The highly anticipated debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris and her debate partners did not fail to entertain.
The two candidates squared off in a clash that featured sharp policy disagreements, personal attacks, and a few zingers. In one corner was Trump, who seemed prepared for the rhetorical donnybrook. In the other corner were Harris and her debate partners, ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis, who were posing as moderators for the occasion.
The debate covered a wide range of topics from abortion, immigration, crime, foreign policy, and climate change. Both candidates had strong and weak points throughout the proceedings.
Vice President Harris did surprisingly well, exceeding people’s low expectations for how she might perform during an unscripted exchange. Harris has been known for doing poorly when she is not following a teleprompter, which might explain why she has avoided participating in interviews with the press.
During the discussion on the economy, she talked about middle-class tax relief and support for small businesses. “I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of $6,000, which is the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time So that those young families can afford to buy a crib, buy a car seat, buy clothes for their children,” she said.
Harris also promised to “give a $50,000 tax deduction to start-up small businesses, knowing they are part of the backbone of America’s economy.”
The vice president also argued aggressively for so-called “reproductive rights” and slammed Trump for appointing Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. “Trump abortion bans that make no exception even for rape and incest… A survivor of a crime, a violation to their body, does not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next,” Harris said.
Harris also indicated that if Congress passed legislation enshrining Roe, she “will proudly sign it into law.”
When discussing the war in Gaza, Harris attempted to walk a fine line between supporting Israel’s right to defend itself while acknowledging the humanitarian crisis in the region. She tried to paint herself as a balanced, diplomatic leader on the world stage.
“Israel has a right to defend itself… but it is also true far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. This war must end, and it must end immediately,” she said.
The vice president argued that “We must chart a course for a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza, where the Palestinians have security, self-determination, and the dignity they so rightly deserve.”
Harris had several areas in which she did not fare well. When asked about her shifting stances on key issues like fracking and healthcare, she relied on broad statements about her values without actually explaining why she changed her mind on these matters.
“My values have not changed… I will not ban fracking. I have not banned fracking as Vice President of the United States,” she said while failing to explain why she supported a ban on fracking back in 2019.
Immigration was also a weakness for Harris, which makes sense given the Biden administration’s utter failure to address the border crisis. Trump wisely capitalized on this weakness, forcing Harris to defend her abysmal record on immigration. “They’ve destroyed our country. Millions of people let in… Crime here is up and through the roof,” the former president said.
Harris attacked Trump for helping to stop the passage of a supposed border security bill that “would have put 1,500 more border agents on the border to help those folks who are working there right now over time trying to do their job.”
However, the so-called moderators failed to point out that the bill would also have allowed thousands of illegal immigrants to gain entry to the country before shutting down the border.
Let’s turn to former President Trump. His overall performance was passable but not quite as effective as he has been in the past. For the most part, he successfully parried attacks coming from Harris, Muir, and Davis, but at times, he seemed to ramble while remaining on the defense for longer than necessary. However, some of this is understandable given that he was debating three opponents instead of one.
Trump did not disappoint when it comes to the economy, another one of the Biden-Harris administration’s most glaring weaknesses. The former president expertly defended his record on tariffs and trade, especially when it comes to dealings with China.
“I charged China hundreds of billions of dollars, and you know if she doesn’t like ’em, they should have gone out and cut the tariffs immediately,” Trump said, pointing out that despite Harris’ criticism of his tariffs, Biden refused to rescind them.
The former president savaged the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the economy.
“I had no inflation, virtually no inflation, they had the highest inflation, perhaps in the history of our country because I’ve never seen a worse period of time. People can’t go out and buy cereal bacon or eggs or anything else. These the people of our country are absolutely dying with what they’ve done. They’ve destroyed the economy and all you have to do it look at a poll. The polls say 80 and 85 and even 90% that the Trump economy was great that their economy was terrible.”
Trump also eviscerated Harris on crime throughout the debate. In one instance, he brought up how the administration’s porous border has resulted in violent crimes. “They’ve allowed criminals. Many, many, millions of criminals. They allowed terrorists. They allowed common street criminals… and they’re now in the United States.”
Trump pointed out that “all over the world crime is down. All over the world except here. Crime here is up and through the roof.”
The former president battered Harris so hard on crime that Muir had to come to her rescue, making the deceptive claim that crime is dropping in the United States.
Trump also slammed Biden for his weak approach to foreign policy, especially when it comes to the war in Ukraine. “If I were president, it would have never started. Russia would have never gone into Ukraine. Putin was afraid of me,” the former president declared.
Trump also went after the Biden-Harris administration for bowing down to Iran. “Iran was broke under Donald Trump. Now Iran has $300 billion because they took off all the sanctions that I had,” he said.
Donald Trump’s weakest moments in the debate came when he was confronted with topics that seemed specifically designed to damage him politically: The Jan. 6 riot and his claims about the 2020 election.
As my esteemed colleague Bonchie argued before the debate, Trump would be better served by not allowing Harris’ partners to relitigate the 2020 election outcome. Muir brought up recent comments Trump made on a podcast in which he seemed to acknowledge that he lost the election by a “whisker.” The former president claimed he was being sarcastic.
“No, I don’t acknowledge that at all. The election was fraudulent… We got the most votes of any sitting president in history,” Trump replied.
Trump made the mistake of allowing himself to get into a back-and-forth with Muir, defending his claims about the 2020 election. He would have been better served by giving a short reply and then pivoting to another topic or an attack on his opponent.
The same occurred after the Jan. 6 riot was raised. Trump responded by bringing up then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying the riot “would have never happened” if she had provided security for the rally. However, he was smart to remind the public that he clearly asked his supporters to protest “peacefully and patriotically” at the capitol building. Still, he spent far too much time defending himself on this matter.
The reality is that nobody is thinking about Jan. 6 and the 2020 election while they are at their local grocery stores wondering how they are going to afford to feed their families – and it would have been effective if he capitalized on during the debate.
Both Muir and Davis showed a level of bias against Trump that it prompted me to refer to them as Harris’ debate partners. Given their performance, it is impossible to characterize them as anything but.
Throughout the debate, the so-called moderators rarely challenged Harris’ falsehoods nor did they press her to answer the questions she skillfully dodged. On the other hand, Trump faced direct fact-checking in the moment along with aggressive follow-up questions.
Moreover, Harris was typically given more freedom to expand on her answers without interruption. Neither of the so-called moderators pressed her to explain her shifting policy positions on fracking and healthcare.
So, the question is: Who won?
Neither of the candidates won the debate. Harris managed to hold her own without much in the way of word salads and gaffes. Trump’s performance was also acceptable, even if he missed some opportunities to attack his opponent.
Neither candidate delivered a knockout blow and this debate likely won’t change many minds. This means it is a win for Harris, who was expected to bomb. However, Trump still held his own. In the end, the debate was more of a draw than anything else.
