Vice President Kamala Harris decisively took control of the first presidential debate against former President Donald Trump in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, delivering a performance that put Trump on the defensive for much of the evening. Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News kept a tight handle on the debate, significantly improving from CNN\u2019s June handling of Trump and President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The debate began with a surprise as Harris approached Trump to shake his hand and introduced herself as \u201cKamala Harris,\u201d an unusual move that set the tone for the night. Trump\u2019s trademark scowl stayed in place throughout the debate, as Harris pressed him on his legal woes and diminished his record. Displaying her prosecutorial skills, Harris consistently turned the conversation toward Trump\u2019s convictions, his business fraud case, and his role in the January 6 insurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harris positioned herself as a problem-solver, taking on issues like housing, childcare, and the economy. In her opening statement, she outlined her \u201copportunity economy\u201d plan, which focuses on bolstering the middle class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was raised as a middle-class kid, and I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America,\u201d Harris said. She detailed a $6,000 child tax credit as part of her plan to support young families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump, by contrast, criticized the Biden-Harris economy, calling it \u201cthe worst period of time\u201d he had seen. He defended his tariff policies and took aim at Harris, labeling her a \u201cMarxist\u201d while also accusing her of copying his economic policies. \u201cI was going to send her a MAGA hat,\u201d Trump quipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abortion rights were another major focus of the night. Trump, when asked if he would veto a federal abortion ban, declined to answer directly, stating, \u201cI won\u2019t have to,\u201d and arguing that the end of Roe v. Wade had satisfied everyone. Harris, in turn, vowed to restore Roe\u2019s protections through federal legislation if elected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI pledge to you: when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade as President of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the debate went on, Trump repeated several conspiracy theories, including a claim that migrants were eating pets in U.S. cities, which Muir quickly fact-checked. Trump doubled down, citing \u201cpeople on television\u201d as his source. Harris largely let Trump\u2019s more outlandish statements pass, opting to stay on policy while allowing the moderators to address his factually inaccurate remarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one of the most heated moments, Harris invited viewers to attend a Trump rally for themselves, commenting, \u201cHe talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter and windmills causing cancer. You\u2019ll notice people start leaving his rallies early\u2014out of exhaustion and boredom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump, visibly irritated, retorted that he holds \u201cthe most incredible rallies in the history of politics,\u201d but the debate soon returned to more substantive issues like crime and inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The night clearly contrasted Biden\u2019s earlier debate with Trump, as Harris managed to keep Trump on the defensive. Trump continued to fixate on conspiracy theories and past grievances, while Harris stayed focused on presenting her vision for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With fewer than 60 days until the election, the debate sets the tone for what will likely be a hard-fought campaign. As the debate ended, Harris closed with a message to the American people: \u201cThis is about who we are as a country. The choice is clear\u2014between chaos and leadership, fear and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vice President Kamala Harris decisively took control of the first presidential debate against former President Donald Trump in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, delivering a performance that put Trump on the defensive for much of the evening. Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News kept a tight handle on the debate, significantly improving from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[568,67,27],"class_list":["post-2363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-cnn","tag-donald-trump","tag-kamala-harris","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2363"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2364,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363\/revisions\/2364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}