Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump went head-to-head on the debate stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday night for the first and potentially only time before voters cast their ballots in the 2024 presidential election.
In a heated more than 90-minute debate, ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis asked the nominees a series of questions on the economy, immigration, abortion, energy, 2020 election, Israel’s war in Gaza, war in Ukraine and more.
During the debate, Trump refused to say whether he would sign legislation banning abortion and maintained the false claim he won the 2020 election. Harris distanced herself from the immigration crisis, argued she is not Biden and revealed she is a gun owner.
While the moderators attempted to keep the debate focused on issues, at times, it veered into uncharted territory including allegations of eating pets and executing babies and crowd size comparisons.
The nominees continued to speak over each other despite microphones being muted when it was not a candidate’s turn to speak forcing moderators step in.
Donald Trump takes the bait
Throughout the debate, Harris goaded Trump, and the former president took the bait over and over again.
The vice president got under the ex-president’s skin when she brought up crowd sizes at rallies.
‘People start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom,’ Harris said. ‘The one thing you will not hear him talk about is you.’
Trump pushed to respond even as the moderators attempted to direct a question to him.
‘People don’t go to her rallies. There’s no reason to go,’ Trump said.
‘She’s bussing them in and paying them to be there and then showing them in a different light,’ he claimed, referring to a debunked theory that Harris was relying on AI for her packed rallies.
Moderators fact check Trump
Multiple times, Trump was fact checked by the debate moderators Tuesday night sparking fury from MAGA supporters online.
Trump brought up false claims about migrants eating pets in Ohio and Democrats killing babies.
‘They’re eating the cats. They’re eating – they’re eating the pets,’ Trump said. The ex-president was referring to claims that Haitians in Ohio were eating pets.
‘I just want to clarify here, you bring up Springfield, Ohio,’ Muir noted. ‘And ABC News did reach out to the city manager there. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals.’
‘I’ve seen people on television say my dog was taken,’ Trump argued. ‘A dog was eaten by the people.’
‘Again, the Springfield city manager says there’s no evidence of that,’ Muir responded.
Trump was also fact checked for his claims about Democrats being radical on abortion.
When asked about why he should be trusted on the issue after flip-flopping, the ex-president brought up a false claim about Democrats support executions after birth.
‘There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born,’ Davis corrected.
Later in the debate, Trump also claimed Harris met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Muir gave Harris the chance to clarify. The vice president said she has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Kamala Harris pressed on shifting stances
The vice president was pressed by ABC News on her stances changing from when she last ran for president in the 2020 Democratic primary.
Davis noted Harris said at the time she wanted to ban fracking, supported mandatory government buyback programs for assault weapons and decriminalizing border crossings.
‘Now you’re taking a harder line,’ Davis pointed out before asking her about why her positions changed.
Harris responded that her values have not changed, similarly to what she said in her recent CNN interview last month.
‘I made that very clear in 2020, I will not ban fracking, I have not banned fracking as Vice President of the United States, and in fact, I was the tie breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act which opened new leases for fracking,’ Harris said.
While the vice president did mention fracking, she has struggled to articulate when exactly her positions shifted.
‘My values have not changed, and what is important is that there is a president who actually brings values and a perspective that is about lifting people up and not beating people down,’ Harris said.
Harris distances herself from Biden
The vice president was given the chance to reintroduce herself as the Democratic presidential nominee. She set a tone right out the gate and cast herself as the change candidate while distancing herself from Biden.
‘Clearly, I am not Joe Biden, and I am certainly not Donald Trump. And what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country,’ Harris said.
Throughout the debate the vice president spoke of turning the page.
‘Let’s turn the page on this. Let’s not go back. Let’s chart a course for the future and not go backwards to the past,’ the vice president said when talking about the attack on January 6.
The vice president was also asked about the former president’s comment about her turning black. She argued the American people want better than that.
‘We don’t want a leader who is constantly trying to have Americans point their fingers at each other. I meet with people all the time who tell me, “can we please just have a discourse about how we’re going to invest in the aspirations and the ambitions and the dreams of the American people?”‘ Harris went on.
She argued the American people want a president who invests in dreams and aspirations, ‘not in hate and division.’
Candidates clash over who is respected by world leaders
Harris and Trump clashed over who has respect from world leaders.
The vice president slammed her rival during a section on foreign policy, claiming if Trump were president, Russian President Vladimir Putin would be be ‘sitting in Kyiv’ right now.’
The vice president claimed European and NATO allies are thankful Trump is no longer president
Moments later she pressed Trump ‘why don’t you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch.’
Addressing the war in Ukraine, Trump would not say whether he wants Ukraine to win when asked. He did argue he knows Zelensky and Putin ‘very well.’
‘I have a good relationship, and they respect your president. Okay? They respect me,’ he argued.
‘We’re a failing nation. We’re a nation that’s in serious decline. We’re being laughed at all over the world,’ the ex-president claimed at another point.
‘I know the leaders very well. They’re coming to see me. They call me. We’re laughed at all over the world,’ he continued.
