KAmala Harris and Donald Trump clashed on Tuesday over immigration, abortion, foreign policy and their vision for the United States in his first televised debate for the November 5 presidential election.
According to the criteria of
Their first face-to-face was more lively than the one two months ago in Atlanta between Trump and President Joe Biden, which led to the Democratic leader’s withdrawal from the race and Harris’ subsequent rise into the race.
Harris repeatedly cornered Trump during the meeting, which was peppered with personal and political attacks. from which the Democrat emerged very unscathed. So much so that her campaign team stated that “Harris is ready for a second debate.”
Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris shake hands during the presidential debate in Philadelphia.
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The face-to-face meeting on ABC began with a handshake between the two, but sparks flew almost from the first minute.
Standing behind the lectern, he remained serious, his gaze never leaving the camera, while she turned her head from time to time to look at him throughout the hour and a half debate broadcast from Philadelphia, the cradle of American democracy in the east of the country.
Below are four key themes or takeaways from Tuesday night’s debate in Philadelphia.
1. Personal attacks between Trump and Harris
The rules of debate on ABC News were designed to maintain a certain decorum, but The candidates engaged in a heated exchange, interrupting each other on several occasions and launching attacks.
Harris attacked Trump for his record as president (2017-2021), his showy style and the “bunch of lies” he usually tells.
Using scathing language, Harris said she and Biden worked to “clean up Donald Trump’s mess.”
It left us with the worst unemployment since the Great Depression (…) the worst public health epidemic in a century (and) the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War
“He left us with the worst unemployment since the Great Depression (…) the worst public health epidemic in a century (and) the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War, and what we’ve done is clean up Donald Trump’s mess,” Harris said.
The vice president accused the Republican candidate of having “great difficulty processing” his defeat in the 2020 election and, in comments that clearly angered the tycoon, mocked the fact that some supporters leave his rallies before the end.
Trump was not far behind. “I’m speaking, if you don’t mind, please,” he blurted out on one occasion when the Democratic candidate interrupted him, and launched into long diatribes about the “insane” economic and immigration policies of the Biden administration.
Trump said the assassination attempt on him in July was “probably” due to criticism from his rivals who called him “a threat to democracy.”
Former US President Donald Trump at the presidential debate in Philadelphia.
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2. Abortion pits the two presidential candidates against each other
Their first clashes were over reproductive rights. During his term, Trump appointed three conservative judges to the Supreme Court, which buried the right to access abortion by overturning the Roe v. Wade ruling.
Since then, many Republican-governed states have accelerated legislation to restrict or ban abortion rights.
Trump said he was pleased to have succeeded in returning the issue to the states. “It’s now the people’s vote. It’s not tied to the federal government,” he said. “I did a great favor by doing so. I had a lot of courage and the Supreme Court had a lot of courage,” he added.
Kamala Harris after the presidential debate in Philadelphia.
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The Republican again repeated the false claim that some states allow abortion “probably after birth.”
And Harris hit back: “Is this what people wanted? Pregnant women (…) being denied care in emergency rooms because health care workers are afraid of going to jail?” she said, while accusing her rival of spreading a “bunch of lies” about abortion that “insults women.”
Harris also said Trump should not be telling a woman what to do with her body. “The government and certainly Donald Trump should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.”
3. Migration and false claims
Trump went on at length about his favorite topic: immigration“Many of these people who arrive are criminals, and that is also bad for our economy,” he said.
“They are taking jobs that are now held by African-Americans and Hispanics and also by unions,” the Republican said, as part of his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
They are taking jobs now held by African Americans and Hispanics and also unions.
But the former president went further, repeating the false news that some migrants arriving in the United States eat “dogs,” “cats” and “the pets” of the inhabitants of a city in Ohio (northeast).a rumor spread since Monday by Republicans and denied by authorities.
“In Springfield, they eat the dogs – the people who came in – they eat the cats, they eat the pets of the people who live there. And this is what is happening in our country,” he said.
When debate moderators said city officials had found no evidence of such crimes, Trump said “the people on television” had said so.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris at the debate in Philadelphia.
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4. Foreign policy: Gaza, Ukraine and Putin
Foreign policy largely took a backseat, though each candidate used the debate to attack their opponent’s vision. and offer radically different world views.
Harris said Trump was the laughing stock of world leaders and warned that the Republican would “hand over” Ukraine to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who in turn would “eat the American tycoon alive.”
Donald Trump at the debate in Philadelphia.
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“Russian President Vladimir Putin would ‘eat Trump alive’ and would already be sitting in kyiv if the Republican were president,” he said.
In his view, “dictators and autocrats are eager” for Trump to become president again because they can manipulate him “with flattery and favors.”
The Republican refused to say whether or not he wanted Ukraine to win against Russia.
On Gaza, he said: “She hates Israel. If she becomes president, I don’t think Israel will exist in two years.”
Who is the winner of the match, according to the analysts?
Some feared Harris would falter under Trump’s attacks. But the clearly well-prepared vice president laid out her case and cornered Trump, according to analysts.
The vice president executed her strategy perfectly, dodging the moderator’s questions
“Trump was terrible and Harris won by a landslide,” he told the AFP Larry Sabato, a professor of politics at the University of Virginia, added: “He took revenge after Biden lost the first debate.”
“The vice president executed her strategy to perfection, dodging the moderator’s questions, taking potshots at Trump and sparking angry backlash,” said Republican strategist Liam Donovan.
Professor Julian Zelizer of Princeton University described Harris’s “precision and planning in the face of Trump’s chaos, rage and misinformation.”
Of the 605 respondents nationwide polled by CNN via text message, 63 percent also thought Harris performed better in the Philadelphia debate, compared with 37 percent who thought Trump was the better of the two.
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