Philadelphia, United States.- Vice President Kamala Harris took the debate stage Tuesday night, shook former President Donald Trump’s hand and then spent the next 90 minutes doing everything she could to get on his nerves, attacking him for his criminal convictions, his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the size of his rallies and the foreign and military leaders she says have called him an “embarrassment.”
“It’s time to turn the page,” Harris said in an aggressive performance that seemed to draw inspiration from her career as a courtroom prosecutor.
A glowering Trump often took the bait, responding to Harris’s criticism with a barrage of misinformation and personal attacks during the debate broadcast from Philadelphia on ABC News.
Harris’ first face-to-face meeting with Trump underscored how much the race for the White House has changed since President Joe Biden dropped out after his dismal performance in the June debate left Democrats in despair. Harris mostly managed to deliver a clear and concise message. Trump, by contrast, seemed angry and on the defensive.
Only on rare occasions did he manage to link her to the unpopular Biden, which his advisers said was one of his main goals, especially during the first hour of the debate, which was widely watched.
“She’s a Marxist; everybody knows she’s a Marxist,” Trump said in one of his signature attacks. “Her father is a Marxist economics professor, and he raised her well.”
At times, Harris put her hand under her chin as she watched Trump’s responses in skeptical amazement, laughing out loud when he repeated false and outlandish claims that immigrants were stealing and eating their neighbors’ pets in an Ohio town.
But while there were plenty of confrontational moments, there didn’t appear to be a decisive blow that could fundamentally alter the dynamics of what will, by all measures, be an extremely close election in November. Harris sought to portray Trump as a friend of billionaires and big corporations who would hurt the middle class. Trump characterized Harris as an inexperienced politician and too liberal to lead the nation.
One of the most tense moments of the night revolved around abortion, an issue on which voters have shown more confidence in Harris’ leadership than in Trump’s. The vice president tried to frame the issue as one of freedom and personal rights.
“You don’t have to abandon your faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that the government — and Donald Trump, certainly — should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” Harris said.
For Harris, Tuesday’s debate was a chance to further define herself to voters, many of whom say they want to know more about her political goals. For Trump, the night offered a chance to show discipline in attacking the vice president without resorting to the sexist and racist insults he has favored during the campaign. He largely managed to avoid repeating those insults, even when moderators asked him about comments he had made questioning Harris’s racial identity.
Some Democrats had set very low expectations for Harris’ performance in what could be the only debate between her and Trump.
“She has to prove to the American people tonight that she is not Joe Biden,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Harris campaign representative, before the debate.
*Other important points:*
— *Trump pushes for immigration lead*: Again and again, no matter the question, Trump tried to steer the debate back to immigration, a weak spot for Harris according to polls. He blamed the border crisis on Harris. She responded by pointing out that Republicans in Congress had blocked a bipartisan border bill at Trump’s urging. And, earlier in the night, she predicted, “He’s going to talk a lot about immigration tonight, even when it’s not the issue that’s being discussed.”
— *Real-time fact check*: ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis offered limited fact checking, but when they did, their criticism was scathing. “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it is born,” Davis told Trump after he falsely claimed that some babies were being subjected to “executions” after birth.
— *Short on new policy details*: A New York Times/Siena College poll this weekend found that 28% of likely voters felt they needed to know more about Harris. Nearly half of them specified that they wanted to know more about her policy proposals. But Harris gave few details to the national television audience, preferring to argue more broadly that she represents the future of American politics. Trump also avoided commitment, declining to answer whether he would sign a national abortion ban and, after being pressed on whether he would replace the Affordable Care Act, saying, “I have concepts of a plan. I’m not president right now.”
— *Location, location, location*: The key presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania, rich in electoral votes and where the debate took place, is critical for both campaigns in the final sprint. Polls show a tight race. Harris even appealed to the state’s Polish Americans, suggesting Trump would allow President Vladimir Putin of Russia to invade Poland.
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