Vice President Kamala Harris got under former President Donald Trump’s skin very early during Tuesday night’s presidential debate in Philadelphia. And from that moment on, there was no turning back.
Harris hit Trump where she clearly knew it would hurt — his crowd sizes are small, the military doesn’t respect him and world leaders mock the former president. Trump was so frustrated at one point that he even suggested Harris return to Washington to sign an imaginary bill to close the U.S.-Mexico border because the former president thought they were “wasting a lot of time” at the debate.
By the end, Trump’s supporters were complaining about ABC News’ handling of the debate, including fact-checks of the former president. Which tells you a lot about how they thought it went. For the record, Trump spoke for more than five minutes longer than Harris, per the New York Times, although only he was fact-checked by ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis.
The reality is, Tuesday night’s debate couldn’t have gone better for Harris. The vice president went head-to-head with Trump and came out on top. She kept baiting him, and Trump kept swallowing the hook. This is why Harris’ campaign has already put out the word that they want another debate. Trump — who went to the spin room in the National Constitution Center following the intense 90-minute session, never a good sign — ducked the question.
As the debate wore on, Trump became more unfocused. He can get away with that at rallies but not when debating someone as skilled as Harris. At one point, Trump even stooped to using a completely unverified online report about Haitian immigrants eating dogs in Springfield, Ohio. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s running mate, repeated this in the spin room afterward as well, but CNN’s Kaitlan Collins pushed back hard.
Trump hurt himself in other ways too. The former president refused to admit that he lost the 2020 election, reversing himself from just a week ago. Trump wouldn’t say he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russia (more below). Trump again falsely tried to blame former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser for the Jan. 6 insurrection. When asked about what he would replace Obamacare with after nine years of bashing it, Trump said he has “concepts of a plan.” The Harris campaign is already using this against Trump.
Yet Trump scored his own important points against Harris. These shouldn’t be underestimated.
Trump repeatedly battered Harris over the “border czar” tag and the millions of undocumented immigrants that have entered the United States during her time in office. Harris ducked an opening question on inflation — a huge issue — and the two clashed over whether Trump’s push for dramatically higher tariffs on imports is a tax increase on U.S. consumers.
Trump’s closing also had the core of a very powerful attack. If Harris had all these good ideas for helping average Americans, why hasn’t she been able to implement them during the last three-and-a-half years?
Yet it’s difficult to make the case that these punches landed during Trump’s uneven performance.
Harris hit back several times when Trump referred to Biden as “her boss,” but it’s a good dig. Biden remains unpopular even though his poll numbers have gone up. Whatever Trump can do to tie them together is a good tactic.
The real question here, of course, is will it matter? The answer — yes. Will it decide the election? By itself, no.
But in a race this close, everything matters. Neither Harris nor Trump landed a knockout blow. Or got knocked out by themself, like Biden did in his debate with Trump.
Foreign policy: If you’re a Republican national security hawk, your head was probably spinning last night.
When asked whether he wants Ukraine to win its war against Russia, Trump ducked the question, instead saying: “I want the war to stop. I want to save lives.”
Trump has long teased this approach, which would inevitably lead to Kyiv ceding territory to Moscow. Ukrainian leaders have rejected this proposal.
Harris also provoked a bizarre but revealing response from Trump when she said world leaders “laugh” at him and think he’s a “disgrace.” An angry Trump immediately brought up Viktor Orbán, the authoritarian leader of Hungary, as an example of someone who likes him. Top Hill Republicans have repeatedly said Orbán is a dangerous leader and urged members of their party, including Trump, to stop idolizing him.
Joe Wilson: South Carolina GOP Rep. Joe Wilson had a scary moment Tuesday night during an event at Ukraine House in Northwest D.C. The 77-year-old Wilson collapsed on the floor and later was rushed to the hospital. Wilson’s son, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, said in a post on X.com that “Doctors confirmed to us he has experienced stroke-like symptoms.” The younger Wilson said he had spoken with his father, who “is stable and being monitored by medical professionals.” Joe Wilson has been a House member since 2001.
– John Bresnahan, Jake Sherman and Andrew Desiderio
