Sparring on politics and personality, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump showcased their starkly different visions for the country on abortion, immigration and American democracy as they met for the first time Tuesday, September 10, for perhaps their only debate before November’s presidential election.
The Democratic vice president moved repeatedly to get under the skin of the former Republican president, provoking him with reminders about the 2020 election loss that he still denies and derisive asides at his other false claims.
Harris not only tried to make the case that Trump is unfit for office but tried to use her answers in a way that seemed designed to provoke him into launching into one of the personal attacks that his advisers and supporters have tried to steer him away from. In one moment, Harris turned to Trump and said that as vice president, she had spoken to foreign leaders, "And they say you’re a disgrace."
Trump again denied his loss to President Joe Biden four years ago, when his efforts to overturn the result inspired the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
"Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people," Harris said, "So let’s be clear about that. And clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that."
Trump in turn tried to link Harris to Biden, questioning why she hadn’t acted on her proposed ideas while serving as vice president, and focused his attacks on Harris over her assignment by Biden to deal with the root causes of illegal migration.
He repeatedly dismissed her and Biden as weak, and cited the praise of Hungary’s nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán to show that he is a widely respected by leaders around the world, saying Orbán calls him the "most feared person."
The high-pressure matchup after a tumultuous campaign summer offered Americans their most detailed look at a campaign that’s been dramatically changed. The vice president moved to far more effectively press the Democratic case against Trump than Biden did when he met Trump in June, linking the former president to GOP efforts to restrict abortion access and accusing him of undermining the nation's democracy.
The first early ballots of the presidential race will go out just hours after the debate, hosted by ABC News. Absentee ballots are set to be sent out beginning Wednesday in Alabama.
Saying it's "time to turn the page," Harris delivered an appeal to Republicans and independents turned off by Trump’s style and his efforts four years ago to overturn the 2020 presidential election, saying there’s a place in her campaign for them "to stand for country, to stand for our democracy, to stand for rule of law and to end the chaos."
Trump repeatedly declined to say that it was in the best interest of the US for Ukraine to win its war against Russia. Harris said it was an example of why America's NATO allies were thankful he was no longer in office, as she and Biden have sent tens of billions of dollars to help Kyiv fend off Russia's invasion.
As the former president made a series of false claims about migrants, Harris seemed to smirk as he said that migrants are "taking jobs that are occupied right now by African Americans and Hispanics."
"Talk about extreme," Harris responded, when Trump repeated unsubstantiated claims that immigrants in Ohio are eating their neighbors’ dogs and cats.
Harris sharply criticized Trump for the state of the economy and democracy when he left office, as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the nation and after his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Harris has sought to defend her shifts away from liberal causes to more moderate stances on fracking, expanding Medicare for all and mandatory gun buyback programs – and even backing away from her position that plastic straws should be banned – as pragmatism, insisting that her "values remain the same.
Harris, in zeroing in on one of Trump’s biggest electoral vulnerabilities, laid the end of national abortion rights at Trump’s feet for his role in appointing three US Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, leaving more than 20 states in the country with what she called "Trump abortion bans."
Harris gave one of her most impassioned answers as she described the ways women have been denied abortion care and other emergency care and said Trump would assign a national abortion ban if he wins.
Trump declared it "a lie," and said, "I’m not signing a ban and there’s no reason to sign a ban." The Republican has said he wants the issue left to the states.
Harris used a question about her plans to improve the economy by saying she would extend the tax cut for families with children and a tax deduction for small businesses while attacking Trump’s plans to impose broad tariffs as a "sales tax" on goods that the American people will ultimately pay.