PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Sparring on politics and personality, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump showcased their starkly different visions for the country on abortion, immigration and American democracy as they met for the first time Tuesday for perhaps their only debate before November’s presidential election.
Closing arguments
Harris and Trump veered in different directions in their closing arguments.
The vice president promised that she was focused on the future while Trump was stuck in the past. She emphasized that she has plans to help the middle class.
Trump criticized Harris for not implementing her plans while she’s in office.
“Why hasn’t she done it?” he said repeatedly.
The Democratic vice president moved repeatedly to get under the skin of the former Republican president, provoking him with reminders about the 2020 election loss that he still denies.
Harris not only tried to make the case that Trump is unfit for office but tried to use her answers in a way that seemed designed to provoke him into launching into one of the personal attacks that his advisers and supporters have tried to steer him away from. In one moment, Harris turned to Trump and said that as vice president, she had spoken to foreign leaders, “And they say you’re a disgrace.”
Trump in turn tried to link Harris to Biden, questioning why she hadn’t acted on her proposed ideas while serving as vice president, and focused his attacks on Harris over her assignment by Biden to deal with the root causes of illegal migration.
He repeatedly dismissed her and Biden as weak, and cited the praise of Hungary’s nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán to show that he is a widely respected by leaders around the world, saying Orbán calls him the “most feared person.”
The high-pressure matchup after a tumultuous campaign summer offered Americans their most detailed look at a campaign that’s been dramatically changed. The vice president moved to far more effectively press the Democratic case against Trump than Biden did when he met Trump in June, linking the former president to GOP efforts to restrict abortion access and accusing him of undermining the nation's democracy.
The first early ballots of the presidential race will go out just hours after the debate, hosted by ABC News. Absentee ballots are set to be sent out beginning Wednesday in Alabama.
It had been advertised as a 90-minute debate with two commercial breaks. All told, Tuesday night’s debate lasted for an hour and 45 minutes.
There isn’t a second debate between Harris and Trump scheduled, but one could be.