The Harris-Trump Presidential Debate

On September 10, the US presidential debate occurred between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump. The two debated each other with no live audience and for longer than ninety minutes. For each question, Harris and Trump had two minutes to answer with one minute for rebuttal. This was the first time that these two had met each other, and there was noticeable tension between them.
 The moderators, David Muir and Lindsey Davis of ABC News, played an important role. The microphones were supposed to be turned off when it was not the candidates’ turn to speak; however, this did not play out as expected, as Trump was audible many times during the debate when he failed to stop speaking. Harris also tried to speak out of turn a couple of times. This fanned the flames of the already fiery debate between the two candidates.
 Trump focused primarily on immigration, which his advisors believe to be an area of strength according to polls. In what would soon become a meme, he falsely stated that “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. […] They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
 Trump also claimed during the debate that crime rates have increased in the US and decreased everywhere else because of immigration to the US. He claimed that most of the immigrants are from insane asylums, are drug dealers, or are convicted criminals. These claims are unfounded, but crime and immigration have been shown to be top issues for many American voters. Trump echoed these concerns, saying, “Our country is being lost. We’re a failing nation. And it happened three and a half years ago. And with what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War III.”
 Trump consistently throughout the debate linked Harris to Biden and his policies, which he said included a failing economy, especially runaway inflation. “You’re not running against Joe Biden,” Harris responded, “You’re running against me.”
 When the topic of abortion was raised, Trump said his support for Florida’s six-week abortion ban was motivated by Democrats’ “radical” policies that he claimed allowed abortion even after birth. Davis corrected him, saying “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.” Trump did not give a clear answer regarding whether he would veto a national abortion ban, but said he supported the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
 Harris countered his argument on abortion by speaking of a pregnant woman in her third trimester who bled out in a hospital parking lot because of hospitals not admitting her for an abortion. “Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term but are] suffering from a miscarriage [are] being denied care in an emergency room because the healthcare workers are afraid they might go to jail,” Harris described. She also mentioned young girls who were sexually assaulted who had to carry out their pregnancy.
 Harris mentioned some of the policies that she would focus on as president. In particular, she hopes to make accessible private insurance options along with continuing to build the Affordable Care Act because “Access to healthcare should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it.” Harris also emphasized her concern about climate change and how “as Vice President over the past four years we have invested a trillion dollars in the clean energy economy.”
 When Trump was asked about his plans for the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), he said that he’d replace it; “Obamacare was lousy health care. Always was.” When he was asked if he had a plan for a better and cheaper system, he said “I have concepts of a plan […] concepts and options […] in the not too distant future.” Trump has been saying that he would create a better system than the Affordable Care Act since 2016 and has yet to follow through on that promise.
 Harris made sure to contrast herself with Trump. “The people of our country actually need a leader who engages in solutions, who actually addresses the problems at hand,” Harris said as she criticized Trump for his role in killing a bipartisan bill that she said would have addressed border crossings and solved some of the most significant immigration challenges. “But what we have in the former president is someone who would prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.”
 For their closing statements, the Vice President spoke first. She emphasized the idea that the United States should have a president that will “protect our rights and freedoms” and she said that she will be the one to do that. She also pointed out that “I started my journey as a prosecutor, I was a DA; I was an Attorney General, a United States Senator and now Vice President. Now I have only had one client, the people.”
 For his closing statement, former president Trump focused on a question: “She is going to do all these wonderful things, why hasn’t she done it? She has been there for three and a half years.” He continued by saying that “You [Harris] haven’t done it, and you won’t do it because you believe in things that the American people don’t believe in.” At the end of his statement he called Harris “the worst Vice President in the history of our country.”
 According to many voters, Harris outperformed Trump. Before the debate, registered voters asked who would perform better were split pretty evenly between both candidates. Post-debate sixty-three percent of debate watchers said Harris outperformed Trump. About a week after the debate, Trump declared that he will not be debating Harris again, though there is much public pressure for him to change his mind. This is still an extremely tight election, and there is much to come before November.