Kamala Harris faces off with Donald Trump in first Presidential debate since her Democratic nomination

Philadelphia, 

Wednesday, 11 September, 2024 

McCreadie 

In a 1 hour 45 minute debate, US Vice president Kamala Harris faced off with former President Donald Trump for the first time since her nomination to be the Democratic party presidential candidate. 

Kamala took on Trump at his own game while the former president brought up controversies on abortion, immigration status and repeatedly insisted on his debunked claims on election fraud during the 2020 polls. 

When Harris and Trump walked onto stage in Philadelphia, it was the first time they’d met in person.

Harris set the tone for a sounding debate reaching out to Trump for a warm handshake. She introduced herself and said, “Let’s have a good debate.”

“Nice to see you,” Trump responded. A rather unexpected turn of events from what we have seen before during Trump - Biden debates. 

It was a chance for Harris to introduce herself to the American voters on a presidential stage contrasting herself with Trump. 

Harris introduced herself as an advocate for middle-class Americans while framing Trump as self-absorbed.

“Donald Trump has no plan for you,” “actually has no plan for you, because he is more interested in defending himself than he is in looking out for you.”She said. 

Harris outlined an economic vision including tax cuts for families and tax deductions for small businesses, while Trump, she said, will “do what he has done before, which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations.”

“I will tell you, the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you. And I’ll tell you: I believe you deserve a president who actually puts you first,” she said.

Immigration

Trump took on the Biden - Harris administration on immigration policies repeating the conspiracy theory du jour during the debate.

The former president brought up the unfounded conspiracy theory that migrants from Haiti living in Springfield, Ohio, are eating people’s cats and dogs.

“in Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of people who live there.

Trump accused democrats of clearing immigrants as voters in elections to boost their numbers. 

Meanwhile, Harris criticized Trump for drowning the bi-partisan immigration bill during his first term in office. 

Crime 

Trump claimed that crime was up in the United States contrary to the rest of the world. There too Muir pointed out that, according to FBI data, crime had actually declined in the past few years.

Trump, again, deferred to a different conspiracy theory that the FBI is deeply corrupt and issuing “defrauding statements.” He argued “it was a fraud.

Abortion 

Abortion and healthcare reform was a contentious topic in the debate.

The vice president, who has long been one the administration’s strongest advocates on reproductive rights, was able to respond to the former president’s defense of his abortion policy. 

The former president, who appointed three of the Supreme Court judges who overturned federal abortion protections, has sought to moderate his stance on the issue by criticizing six-week abortion bans and reiterating his support for exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. But he has also defended the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“Now it’s not tied up in the federal government,” Trump said. “I did a great service in doing it. It took courage to do it.”

Trump repeated several of the arguments he made about abortion during his June debate with Biden. He argued that “everyone” wanted the issue returned to the states, despite widespread resistance from Democrats and some independents. 

He argued inaccurately that a former governor of Virginia said that babies should be executed – a reference to comments former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, a doctor, made about care for births after nonviable pregnancies.

And Trump repeated the false claim that some states allow abortions to be performed after a baby has been born, which drew a fact check from ABC News’ Linsey Davis.

“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born,” Davis said.

Harris responded by highlighting cases where women have been unable to get abortions after being victims of rape or struggled to get miscarriage care.

“You want to talk about this is what people wanted?” Harris said. “Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail, and she’s bleeding out in a car in the parking lot – she didn’t want that”. 

Racial controversies 

When Trump was asked about his comment last month falsely claiming Harris only recently started to identify as Black, the former president defended his remarks as something he’d read somewhere.

“I couldn’t care less,” Trump said. “Whatever she wants to be is OK with me.”

the vice president has recently accused the former president’s history of past racial discrimination and racist behavior.

“And I think the American people want better than that. Want better than this,” Harris said. “We see in each other a friend. We see in each other a neighbor. We don’t want a leader who is constantly trying to have Americans point their fingers at each other.”

Global security tensions 

Asked how she would secure peace in Gaza, Harris first recalled the horrors of Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks inside Israel. She offered some mild criticism of Israel’s response, an ongoing bombardment that’s killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, before pivoting to her support for a two-state solution, Israel’s right to defend itself and a commitment to rebuilding Gaza.

“We need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out,” Harris declared. Biden and others recently conceded such an agreement is a long way off. 

“She hates Israel,” he said of Harris, adding that she also hates “Arabs.”Trump said. 

Trump has occasionally sought to inflame anger among Arab Americans over Biden’s handling of the conflict. But on Tuesday he quickly abandoned the tactic, instead chiding Harris for slighting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a recent visit to Capitol Hill – she did, in fact, meet with him; she did not attend his speech to Congress – and declaring again that none of it “would have never happened” if he were still in the White House.

On the Russian war in Ukraine, Trump noted “Russia would have never ever have gone into Ukraine” on his watch.

“I’ll get it done before even becoming president,” Trump added, claiming his election would reset the geopolitical state of play and, almost by definition, herald a deal.

Harris, for her part, used the Russia-Ukraine talk to attack Trump over his well-documented fondness for international strongmen and despots.

“It is well-known that these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again,” Harris said, “because it is so clear they can manipulate you with flatter and favors.”

Trump fought back there, recalling his push to get NATO member nations to pay more into the alliance and slamming Harris for Biden’s refusal to do the same, before saying the vice president “does not have the courage to ask.”

Harris replied that she believed Trump might, in fact, put a quick end to the war by capitulating to Putin. And in so doing, she added, endangering Poland on Ukraine’s western border.  

Trump repeatedly brought up the administration’s handling of the US’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, arguing it showed weakness in the White House and that Biden did not fire enough people in response to it. Harris said she agreed with Biden’s decision to pull US troops out of Afghanistan in 2021, asserting that Trump “negotiated one of the weakest deals you can imagine” on the matter during his time as president.

Swift Backs Harris 

As the debate ended, Harris got another boost: Musician and pop culture icon Taylor Swift posted on Instagram that she was backing the Democratic ticket. She signed her post “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady” — a reference to controversial comments by Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, that have alienated many women.