U.S. Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump had never met until their presidential debate Tuesday night, but immediately started sparring in a pivotal encounter leading up to the national election on November 5.
The two candidates shook hands at the outset, took their places behind lecterns on a stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and then started assailing each other.
They feuded about the U.S. economy, abortion rights for American women, immigration at the U.S. border with Mexico, the Israeli war against Hamas militants in Gaza, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol as Congress certified that Trump had lost the 2020 election.
Referring to the 2020 election that Trump lost to President Joe Biden, Harris said, “Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people. He has a very difficult time processing that.”
Trump recently said he lost the election “by a whisker,” but on the debate stage Tuesday, he said it was a sarcastic remark and refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the 2020 outcome.
“We are a failing nation,” Trump said. “We are in serious decline, and we’re laughed at all over the world.’’
In a snap poll after the 90-minute debate, CNN said its survey showed Harris had won the encounter by a 63-37% margin.
In addition to that quick assessment favoring Harris, the world’s top pop singer, Taylor Swift, endorsed the Democrat as the debate ended.
Standing a short distance away from each other, the two candidates shook their heads at each other’s comments, with Harris all but laughing out loud at some of Trump’s remarks. ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis gamely tried to control the flow of the encounter, failing at times.
Biden stumbled badly in a June debate with Trump and within a month ended his campaign as he endorsed Harris, his second-in-command.
On Tuesday, Harris, a former local criminal prosecutor in San Francisco and attorney general in California accustomed to tough courtroom encounters with defense attorneys, repeatedly baited Trump with insults.
At one point, she told him that his staunchest supporters at his political rallies often left early because they were bored with his speeches.
He described her as a Marxist, saying she was taught well by her father, a leftist economist. “This is a radical left liberal,” Trump said of Harris.
She recited her middle-class upbringing where her mother saved money for years before having the wherewithal to buy a house when she was a teenager.
Meanwhile, Harris said Trump was handed $400 million by his father “on a silver platter and then filed for bankruptcy six times.”
Trump assailed Biden and Harris’ handling of the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, saying the U.S. is becoming “Venezuela on steroids.” She said his plan for imposing up to 20% tariffs on imported foreign goods would prove to be a “Trump sales tax” for American consumers.
Where do they stand on these issues?
Former President Donald Trump says decisions on access to abortions and cutoffs limiting when the procedure can be performed should be left to the states.
Vice President Kamala Harris has called on Congress to pass legislation guaranteeing in federal law abortion access, a right that stood for nearly 50 years before being overturned by the Supreme Court.
— Vice President Kamala Harris,
during the presidential debate
Trump has repeatedly promised to pardon the Jan. 6 defendants. He has vowed to overhaul the Justice Department and FBI “from the ground up.” He has also vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to go after Biden.
Harris has leaned heavily into her personal background as a prosecutor and contrasted that with Trump being found guilty of 34 felony counts in a New York hush money case and in being found liable for fraudulent business practices and sexual abuse in civil court.
— Former President Donald Trump,
during the presidential debate
President Joe Biden made Harris his administration’s point person on the root causes of migration. Trump now blames Harris for a situation at the U.S.-Mexico border. Harris has countered that Trump worsened the situation by killing a bipartisan Senate compromise.
Trump says he will revive the travel ban that originally targeted citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. He will seek to end birthright citizenship for people born in the U.S. whose parents are in the country illegally.
— Former President Donald Trump,
during the presidential debate