Kamala Harris forcefully makes case against Trump in her only debate before presidential election

In their first and maybe last debate before the presidential election, Kamala Harris made a strong argument against Donald Trump on Tuesday. The exchange demonstrated their radically divergent views of the nation with regard to immigration, abortion, and American democracy as she constantly provoked him.

The vice president, a Democrat, teased President Trump by reminding him of the 2020 election defeat, which he continues to deny, mockingly pointing out that the Republican former president was responsible for the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the right to an abortion two years prior. Trump erupted into the kind of aimless personal assaults and digressions that his advisors and fans have attempted to steer him away from, attacking Harris as being too liberal and a continuation of Biden’s unsuccessful administration.

In less than two months, there will be a debate that provided the clearest view yet into a presidential race that has been repeatedly upset, just hours before the first early votes in Alabama are scheduled to be sent on Wednesday.

By almost all measures, Harris’ performance seemed to be the complete opposite of President Joe Biden’s in June. While Biden sometimes sounded confused, hesitant, and incoherent, Harris provided pointed, targeted responses meant to highlight the differences between her and Trump. Biden’s slack-jawed look as Trump attacked him was starkly contrasted with Harris’s body language and facial emotions when she confronted Trump and expressed that she found his replies absurd, funny, or both.

Harris seemed determined to position herself as a respite for those tired of Trump’s biting tactics, which was emphasized by the way she seemed to put him on the defensive.

Harris abruptly turned to face Trump, telling him that in her capacity as vice president, she had talked with foreign leaders who “are laughing at Donald Trump” and that in her conversations with military commanders, “they say you’re a disgrace.”

The 59-year-old Harris—the first woman, Black person, and person of South Asian heritage to hold the office of vice president—made a pointed gesture at Trump as the 78-year-old president continued to question her race. She then said, “I think the American people want better than that, want better than this.”

In response, Trump attempted to associate Harris with the still-unpopular Biden, asking why, as vice president, she hadn’t taken action on her suggestions. Trump also targeted Harris because Biden had given her the task of addressing the underlying causes of illegal immigration.

“Why is she not doing it?

She has spent three and a half years there,” he said. In addition to pledging tax breaks for the middle class, Harris said she would work to reinstate the legally protected right to an abortion, which the Supreme Court had reversed two years before. Trump declared that his proposed tariffs would help the United States stop being taken advantage of by its allies in trade and that he would work to quickly end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. However, he twice declined to say that he thought it was best for America for Ukraine, which has the support of bipartisan majorities in Congress, to win the war.

When a throng of Trump supporters rushed the U.S. Capitol to attempt to halt the certification of his defeat based on unfounded or fraudulent allegations of voting fraud, he denied losing to Biden once again four years ago. He attempted to reframe the issue of dangers to American democracy and implied that criticism of him could be connected to the July assassination attempt that he narrowly avoided.

“I believe I was shot in the head due to the negative remarks made about me,” he said. They discuss democracy; I pose a challenge to it. They pose a danger to democracy.

Trump has increased his threats of retaliation in the last few days if he wins back the presidency. He has said that he would bring legal action against contributors, attorneys, and other authorities he believes to have “cheated” in the election.

“81 million people fired Donald Trump,” Harris said. Let’s be explicit about it, then. It is evident that he is finding it really challenging to comprehend that.

After the debate, her team said it was willing to meet again in October. She also received support from pop sensation Taylor Swift, who referred to herself as a “childless cat lady” in a jab at Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, while urging her followers to cast ballots.

Harris argues for centrist moves and prioritizes abortion

In an effort to portray herself as pragmatic, Harris attempted to justify her departure from leftist causes and adoption of more centrist positions on issues like fracking, Medicare for All, and mandatory gun buyback programs. She even backed off from her earlier belief that plastic straws needed to be outlawed.

When asked about her shifting opinions on several topics, she responded twice with the same response, trying to brush it off with the statement, “My values have not changed.”

Meanwhile, Trump swiftly criticized Harris for renouncing some of her earlier liberal stances, declaring, “She’s going to my philosophy now.” I had really planned to gift her a MAGA hat. Harris chuckled and grinned widely.
Focusing on one of Trump’s greatest electoral weaknesses, Harris put an end to the federally guaranteed right to an abortion by holding Trump accountable for his selection of three justices on the U.S. Supreme Court who reversed Roe v. Wade, leaving more than 20 states with what she called “Trump abortion bans.”

In one of her most passionate responses, Harris detailed the ways that women have been refused access to emergency care and abortion services since that verdict. If she wins, she predicted that Trump will sign a legislation outlawing abortion nationwide.

Trump called it “a lie” and said, “There’s no reason to sign a ban, and I won’t be signing one.”
According to the Republican, he wants the states to handle this.

Trump persisted in calling Harris a “Marxist” and said, “Everyone knows she’s a Marxist,” in an attempt to portray the vice president as an out-of-touch liberal in an effort to win over people who are dubious about his suitability to return to the White House.

With a raised eyebrow, Harris looked at her with a sly smile as she brought her palm to her chin. Trump indicated a change in position on Ukraine by relying on well-known lies. Trump criticized Harris for the significant liability of the Biden-Harris administration’s inflation. He swiftly changed the topic of his response to a warning against immigration to the United States, one of his campaign’s main themes.

He described his proposed tariffs as an easy method to force other nations to make up for what he has long said is an unfair imbalance that harms the United States. Harris referred to the levies as a “national sales tax” in force. In a quick response, Trump labeled it as “an incorrect statement.”

Trump has focused heavily on immigration throughout his campaign, a topic that has plagued Biden and Harris due to an increase in unauthorized border crossings and the influx of thousands of individuals seeking refuge in cities with Democratic mayors. Although the number of illegal crossings has decreased recently, partly as a result of the Biden administration’s new asylum rules, he accused Democrats of encouraging a significant number of them.

However, as he often does at his rallies and on social media, Trump made a number of unfounded statements or allegations against immigration. Among those accusations was a disproved tale that Trump and his supporters had been spreading on the internet in recent days, according to which Haitian immigrants live in an Ohio hamlet where they kill and eat pets. Springfield, Ohio, officials said they don’t have any proof of it occurring. After Trump said that dogs and cats should be eaten, Harris remarked, “Talk about extreme.”

The emotions on Harris’s split-screen

The two had never met before when Harris approached Trump’s podium to introduce herself at the start of the debate—Trump having not attended her inauguration in 2021. “Kamala Harris,” she added, reaching out to shake hands with Trump. This was the first time the two have shaken hands at a presidential debate since the 2016 campaign.

Trump has sometimes turned to exploiting gender and racial stereotypes, including claims that Harris, a graduate of a historically Black institution, concealed her ethnicity from employers.

When questioned about remarks that cast doubt on Harris’ color, Trump said, “I read where she was not Black, and then I read that she was Black.” He added this a minute later. Saying “That’s up to her” twice gave the impression that she was free to choose her race.

Harris said, “I think it’s tragic that we have a presidential candidate who has consistently attempted to use race to divide the American people over the course of his career.”

The candidates may not see one other again until Wednesday, when they both commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, even if their encounter on Tuesday may be their last one on the debate stage. On Wednesday, Harris, Trump, and Biden intend to be present at both the Flight 93 National Memorial close to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and ground zero in lower Manhattan. Later in the day, Biden and Harris will also head to the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, for a ceremony.

At one point, Trump attacked Biden, saying that he “doesn’t even know he’s alive” and casting doubt on his mental capacity.

Harris made a hasty attempt to spin it around so that Trump seemed less than incisive.
“First and foremost, it’s crucial, in my opinion, to remind the former president that you are not challenging Joe Biden. You’re competing with me,” she said.