Harris holds her own in big debate versus Trump
In a heated debate, Kamala Harris challenged Donald Trump on key issues, putting him on the defensive and gaining support, including from Taylor Swift.
Two months after Donald Trump decisively defeated Joe Biden in a presidential debate and forced him out of the race, Kamala Harris, the new Democratic nominee for president, turned the tables on the Republican nominee in a debate where both candidates offered contrasting visions for America and the world -- and traded personal insults.
On Tuesday evening, in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, during the debate hosted by ABC News, watched by millions, Harris and Trump argued about the economy, abortion, immigration, democracy and foreign policy. By the end of it, Harris appeared to have not just held her own but put Trump on the defensive. This perception got confirmed in instant voter polls, media commentary, responses of both parties, with Democrats jubilant and Republicans despondent, and a surprise endorsement for Harris by Taylor Swift, perhaps America’s most popular cultural icon at the moment.
The debate began with Harris walking over to Trump to shake his hands, a gesture that appeared to take him by surprise. But that was perhaps the only moment of cordiality in the acrimonious debate where Harris called Trump a “disgrace”, accused him of being a liar, and brought up his criminal conviction and cases, and Trump called Harris the “worst vice president in history”, labelled her a Marxist, and conjured up a nightmarish scenario for America if she got elected. Through most of the debate, when Trump was speaking, Harris looked at him with an expression that appeared to be a mix of incredulity, exasperation, and disdain. Trump deployed his trademark scowl and shook his head when she was speaking.
Trump and Harris began the debate by arguing about their economic plans, with Trump focusing on inflation under the current administration and promising a great economy, and Harris promising to bring down cost of living with support for home owners, young families and small businesses.
Harris said, “I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy…his plan is to do what he has done before, which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations.”
Trump responded, “We have inflation like very few people have ever seen before. Probably the worst in our nation’s history…. On top of that, we have millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums. And they are coming in and they are taking jobs that are occupied right now by African Americans and Hispanics and also unions.”
Both candidates also argued over Trump’s proposed tariffs, with Harris claiming these would be inflationary and Trump claiming foreign countries and not American consumers will pay for it. This became a segue for them to talk about China. Trump said he had made China pay billions, while Harris accused Trump of being soft on China and not preparing US for the competition of the century, a task that she said required working with allies and investing in technology. “He ended up selling American chips to China to help them improve and modernise their military.. he actually thanked President XI for what he did during Covid-19,” Harris said.
Trump and Harris argued about abortion, the other big issue in the election. Harris attacked Trump for selecting Supreme Court judges who rolled back national protections for abortion and taking away the right of women over their own bodies, while Trump claimed that the decision now rested with states and accused Democrats of backing abortion till the end of pregnancy and executing babies after birth, a patently false assertion.
Harris said, “In over 20 states there are Trump abortion bans which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care. In one state it provides prison for life. Trump abortion bans that make no exception even for rape and incest.” To a specific question on whether he would sign a bill banning abortion nationally, Trump remained non committal but said the situation won’t arise.
They fought over their record on illegal immigration, with Trump attacking Biden-Harris administration for record levels of illegal immigration and Harris accusing Trump of torpedoing a bipartisan border bill because he wanted to run on the problem.
They questioned each other’s commitment to democracy, with Harris recounting the horrors of the Trump-instigated January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol and Trump claiming that Harris stole Biden’s nomination. Trump continued to reject the legitimacy of the 2020 election, prompting Harris to issue a particularly strong rebuttal. “Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people…he is having a very difficult time processing that. But we cannot afford to have a president of the United States who attempts as he did in the past to upend the will of the voters in a free and fair election. And I am going to tell you that I have travelled the world as vice president of the United States. And world leaders are laughing at Donald Trump. I have talked with military leaders, some of whom worked with you. And they say you are a disgrace.” Trump cited the endorsement of Hungary’s Viktor Orban, a fellow arch conservative, to claim the world was in chaos because he wasn’t president.
The two candidates argued about American policies towards the Russia, where Trump promised an end to war in Ukraine and Harris accused Trump of coddling autocrats such as Vladimir Putin. To a specific question on whether he thought a win for Ukraine was in American interest, Trump said American interest was in ending the war, slammed Biden for not forcing Europe to take greater responsibility for the war, claimed the war won’t have happened under his watch, and promised that he would end the war between his election triumph and Inauguration Day.
Harris once again offered a strong rebuttal. “The reason that Donald Trump says that this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up. And that’s not who we are as Americans….If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now. And understand what that would mean. Because Putin’s agenda is not just about Ukraine. Understand why the European allies and our NATO allies are so thankful that you are no longer president and that we understand the importance of the greatest military alliance the world has ever known, which is Nato.”
On West Asia, the issue that has fractured the Democratic base, Harris called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza. She condemned the Hamas attack, said Israel had a right to respond but how it did mattered, said that the administration was working around the clock for a ceasefire and hostage deal, and pledged to work for a two state solution. For his part, Trump accused Harris of being both anti-Israel and anti-Arab.
It was only at the end of the debate, during the closing statement, that Trump reminded the audience that Harris was vice president. “She just started by saying she’s going to do this, she’s going to do that, she’s going to do all these wonderful things. Why hasn’t she done it?” It was a powerful line of attack, but by then, Harris had already made the impression she wanted to in this closely fought and most critical of American elections to the swing voters that she wanted to target.