It’s the contrast I was drawing, so I’m glad you see the gap. When discussing facts, you have to establish a trust relationship. A student who comes into a class with a combative attitude will not hear the teacher, regardless of how factual that teacher is. The teacher who approaches the students as if they are incapable of grasping the facts will not be as successful. The same is true for just about any conversation.
If you want to call it a debate, Mockler missed points. If one debater makes a claim and their opponent does not respond, that’s a point for the person making the claim, regardless of the truth of that claim. We, as observers of people we trust “debating” those we don’t, don’t score like that. We hear our side making our points, and their side lying. Example in this one, Adam is trying to establish that the woman killed on Jan 6 was breaking in with intent to harm. The guy pivots away to a different door in the Capital where guards were letting people in. Adam ignores that comment. He missed an opportunity to agree with the guy, discuss that point, and maybe establish some trust.
We can’t build a relationship like that with 60 million people, but that’s not how politics works. In the Fox interview, Bret Baier asked Kamala twice why half of the country disagreed with her. She didn’t directly answer because she’s smart. She would first have to establish that Republicans have only won the popular vote once since Bush in 1994. GW barely squeaked in in 2004. Then explain that’s a percent of voters, not the total population. Baier would have challenged her at every step. The second time he asked, she dropped her voice like she was explaining to a 5 year old that running for President is hard. Establishing trust with that many people takes resources that few of us have.
But people with a few hundred dollars of equipment from Best Buy think they can do it. They provide a catharsis for a few thousand people, take that feedback, and claim they are making a difference. This encourages more people to act that way, and the spiral of division continues.