It’s been a good week for US Democrats, superficially. Kamala Harris won the first TV debate and has a chance of winning the US election.

So why that unshakeable feeling of foreboding? Because this week’s debate confronted us with the utter degradation of truth in politics. The danger that creates will long outlast Donald Trump.

In the course of nearly two hours of rambling misinformation and outright lies by Trump, two moments stood out for sheer objectionable dishonesty.

The first – and I apologise for the offensive nature of this quote – was when the former president claimed that Democrats in some states support abortions “after birth” and the “execution” of babies. Yes, you read that correctly.

It’s not just the outrageous lie itself that stands out, though it’s nasty even for him, but the normalised nature of it. Linsey Davis of ABC let Trump finish his rant before coldly stating there was no state in America where it was legal to kill a baby after it was born.

Then Harris, who spent much of the debate shaking her head and looking pityingly at Trump, said merely that “you’re going to hear a bunch of lies,” before moving on to detail the impact of Trump’s abortion ban.

Read more Rebecca McQuillan

That was it until later when she came back on him, calling the claim insulting to women.

Good God, you can say that again. Can you imagine if John McCain had made that claim in 2008 or Mitt Romney in 2012? Their credibility, morality, judgment and sanity would all have come........

© Herald Scotland