Harris-Trump debate highlights each candidate’s promises
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump met for the first time on the debate stage. With a handshake, the two candidates initiated the first presidential debate since President Biden’s withdrawal from the race. ABC News hosted the debate on Sept. 10 in the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where moderators David Muir and Lindsey Davis guided the candidates through global topics and key concerns voiced by voters.
The economy was the opening topic of discussion. Muir asked the candidates, “When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?” Harris presented her plan for an “opportunity economy.” “We know that young families need support to raise their children. And I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of $6,000, which is the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time. […] Trump’s sales tax would actually result for middle-class families in about $4,000 more a year,” Harris said. Trump responded: “First of all, I have no sales tax. […] We’re doing tariffs on other countries [and] the tariff will be substantial in some cases. They never took the tariff off because it was so much money, they can’t,” Trump said.
The debate was directed to the next major concern: the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Davis asked Trump, “Vice President Harris says that women shouldn’t trust you on the issue of abortion because you’ve changed your position so many times. Therefore, why should they trust you?” Trump replied: “Well, the reason I’m doing that vote is because they have abortion in the ninth month [and] that’s not okay with me. Hence the vote. […] It’s the vote of the people now. I did a great service in doing it,” Trump said. Harris replied to Trump. “I think the American people believe that certain freedoms, in particular the freedom to make decisions about one’s own body, should not be made by the government,” Harris said.
The second issue that has been debated in recent years is immigration and border security. Harris was asked, “Why did the administration wait until six months before the election to act and would you have done anything differently from President Biden on this?” She spoke to a bipartisan immigration and border bill she supported in Congress. “That bill would have put more resources to allow us to prosecute transnational criminal organizations for trafficking in guns, drugs and human beings. But you know what happened to that bill? Donald Trump got on the phone, called up some folks in Congress, and said ‘kill the bill,’” Harris said. Trump responded: “Look at what’s happening to the towns all over the United States. […] In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats,” Trump said. Muir interjected to clarify that ABC News reached out to the city manager in Springfield, Ohio. “He told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” Muir said.
Moving from issues within the country to the topic of global conflicts, Harris was asked how she would approach the stalemate in the Israel-Hamas war. “We must chart a course for a two-state solution. And in that solution, there must be security for the Israeli people and Israel and in equal measure for the Palestinians,” Harris said. Trump answered the same question. “If I were president it would have never started. […] She hates Israel,” Trump said. “If she’s president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now.”
After global affairs, the last items of the debate were health care and climate change. Trump stated his stance on the Affordable Care Act. “Obamacare was lousy health care. […] I would only change it if we come up with something better and less expensive. And there are concepts and options we have to do that,” Trump said. The candidates were then asked to address the issue of climate change. “I am proud that over the last four years, we have invested a trillion dollars in a clean energy economy while we have also increased domestic gas production to historic levels. We have created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs,” Harris said.
As the discussion came to a close, the candidates spoke their last words of the debate. Harris imparted a promise. “I intend to be a president for all Americans and focus on what we can do over the next 10 and 20 years to build back up our country by investing right now in you, the American people,” Harris said. Trump spoke to a “failing nation.” “We’re a nation that’s in serious decline. We’re being laughed at all over the world. […] What these people have done to our country […] is allowing millions of people to come into our country, many of them criminals, and they’re destroying our country. The worst president, the worst vice president in the history of our country,” Trump said.
