Trump-Harris presidential debate recap
By Haley Clough
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris attended the first presidential debate since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, replaced by Harris as the official Democratic nominee. The debate, hosted at the Philadelphia National Constitution Center on Tuesday, was moderated by David Muir from World News Tonight and Linsey Davis from ABC News Live.
Comparable to the debate between Trump and President Joe Biden in June, the two candidates took the stage behind podiums, facing an empty audience. To minimize interruptions, microphones were only turned on when a response was prompted.
The main points of contention between the two nominees pertained to the economy and housing, abortion, and immigration. Harris led her economy argument by targeting the inadequacies of what she called the “Trump sales tax” plan, which involved “[providing] tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations, which will result in a $5 trillion to America’s deficit…and a 20% tax on everyday goods that you rely on to get through the month.”
Harris said the cost of living in the United States is too expensive, and proposed the Child Tax Credit, which guarantees that “no one earning less than $400,000 a year will pay more in taxes.” The plan also offers a tax cut of $6 thousand per family annually.
Trump rebuked this, saying that his economic stance was not focused on sales tax, but instead on tariffs and creating jobs for the “American people,” citing immigration and weak southern borders as the reason for inflation. He said the Biden-Harris administration is letting in dangerous criminals. “You see what’s happening with towns throughout the United States,” referring to the recent gang takeover of an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets,” he alleged about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, doubling down on rhetoric by Elon Musk and several Republicans on X. These claims have been widely circulated on social media but have no basis or factual evidence to support them.
Next on the docket was abortion. Davis asked Trump why voters should trust his stance on abortion, considering the contradictory position he has shared throughout his campaign. The former president has continuously reversed whether or not he would support an abortion ban at six weeks of pregnancy.
He took things a step further on the debate stage by falsely claiming that some states “have abortion in the ninth month,” and that in West Virginia, the former governor was essentially willing to “execute the baby.” No state currently authorizes a nine month or post-birth abortion law for any circumstance.
Criticism also came upon JD Vance’s attitude towards abortion, which many feel is hypocritical when compared to the former president’s policy. Vance, Trump’s vice presidential running mate, has vehemently endorsed anti-IVF and complete anti-abortion policies, challenging Trump’s own, slightly less restrictive stance.
“I didn’t discuss [a national abortion ban] with JD, in all fairness,” said Trump. “I don’t mind if he has a certain view… We don’t have to discuss it, because she’d never be able to get [student loan forgiveness].” He equated the question of passing a federal abortion ban to student loan forgiveness, which he said Congress “taunted young people” with.
When asked if she would support any restrictions on a woman’s right to an abortion in the United States, Harris pledged her support in “reinstating the protection of Roe v. Wade… Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. It’s insulting to the women of America.”
Other discussions revolved around international relations, focusing on the United States’ role in the Israel-Hamas war and Russia-Ukraine war.
Harris told the audience, “Israel has a right to defend itself,” but that she also believes “this war must end… immediately and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out.” She also shared that she and Biden were currently working “around the clock” to find a two-state solution.
“If I were president, [the conflict] would’ve never started,” Trump told viewers. He reiterated this point in reference to Ukraine and Russia as well. “I will get [it] settled and fast, and I will get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended if I am re-elected.”
“[Harris] hates Israel. She wouldn’t even meet with Netanyahu when he went to Congress to make a very important speech,” Trump claimed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Congress on July 24 to address the U.S. government, a visit made controversial after mixed response to Israel’s continued attacks in Gaza after October 7.
If she’s president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now… At the same time, in her own way, she hates the Arab population because the whole [Middle East] is gonna get blown up.”
The discussion of foreign affairs continued in reference to responsibility for the U.S. government’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in August of 2021. The hasty departure resulted in a bombing and subsequent shooting at the Kabul Airport, where 13 U.S. military personnel and 90 Afghans were killed.
When asked if she felt she bore any responsibility for the results of the withdrawal, Harris said she “agreed with President Biden’s decision to pull out of Afghanistan.”
“As a result, America’s taxpayers are not paying the $300 million a day we were paying for that endless war, and as of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world.”
Trump said it was “the worst withdrawal, in my opinion the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country.” He also noted that the Biden-Harris administration left $85 million in new military equipment during the chaotic leave.
The two also briefly touched upon climate change and fracking, both doubling down on expanding fracking projects and oil procurement within the United States.
As the debate came down to its final half hour, Muir asked Trump about specific racial comments he had made in regard to Harris. “Why do you believe it’s appropriate to weigh in on the racial identity of your opponent?” he posed to the former president.
“I don’t and I don’t care. I don’t care what she is,” he said. “You make a big deal out of something, I couldn’t care less.” Trump responded that he had “read where she was not Black, that she put out…and then, I read that she was Black.”
Harris said that Trump’s use of race as a tactic of division was “a tragedy… You know, I do believe that the vast majority of us know that we have so much more in common than what separates us, and we don’t want this kind of approach that is constantly trying to divide us and especially by race.”
The two candidates left the stage shortly before 11 p.m., a subtle mood shift from when the two cordially shook hands prior to reaching their podiums at 9 p.m..
The first vice presidential debate will be held on October 1, 2024 between Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and GOP Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, hosted by CBS in New York City. A second presidential debate has not been confirmed.