PHILADELPHIA: Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump met on Tuesday for their first and perhaps only debate, a face-off that could have significant implications for the Nov. 5 election as polls show a neck-and-neck race.
Here are the findings from the debate:
UPSET YOUR RIVAL
Harris made a point of getting Trump riled up, as her campaign team had predicted.
She challenged viewers to attend a Trump rally, where she said Trump would say bizarre things like windmills cause cancer (which he actually said), and attendees would leave the event exhausted and bored, she sneered.
Trump, who prides himself on the crowds he draws, was visibly upset.
“My rallies are the biggest, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics,” he said. He accused Harris of busing participants to her rallies.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump returns from a commercial break during a presidential debate with U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 10, 2024. (AFP)
Trump then falsely claimed that illegal immigrants in the city of Springfield, Ohio, were killing and eating people's pets. This unsubstantiated claim circulated on social media and was amplified by Trump's vice presidential running mate, JD Vance.
“In Springfield, they're eating the dogs! The people who came here are eating the cats!” Trump said. “They're eating the pets of the people who live there.”
Springfield city officials said these reports were untrue, something ABC anchors also pointed out after Trump's comments.
“That’s really extreme,” Harris replied, laughing.
PLAY DEFENSE
Another goal of Harris's as a former California prosecutor was to hold Trump accountable for his past actions, particularly his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
After an hour of debate, their strategy seemed to pay off. Trump was constantly on the defensive.
Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris gestures as she speaks during a presidential debate with Republican presidential candidate former U.S. President Donald Trump hosted by ABC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., September 10, 2024. (REUTERS)
When asked about the siege of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he insisted that he “had nothing to do with it other than them asking me to give a speech.” He also falsely claimed that he won the 2020 election.
Harris used Trump's actions as an argument that the country must draw a line under it.
“Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people, that must be made clear. And it is clear that it is very difficult for him to process this. But we cannot afford to have a President of the United States who, as he has done in the past, tries to disregard the will of the voters in a free and fair election,” Harris said.
The vice president went a little further on Trump, saying world leaders were “laughing at him” and calling him a disgrace – a phrase Trump himself uses at rallies to refer to what he believes other countries think of President Joe Biden.
A few minutes later, Trump lashed out, claiming that Harris had not received “a single vote” when she ran for the Democratic nomination and suggesting that she had replaced Biden in some sort of coup.
“He hates her,” Trump said of Biden. “He can't stand her.”
This exchange may have helped Harris bolster her argument that Trump, as she put it, does not have the “temperament” to be president.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump reacts in the Spin Room on the day of his debate with Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, September 10, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. (REUTERS)
racial segregation
During the debate, the long-simmering issue of race came up. Trump was asked why he had publicly questioned Harris' dual heritage as a black and South Asian woman.
“I don't care what she is,” he replied. “I read that she's black. Then I read that she's not black.”
When asked to respond, Harris accused Trump of using race to divide Americans throughout his career, citing how he and his father turned away black tenants in the 1970s and how Trump led the public outcry against five young black and Latino men who were wrongfully convicted in 1989 of attacking a jogger in New York's Central Park.
Harris noted that he recently openly questioned whether President Barack Obama was a U.S. citizen.
“I think it's a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president when he has spent his career trying to divide the American people over race,” she said.
“I think the American people want more,” Harris added. “We don't want a leader who is constantly trying to get Americans to point fingers at each other.”
Instead of trying to defend his record, Trump turned back to the economy and tried to pin Biden's economic policies on Harris. “She's trying to get away from Biden,” he said.
Harris used the attack to once again present herself as an agent of change.
“Of course, I am not Joe Biden and I am certainly not Donald Trump,” Harris said, “and what I offer is a new generation of leadership for our country.”
HANDSHAKE
At the beginning of the debate, the question arose as to how Harris and Trump, who have never met, would greet each other.
Harris finally settled the matter. She walked up to Trump at his podium, extended her hand and introduced herself as “Kamala Harris.”
For Harris, it was a disarming way to approach a man who had spent weeks insulting her race and gender.
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (R) shakes hands with former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 10, 2024. (AFP)
Sparring on the economy
In the opening minutes of the debate, Trump and Harris engaged in a heated argument over one of the issues that matters most to voters: the economy.
Harris detailed the economic policies she has rolled out in recent weeks, including a sizable tax break for small startups. Trump focused his comments on tariffs and said he would protect the American economy from unfair foreign competition.
While both sides traded jabs, Harris was allowed to speak first on an issue where she trails Trump in voter confidence. She appeared to put the former president on the defensive, and Trump essentially went on the defensive on one of his most important issues.
“She has no plan,” Trump said after Harris' opening remarks. “It's like 'run, spot, run.'”
A schism on the issue of abortion
The two candidates also engaged in a heated debate over abortion, an issue on which polls show Harris has the upper hand.
Trump defended the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended constitutional protections for abortion and sent the matter back to the individual states on the false grounds that it was an outcome desired by Republicans and Democrats alike. Democrats have long supported a constitutional right to abortion.
“I did a great service by doing this. It took courage to do this,” Trump said.
A media representative uses a phone as a screen showing the presidential debate as Republican presidential candidate former U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris participate in a 2024 presidential debate hosted by ABC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., September 10, 2024. (REUTERS)
Trump claimed that some states allow abortion after birth. ABC News anchor Linsey Davis corrected this view.
Harris expressed some outrage at Trump's claim that expanding abortion to states' rights was a result of public opinion, pointing to states that have passed restrictive bans.
“Is this what people wanted?” Harris asked. “People are being denied treatment in the emergency room because health care providers are afraid of being put in jail?”
Trump was asked if he would veto a federal abortion ban if Congress passed one. He stressed that would never happen, but refused to answer the question definitively.
WORLDS AWAY
One of the most heated political discussions occurred when Trump and Harris clashed over how to deal with the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The candidates' answers showed how fundamentally different their views on America's role in the world are.
Trump refused to say he wanted Ukraine to win the war, despite ABC anchor David Muir's urging, saying only that he wanted to end the conflict as quickly as possible.
Harris countered by arguing that Trump actually wanted a quick and unconditional surrender of Ukraine.
“If Donald Trump were president, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin would be sitting in Kiev right now,” Harris said.
'Justice used as a weapon
In a heated exchange, Trump and Harris accused each other of conspiring to use the Justice Department as a weapon to persecute their enemies.
Trump has said the charges against him for conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss and for misusing classified documents – as well as his conviction for forgery in connection with hush money payments to a porn star – were all the result of a conspiracy hatched by Harris and Biden. There is no evidence to support this claim.
Harris countered by pointing out that Trump had promised to prosecute his opponents if he won a second term.
“You see, this is someone who has openly said he would, and I quote, suspend the Constitution,” Harris said.
The exchange underlined that for Harris and Trump the importance of this election is existential. Both see their opponent as a threat to democracy itself.
