Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump debated for the first time on Sept. 10.
The debate was hosted by ABC News, and moderated by ABC anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center. Topics included abortion, economy, migration, and other topics.
Trump and Harris greeted each other. “Let’s have a good debate,” said Harris. “Nice to see you. Have fun,” responded Trump.
Economy
Moderators kicked off asking whether the United States was better off today than it was four years ago in terms of economy.
Harris was the first to respond. The Democratic candidate did not directly answer the question. She said she is proposing an opportunity economy, where the cost of housing, starting a new business and taking care of a family will be lowered for the middle class with a significant tax cut.
Harris claimed Trump would “do what he has done before,” speaking of what she called the “Trump sales tax,” an extra 20 percent “on everyday goods that you rely on to get through the month.”
Trump rebutted, saying he has no sales taxes. He said he does tariffs on other countries, some of which Biden did not get rid of when he assumed.
Answering the question, Trump assumes times are currently worse due to inflation, which he classified at 21 percent, even though some items may even go up 80% compared to a few years ago.
Trump also blamed Biden’s administration for the immigration influx in the country, saying jobs, buildings and towns are being violently taken over.
Refuting, Harris said Trump’s administration brought America unemployment, healthcare and democratic issues. She brought to discussion what she called the “dangerous” Project 2025, claiming Donald Trump would implement it if elected.
Project 2025 is a political initiative that suggests policies for the US regarding topics like immigration, energy production, inflation and education. Created by the Heritage Foundation.
The claim was rebutted by Trump, who claimed he has nothing to do with Project 2025, saying Harris “knows that better than anyone.” He then said he did not plan on reading the project at all.
Trump stated that everybody knows what he is going to do, “Cut taxes very substantially. And create a great economy like I did before.”
Harris responded, stating that economists have reviled both plans saying Trump’s could cause a collapse, a recession and a deficit explosion.
A large portion of this segment was dedicated to the aforementioned approach to tariffs. While Harris claimed tariffs would cause inflation over gas, food, medication and other products for Americans, Trump claimed the exporting countries would be the ones paying the price for tariffs, not customers.
Muir reminded Trump that he recently said his plan was to increase tariffs up to 20%. The anchor asked if Trump thought Americans could afford higher prices due to tariffs.
The former president did not directly answer the question; again mentioning China paying for the tariffs, how Biden kept most of them, and how Trump’s term suffered no inflation.
About the Biden-Harris administration keeping Trump’s tariffs, Harris did not answer.
She followed to claim Trump selling American chips helped the Chinese with a significant advantage for the country’s military modernization.
“[B]asically sold us out,” she said.
The Republican answered the chips were sold to China by Taiwan. Trump followed up with accusations Harris had “no policy,” she made Biden’s her own.
Abortion
In 2023, Trump claimed the title of “most pro-life president” America ever had. In Aug., he said his administration would be great for women’s reproductive rights.
Davis questioned on an inconsistency, “[Y]ou surprised many with regard to your six-week abortion ban because you initially had said that it was too short […] But then the very next day, you reversed course and said you would vote to support the six-week ban.”
Trump fired back saying he needs to vote in support of the ban because “they,” perhaps referring to Harris’ party’s members, support abortion in the ninth month and claimed former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said “the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with the baby.”
The former president reminded he believes in exceptions for “rape, incest and life of the mother.”
Linsey Davis stated there is no state in the country where it is legal to kill a baby after they are born.
Harris responded and said that Trump “hand-selected” three members of the Supreme Court who helped him get rid of Roe vs. Wade protections. She states this caused cruelty and insecurity for Americans all around the nation, and would sign a bill to put the protections back in place.
Davis tried asking Trump twice whether he would veto a national abortion ban, as his running mate said he would. He did not answer directly.
Another topic of disagreement was the functionality of IVF treatments, which the Democrat said was being denied to couples, while the Republican claimed to be an “IVF leader.”
Immigration
Muir turned the subject to immigration and questioned the vice president why administration waited until six months from the elections to act on illegal border crossing issues.
She did not respond to the question but claimed to be the only person on the stage who persecuted transnational organizations on trafficking and followed to rhetorically question Trump on why he shut down a Senate bill that promised extra 1,500 border security workers.
Muir seconded the question made to the former president.
The Republican did not answer. He claimed immigration has done horrors to the United States, and cities such as Springfield, Ohio.
He followed up, “The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating – they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
The statement generated vast commentary on social media.
Muir clarified Springfield’s city manager has not received credible reports of that situation, Trump affirmed the “people on television” have reported it.
Muir asked Trump how he planned to deal with deporting the 11 million undocumented immigrants he said he would. The former president did not reply, he preferred to bring awareness to how crime in surrounding nations has gone down because their criminals have fled the United States, making the country’s crime rate higher.
Muir corrected the candidate on the matter with FBI data stating overall crime is going down in the US, which Trump called fraudulent.
Capitol Storming
On Jan. 6, 2021, “You said you would be right there with them. […] Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day?” asked Muir.
Trump recalled how he mentioned “peacefully and patriotically” in his speech and the police violence committed against his supporters. The former president claimed he had nothing to do with the Capitol’s storming, and blamed Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington for not “[doing] their jobs.”
Harris rebutted saying the former president “incited a violent mob” and has been impeached for that very reason. 140 law enforcement officers were injured, some died, she recalled
The vice-president proudly spoke her motto, “[F]or everyone watching who remembers what January 6th was, I say we don’t have to go back. Let’s not go back. We’re not going back.”
2020 Election
Muir recalled how the Republican falsely claimed he had won the 2020 election, and followed up a few weeks prior to this debate saying he had lost due to a whisker.
The former president claimed it was sarcastic, and the elections are bad due to illegal immigrants trying to vote.
The candidate did not agree he acknowledged the loss or that “losing by a whisker” was a phrase he said seriously.
Prior to the debate, the Republican said the people who “cheated” the ballots would be persecuted if he was elected. To which Harris responded, “We won’t let Donald Trump intimidate us. We won’t let him suppress the vote.”
Foreign Policy
Harris has said “Israel has the right to defend itself” and it matters how they do it. Davis recalled that an estimated 40,000 Palestinians are dead. The anchor asked Harris how she would handle the situation, in light of how the current administration has handled it until this point.
The vice-president believes in a two-state solution, immediate cease-fire and reconstruction of Gaza. However, she restated she will never deny Israel the right to defend itself, especially from Iran and terrorist organizations.
The host asked Trump how he would mediate with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, and Hamas to free hostages and prevent more killings.
“If I were president it would have never started,” said Trump.
After intermission, Muir was clear on asking Trump if he wanted Ukraine to win the war against Russia, to which the former president replied, “I want the war to stop. I want to save lives.” He wishes to negotiate a deal.
Harris rebutted with a phrase that caused commotion on social media, “I believe the reason that Donald Trump says that this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up.”
The vice president held an active pro-Ukraine stance, defending the country’s right to defend itself.
Race
Muir, recalling Trump’s dubious comments regarding the vice president’s race. The Republican disengaged, saying the host was making a big deal of the issue.
Harris made sure to respond with the importance of representativity and equality, “Regardless of people’s color or the language their grandmother speaks we all have the same dreams and aspirations and want a president who invests in those, not in hate and division.”
The vice president also called her candidacy a “new generation of leadership.”
Healthcare
The issues of healthcare were also brought up by Davis. Harris claimed to believe in private healthcare, still, maintaining the Affordable Care Act’s growth. According to Trump, he has concepts of a plan, not a concrete one.
Climate Change
Regarding climate change, the Democratic candidate was proud to say the administration invested a trillion dollars in energy economy while also increasing domestic gas production. The Republican did not include any commentary on climate change in his response.
