Image source, Reuters
Caption: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris met face to face for the first time.Article information
The tone became more and more harsh at times, with Kamala Harris landing some powerful blows and an increasingly aggressive Donald Trump trying to dodge them.
In US presidential debates, substance is often as important as form. A subtle gesture or a forceful attack, a well-chosen word or a slip of the tongue can determine the winner.
And in Tuesday’s contest, the first — and perhaps only — between Democratic candidate Harris and Republican Trump on the road to the November 5 election, there was little room for doubt.
Less than two months before the election, on the eve of the start of early voting in many states and with the polls showing a tie, there was little room for error.
And with her razor-sharp delivery, Harris managed to allay longstanding concerns about her public speaking skills that began with her failed 2020 White House bid and were only exacerbated by her clumsiness in some interviews in recent years.
It was also his opportunity to present his proposals and make himself known, and he did not waste it.
Meanwhile, Trump stuck to his familiar combative style, trying to fend off attacks from the former California attorney general and show that the country’s situation has worsened under the Democratic-controlled government.
“It’s time to move on,” Harris said on more than one occasion, calling her opponent a divisive figure, more interested in himself than in the citizens.
“He’s a Marxist,” he lashed out, “[por ella y el presidente Biden] “We are now a country in decline, we are laughed at all over the world,” he added.
There was no shortage of personal attacks, and on several occasions they accused each other of lying.
Image source, Reuters
Caption: The vice president and Democratic presidential candidate approached her opponent, Republican Donald Trump, to shake his hand. “Hi, I’m Kamala Harris,” she introduced herself. It was the first time they had met face to face.
It was his seventh presidential debate since his debut in 2016, and her first. In the previous debate, in June, the Democratic contender was still Joe Biden, but his poor performance cost him the nomination.
Before Tuesday, Trump and Harris had never met face to face, nor addressed each other live.
In fact, the only time they had shared space was when the Democrat, as a senator for California, followed the then-president’s State of the Union address from the Capitol gallery.
Now, in the 90 minutes in which they debated, just a few metres from each other, they did not stray far from the experts’ predictions.
Economy, migration, abortion
The economy, the main concern of most Americans, was the topic that opened the debate and dominated much of the exchanges between the candidates.
“Is the economy better than it was four years ago?” was the moderators’ first question, directed at Harris.
The vice president, presenting herself as a person from a middle-class family and without answering the question, launched her first dart at the former president, assuring that he is coming with his “old recipes” of “only tax cuts for multimillionaires.”
Trump took the opportunity to describe the economic situation as “disastrous” and to say that during his administration it was “the best in history.”
Image source, Reuters
The Republican candidate also focused his efforts on criticizing President Joe Biden’s immigration policy and, by extension, Harris’ role in it.
“I’m the only one on this stage who has prosecuted human traffickers,” she replied forcefully, blaming Trump for blocking an attempt to solve the border crisis by “killing” a bipartisan bill aimed at it.
“You know what happened? Donald Trump called some people in Congress and told them to get rid of the bill. Why? Because he preferred his candidacy to solving a problem.”
One of the moderators then asked the Republican how he plans, if he wins the election, to carry out the mass deportation he has promised.
“How do you plan to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants?” asked David Muir, who took an active role throughout the debate, correcting Trump and clarifying his statements on several occasions.
The Republican then returned to his already well-known speech on immigration, insisting on the need to close the border to millions of people from “all over the world” who try to cross it, from American cities that already seem like “Venezuela on steroids.”
“She and her party have destroyed this country,” he said, as the vice president stared at him, something she did throughout the debate.
Harris, for her part, counterattacked by recalling her opponent’s legal issues, while Trump argued that it was an attempt by Democrats to use the judicial system against him to win the election.
The vice president also blamed him for the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol and described him as “weak” and someone “wrong on national security issues.”
Caption: Protesters outside the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where the first presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump took place.
The exchange was also heated over one of Harris’s main issues: reproductive rights.
“I am not in favor of a ban [federal del aborto]”But it doesn’t matter, because now it’s the states that are deciding,” Trump insisted, after being asked to clarify his position on the interruption of pregnancy.
“All legal experts wanted states to take back the power to decide. I believe in exceptions: rape, incest and the life of the mother,” he stressed.
Harris called his stance on the issue “immoral,” accused him of spreading “a bunch of lies, which is no surprise to anyone,” and vowed to codify abortion rights if elected president.
Foreign policy, particularly Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza, was another of the night’s big topics.
“If Harris wins, in two years there will be no Israel,” was one of Trump’s most striking statements about the first of the conflicts. “If it were up to Trump, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now,” Harris said about the second.
“We have different visions of the country. One focused on the future and the other focused on the past,” the vice president concluded her speech.
The former president was the one who, by drawing lots, had the last word.
“He promises a lot of things: that he will do this, this, that he will do that. All wonderful things. But why hasn’t he done all those things? He’s been there. [como vicepresidenta] for three and a half years,” Trump concluded.
And both contestants left the set, without saying goodbye.
Who won the debate?
Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC correspondent in North America
In a tense 90-minute debate, Harris frequently unnerved the former president, prompting him to defend how packed his rallies typically are, clarify his conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol and address the fact that a number of officials who served in his administration are now openly critical of his campaign.
If debates are won and lost based on a candidate’s ability to focus on the issues where he or she is strongest with voters and sidestep those where he or she is weakest, Tuesday’s debate often tilted in favor of the vice president.
As the evening wore on, Harris repeatedly put Trump on the defensive, delivering a series of jabs to which he was forced to respond. She called him weak. She said there are foreign leaders who laugh at him. She said people leave her rallies early out of “exhaustion and boredom.”
For many Americans, Harris came to the debate with several weaknesses, on issues such as inflation, immigration and the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
But for the most part, Trump was unable to land his rhetorical blows. And in the coming days he may come to regret the missed opportunity.
Will it translate into votes?
It is no coincidence that Philadelphia was chosen for the ABC showdown. It is the main city in Pennsylvania, the most important of the so-called swing states.
Because of the way the US electoral system is set up, it is these swing states that end up giving the winners at the polls. Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin are also key to these elections, but none more so than Pennsylvania.
No Democrat has won the White House without winning Pennsylvania since 1948.
Voters broke a streak of six Democratic victories in the state when they went for Trump in 2016, although in 2020 they again went for the Democratic Party and supported Joe Biden.
“They say, ‘If you win Pennsylvania, you’re going to win everything,'” Trump said a few weeks ago during a rally in Wilkes-Barre, another city in that state.
Now we will have to see if what happened on Tuesday night at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia translates into votes, especially among the small percentage of undecided voters (around 8%) who are crucial to determining which side the balance will end up on.
And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.
