2024 US Presidential Debate: Trump v/s Harris, a one-sided affair?

Washington: Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump met for the first time at the 2024 US Presidential Debate held in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Breaking an eight-year streak of no handshakes on the debate stage, they shook hands before embarking on probably the only debate they will participate in against each other. 

They clashed bitterly on issues of economy, abortion, immigration, foreign policy, healthcare, and a whole host of other issues. Harris attacked Trump on abortion, calling him responsible for the Supreme Court decision to end decades of abortion rights. 

She also attacked him on the January 06, 2020 Capitol insurrection and the economy. She said Biden-Harris was left to clean up the mess left behind by Trump. The vice-president forced the former president to defend himself and his comments, including the one about her racial identity.

On the other hand, Trump focussed his attack on Harris over immigration, accusing her and the Biden-Harris administration of letting immigrants enter the US illegally in hordes, who, he added, were taking jobs and pushing up crime rates in the US.

He said it was the weakness of President Joe Biden and his administration that led to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Hamas attack on Israel on October 07.

Trump tried repeatedly to hold Harris responsible for the actions of the Biden administration.

Harris was also rough on him, accusing him of lying repeatedly.

Trump took heat on abortion as expected. And he defended himself, saying, “What I did is something, for 52 years, they have been trying to get Roe v/s Wade into the states, and through the genius and heart and strength of six Supreme Court justices. We were able to do that. Now, I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.”

But Harris was not about to let him off the hook easily. “Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v/s Wade, and they did exactly as he intended. 

For her almost four years as President Joe Biden’s vice president, Trump taunted her saying of policies he claimed she would follow, “She is Joe Biden.” Harris retorted, "I am not Joe Biden, and I am certainly not Donald Trump."

It was both an evasion and a declaration of her break from Biden, whose inflationary economic policies and the Afghan debacle are turning into an electoral burden for her.

The debate was held in the hallowed ground of US democracy, the Independence Hall built in 1753 in Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence was made and the Constitution was drafted.

Trump kept a serious, sometimes stoic, demeanour staring ahead, while Harris turned towards him while he spoke and often made facial gestures ridiculing him and laughing.

Harris put in several days of preparation with staged practised debates, while Trump continued his campaigning, save for some policy discussions with his team, and the difference showed on the stage.

Pop icon Taylor Swift came out in support of Kamala Harris in the latter’s presidential race for the upcoming November 05 US elections.
The singer-songwriter has formally endorsed Kamala Harris, after the latter’s debate with Donald Trump on Tuesday night. 

Swift said that the vice president “fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos”.

While the Presidential Debate may have been a night with outright lies, name-calling and goading, it remains to be seen whether it will help either of the candidates vying for the top job. Also, after electing 46 men into the White House, will America finally choose its first female president? 

 

Key Moments from the 2024 US Presidential Debate

•    On the 2020 US Presidential Election, Harris said that Trump was “fired by 81 million voters” when President Joe Biden was elected. 
•    Trump stance on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin were questioned by Harris. “Putin would eat you for lunch,” she taunted. 
•    Addressing rumours of immigrants allegedly eating people’s pets in Ohio, Trump presented them as facts. On the other hand, Harris dismissed them as ridiculous. 
•    Side-stepping a question about a national ban on abortion, Trump conceded that the law should make provisions for cases of rape, incest, or potential harm to mother. 
•    On immigration, Trump called out the Biden administration for allowing criminals to come into the country unchecked. Harris pointed out the ongoing criminal proceedings against Trump for national security and economic crimes, election interference, and sexual assault.
•    Trump even went as far as to label Harris a “Marxist”, which he also used for her father, renowned economist Donald Harris. 

What the US media has to say:

•    The New York Times evaluated Kamala Harris as the more commandeering one in the 2024 US Presidential Debate between her and Donald Trump.
•    Banking on her prosecutorial skills, Harris “laid traps” and Trump did not disappoint by walking right into them.
•    Trading barbs on immigration, overturning of Roe v/s Wade by the Supreme Court, relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, economic policies, among other topics.

•    CNN pegged abortion ban as one of the key topics and compared the debate to the 2020 debate where President Joe Biden could not respond to Trump’s defense of the policy. Harris, however, highlighted the plight of women who have been denied reproductive rights. 

•    Terming it a “fiery debate”, the BBC also remarked on Harris’ ability to successfully goad the former US president into a defensive stance, right from the beginning.
•    A snap poll conducted by the BBC of voters watching the debate also tilted the scale towards Harris. 
•    It also cited public surveys which indicate that many Americans were unhappy with the Biden administration’s — of which Harris is a key member — handling of inflation and the economy. 

•    The Guardian shamed Trump’s brazen misrepresentation of facts including uptick in crime, abortions being done in ninth month, immigrants in Ohio eating people’s pets, accusing immigrants of violence, claims on exonerated Central Park Five.  
•    Harris and Trump also argued over best and worst economy after unemployment rates spiked to worst levels since the Great Depression in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

—IANS