people on TV. And the candidate who better grasps that reality usually wins