Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump confronted off Tuesday night time for his or her first — and presumably solely — presidential debate earlier than the November election.
The showdown in Philadelphia was fiery, with each candidates making an attempt to enchantment to voters in an in depth race.
Listed here are six vital moments from the occasion:
Harris had Trump shake her hand throughout their first-ever assembly.
The ABC Information presidential debate Tuesday was the primary time Harris and Trump had ever met in individual or appeared in the identical room collectively. Although Trump has largely eschewed a handshake or greeting in previous debates, Harris shortly walked as much as him, caught her hand out and launched herself.
Trump has repeatedly mispronounced her identify on the marketing campaign path — and has taken to insulting her as Kamabla.
Harris successfully baited the previous president on crowd sizes and his 2020 election loss.
Regardless of a comparatively tempered begin, Harris quickly got under Trump’s skin after saying his supporters typically get bored at his rallies and even depart early “out of exhaustion.”
The quip prompted a fierce retort from the previous president, who claimed — as he typically does — that he has the “largest” and “most unbelievable rallies within the historical past of politics.”
“Folks don’t depart my rallies,” he stated. “Folks don’t go to her rallies. There’s no cause to go. The folks that do go, she’s busing them in and paying them to be there and displaying them in a unique gentle.”
Throughout one other fiery second, Harris stated Trump was “fired by 81 million individuals” over the last election and stated world leaders had been laughing at him. Trump went on to tout his cozy relationships with strongman leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Harris used these remarks later to level to Trump’s pledge to be a dictator only on day one of a future presidency.
Trump went on wild tangents centered on false claims.
The wildest declare of the night time got here when Trump repeated bizarre, racist lies that Haitian immigrants have been consuming People’ cats and canine.
“In Springfield, they’re consuming the canine,” Trump stated Tuesday night time. “The folks that got here in, they’re consuming the cats. They’re consuming the pets of the folks that stay there. And that is what’s taking place in our nation. And it’s a disgrace.”
These claims grew from a debunked web story about immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, which has seen a rise in Haitian refugees in recent times.
There’s nothing to back up those claims, which have been refuted by Springfield metropolis officers. However Trump repeated them a number of occasions on the controversy stage.
The moderators fact-checked a few of Trump’s wildest claims.
Trump’s look featured a slate of rapid-fire lies and mistruths, however the moderators did address some of his more outlandish claims in actual time.
At one level, Trump repeated his fully false assertion that some ladies had been getting abortions “up till the second of start” — together with killing infants after they had been born. Moderator Linsey Davis stepped in to refute these remarks.
“There isn’t any state on this nation the place it’s authorized to kill a child after it’s born,” she stated.
Harris routinely attacked Trump’s function in undoing the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court docket choice and pointed to the slate of “Trump abortion bans” which have since been handed in practically two dozen states.
“One doesn’t should abandon their religion or deeply held beliefs to agree the federal government and Donald Trump, actually, shouldn’t be telling a lady what to do together with her physique,” the vice chairman stated.
Conservative pundits weren’t pleased with Trump’s efficiency.
“Let’s make no mistake. Trump had a nasty night time,” Fox News host Brit Hume declared after the controversy ended. “We simply heard so lots of the previous grievances that everyone knows aren’t winners politically.”
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) praised Harris’ efficiency as “exquisitely well-prepared” earlier than calling on whoever aided Trump in his debate preparations to be “fired.”
“He was not good tonight in any respect,” Christie stated.
Harris needs a second debate. Trump hasn’t dedicated.
The Harris marketing campaign instantly known as for one more matchup earlier than the November election, suggesting the 2 candidates meet once more in October.
Assist Free Journalism
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
“Below the brilliant lights, the American individuals obtained to see the selection they are going to face this fall on the poll field: between shifting ahead with Kamala Harris or going backwards with Trump,” Harris’ marketing campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, stated in an announcement.
Trump, for his half, wouldn’t commit to at least one.
“She needs a second debate as a result of she misplaced,” he stated within the media “spin room” after the controversy.
Assist Free Journalism
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.