Trump fends off Harris, ABC News moderators in lackluster debate

Former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage Tuesday night for their first — and perhaps only — debate in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.

The debate was held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News. Both Muir and Davis engaged in questionable fact-checking of some of Trump's assertions but permitted some of Harris' claims to go unchallenged.

For example, after Trump suggested that some Democrats, including former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, support abortion after birth, Davis indicated that no one supports post-birth abortion, chiming in to say that "there is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born."

It turns out that in 2019, Northam did indicate that he would support post-birth abortion in some cases.

"If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen," Northam said on radio station WTOP. "The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother."

'She got no votes. He got 14 million votes. You talk about a threat to democracy. He got 14 million votes, and they threw him out of office.'

Later, Muir insisted he "didn't detect the sarcasm" Trump claimed he used when he stated he lost the 2020 election "by a whisker."

"We have to have borders, and we have to have good elections," Trump said. "Our elections are bad."

Yet when Harris made veiled reference to long-debunked hoaxes that Trump characterized the white supremacists in Charlottesville in 2017 as "very fine people" and some American servicemembers as "suckers and losers," she received no pushback from Muir or Davis.

Throughout the night, Harris did manage to avoid the word-salad speeches for which she is well-known. However, she frequently made dramatic facial expressions that appeared even more theatrical when juxtaposed with Trump's stoic demeanor.

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During the night, Harris was forced to declare tepid support for Israel while also noting that Hamas is a "terrorist organization." She also stated that she owns a gun, though she declined to elaborate on the type of gun she owns, when she purchased it, and whether she has ever fired it.

Harris has previously expressed support for a "mandatory buyback program" for guns.

After Harris suggested during the debate that Trump was a threat to democracy, Trump reminded the audience that Harris won no votes in the 2024 Democratic primary, whereas President Joe Biden won 14 million, and that Harris and other Democrats "threw him out of a campaign like a dog."

"She got no votes. He got 14 million votes. You talk about a threat to democracy. He got 14 million votes, and they threw him out of office. And you know what? I'll give you a little secret. He hates her. He can't stand her," Trump claimed.

"Where is our president?"

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Trump also managed to land a couple of rhetorical punches as well, at different moments telling her, "Quiet, please," and "I'm talking now. Does that sound familiar?" quipping a similar line Harris used in the vice presidential debate against Mike Pence in 2020.

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Perhaps Trump's strongest moment, however, came in his closing remarks, when he asked the key question of his campaign: "Why hasn't she done" the things she's now promising to do?

"So she just started by saying she's going to do this, she's going to do that, she's going to do all these wonderful things," Trump's closing remarks began. "Why hasn't she done it? She's been there for three and a half years. They've had three and a half years to fix the border. They've had three and a half years to create jobs."

"Why hasn't she done it?"

Earlier this summer, Trump prevailed in a debate against President Joe Biden, who appeared slow and confused and who struggled mightily to articulate his points.

About a month after that June debate, Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, and Harris was soon afterward selected by DNC delegates to replace Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.

Harris did not participate in the 2024 presidential primary race and therefore did not receive any votes from the American people. She did run in the 2020 Democratic primary but failed to secure a single vote in that race as well, having dropped out before the Iowa caucus.

For now, the only other debate involving the presidential race will be between Trump and Harris' respective running mates, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.). That vice presidential debate, hosted by CBS News, is scheduled to take place in New York City on October 1.

Trump attempted to debate Harris on Fox News earlier this month, but Harris did not appear. Instead, Trump participated in a raucous town hall event with Sean Hannity in Pennsylvania.

Trump also offered to debate later this month, but the Harris team has not agreed to participate, suggesting instead that they debate again in October.

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