Harris Puts Trump On Defensive In Debate
And, Taylor Swift drops her big endorsement
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📌 HARRIS ATTACKS, BAITS TRUMP DURING THEIR FIRST DEBATE
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris faced off in a heated debate Tuesday night, sparring about abortion, immigration, the cost of living, and a range of other issues.
Harris set the tone at Tuesday night’s presidential debate by walking across the stage to introduce herself to the former President.
In their first, and possibly only debate, Harris baited Trump— on issues from rally crowd sizes, to his inheritance, to bankruptcies and how foreign leaders view him— and he seemed to take the bait again and again. She was able to make the debate a referendum on Trump, instead of allowing him to make it about vulnerabilities from the last four years. Some Trump allies are frustrated with his performance.
The highly-anticipated 90 minute showdown in Philadelphia, PA saw the candidates clash over their vision for America and repeatedly accuse the other of lying. ABC moderators stepped in multiple times to fact check Trump— which he and supporters did not like.
ON THE ISSUES:
Early in the night, Harris succeeded in turning a question about why she and Biden waited 3.5 years to address the border crisis into a debate about Trump campaign rallies. She urged the audience to go to his rallies and listen to him talk about “fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter… And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.”
The former president ignored ABC’s David Muir’s follow-up question about immigration (which is an issue he polls better than Harris on!), and went on the defensive about his rallies. He claimed that Harris is “busing” her audience in and that “people don’t leave my rallies.”
He then went off on a tangent about undocumented migrants “eating the pets,” a claim debunked by local authorities, but that gained traction on conservative social media. ABC fact-checked it live.
Abortion: Another contentious exchange was around Roe v. Wade being overturned, an issue that Trump has been struggling with of late.
Trump praised the six Supreme Court justices who overturned abortion protections in the US, three of whom he appointed. He falsely claimed that Democrats support abortion even after babies are born, which the ABC moderator also fact-checked.
Trump refused to say whether he would veto a federal abortion ban because he says it will never even pass Congress. He has tried to walk a tightrope by praising the overturn of Roe v Wade for his social conservative supporters, while also trying to sound more moderate on the issue to win over pro-choice female voters.
Harris, who has focused on the issue on the campaign trail, vowed to sign a bill bringing back Roe v. Wade abortion protections. Trump questioned the ability of the divided Congress to pass such legislation.
Healthcare: Despite the Trump administration’s failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, Trump said he still would want to in a second term. He could not answer what he would replace it with, however. He has said he is working on an alternate plan to Obamacare since 2015.
Ukraine: Trump was asked if he wanted Ukraine to win its war. He dodged the question, saying he just wants the war to be over, and claimed he can end it in a day. Harris said the reason the “war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up.”
Foreign policy: Both candidates stuck to their talking points on foreign policy issues. Trump tried to cast himself as tougher than Harris on Putin. Harris tried to paint herself as tougher on China than Trump. And neither candidate presented a plan for ending the Israel-Hamas war.
Trump hit Harris on the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, arguing that neither would have happened under his watch. He said Israel will be destroyed in a couple years if Harris is elected. Trump also brought up the Afghanistan withdrawal several times.
But, notably, Afghanistan is another issue where she put Trump on the defensive on an issue he polls better on.
Harris pointed out that Trump invited the Taliban to Camp David and said she stood by the US leaving Afghanistan. He spent his response defending his meetings with the Taliban, instead of focusing on the chaotic Biden administration withdrawal from Kabul.
Time spent on topics during the debate. Via: NBC News
Guns: Trump said Harris wants to take away Americans’ guns, Harris said she and Tim Walz own guns and does not want to do that.
January 6: Trump denied culpability and referred to the police who defended the Capitol as "the other side." Harris highlighted the law enforcement officers who were injured.
Changing positions: Harris said she will not ban fracking, a change from her 2019 pledge to do so. She did not address several other issues that she has changed her position on. Neither Trump, nor the ABC moderators, pushed her on other policy changes.
Optics: Harris looked directly at the camera and at Trump during the debate, while the former president just looked at the camera. She used smirks and head shakes to try to get her point across despite muted mics.
Fact checking on stage: Trump's allies are slamming ABC moderators, who fact-checked Trump’s abortion and immigrant-dog-eating claims and offered “clarification” that judges have dismissed lawsuits over the election fraud claims. Here are a smattering of reaction online so far:
POST-DEBATE
After the debate, Trump unexpectedly appeared in the spin room where the candidates have surrogates talking up their performances to reporters. He appeared on Fox News and described his performance as the “best debate ever” and criticized the moderators for making it “three-on-one.”
Harris’s campaign called for a second debate, while Trump said, “We’ll think about it.”
Not on our Bingo card: Taylor Swift endorsed Harris directly after the debate, signing her Instagram post as “Childless Cat Lady.”
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🗓 ON THIS DAY: SEPTEMBER 11
Lower Manhattan around 8:30am ET on Sep 11, 2001. Photo by David Monderer
23 years ago, 2,977 people were killed in the deadliest terrorist attack in American history.
Four planes were hijacked: Two were intentionally crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, and the buildings collapsed shortly after; One plane flew into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia; Another, believed to be headed for the White House or the U.S. Capitol, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought the terrorists and regained control of the cockpit.
Americans watched in horror as the day unfolded. Today’s ceremony to honor the lives lost will begin at 8:30am ET, and the first moment of silence will be at 8:46am ET, the time the first plane struck the North Tower. Moments of silence will be held for each of the following times listed in bold.
9/11/01 Timeline:
7:59am ET: American Airlines Flight 11 takes off from Boston, en route to Los Angeles. 11 crew members, 76 passengers, and 5 hijackers are on board.
8:15am ET: United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from Boston for Los Angeles. 9 crew members, 51 passengers, and 5 hijackers are on board.
8:20am ET: American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Washington, DC, headed for Los Angeles. There are 53 passengers, 6 crew members, and 5 hijackers on board.
8:42am ET: United Airlines Flight 93 takes off from Newark, NJ to San Francisco. 7 crew members, 33 passengers, and 4 hijackers are on board.
8:46am ET: American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into the World Trade Center’s North Tower
8:50am ET: U.S. President George W. Bush, visiting an elementary school classroom in Florida, is alerted a plane has hit the North Tower.
9:03am ET: United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into the World Trade Center’s South Tower.
9:37am ET: American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
9:59am ET: The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
10:03am ET: Flight 93 crashes into a field near Shanksville, PA, after passengers and crew storm the cockpit.
10:28am ET: The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.