Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced off Sept. 10 in their first and the campaign’s second presidential debate on ABC. This was also the first time both of them have met in person and marked a crucial turning point in this year’s election, following Biden dropping out of the race on July 21. The debate gave voters an opportunity to hear and evaluate both candidates’ policies and values.
In the midst of the numerous topics covered in the rough hour and a half, both Harris and Trump circled back to their respective positions in the election.
For Harris, this consisted of discussing her plan for an “opportunity economy,” for the future of America, and how she hopes to achieve it. In her closing argument, Harris made clear the president she believes she will be for America:
“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.”
Trump on the other hand seemed to take a different approach. Throughout the debate, Trump had many recurring themes that he reiterated during the discussion. Immigration and crime were two of the most significant topics he circled back to. Trump attacked Harris and the Biden administration for topics he believes are failures, like inflation, auto industry job loss and the continuing Ukraine-Russia war.
“We’re being laughed at all over the world,” he said. “I know the leaders very well. They’re coming to see me. They call me. They don’t understand what happened to us as a nation. We’re not leaders. We don’t have any idea what’s going on.”
In his final words during his closing statement, Trump also went as far as calling Biden and Harris “the worst president, the worst vice president in the history of our country.”
The back and forth of the debate led to many false claims by both sides. Below are some of those claims, which the Shield has fact checked, as well as overviews of each section, from the night’s most pressing topics.
The economy, a pressing topic for Harris, was answered with her plan that she calls an “opportunity economy.” As the debate began, she talked about growing up as a middle-class child and why she intends to lift up the working people of America. Harris proposed a $6,000 tax cut for young families and $50,000 tax deduction to start up small businesses, calling them the “backbone of America.” Responding to Trump’s economic plan, Harris stated that he “has no plan for you.”
Trump:
Trump’s plan for the economy focused primarily on tariffs, specifically on Chinese imported goods. He also called out inflation during the Biden administration saying that inflation is “probably the worst in our nation’s history.” Trump turned to the topic of jobs that he explained are at risk and that “bad immigration is the worst thing that can happen to our economy.” He also said that Harris does not have an economic plan and that she has “no policy.”
Reproductive rights
Harris:
In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade, which ended decades-long federal abortion rights. Harris said in the debate that she supports reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade and that she believes that Trump is not fit to be in a position of power where he can make these kinds of decisions.
“The government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” she said. “I pledge to you when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.”
Trump:
While Harris focused more on national protections, Trump said that there is no need for him to sign a national abortion ban because the decision has been brought back to the states. He said that reality makes in unnecessary for him to explicitly say if he would veto a national abortion ban. He claimed that some states and state leaders advocate allowing women to execute a born baby, which is illegal, and he also said that he has been a leader on IVF (in vitro fertilization.)
“Democrats, Republicans and everybody else and every legal scholar wanted it to be brought back into the states and the states are voting, and it may take a little time,” Trump said.
Who do you think won the Sept. 10 debate?
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Kamala Harris
Donald Trump
Border security
/immigration
Harris:
On the topic of immigration and border security, Harris first talked about the legislation she and President Biden supported that she said would have, in short, strengthened the border, but claimed that Trump convinced Republican senators to vote against it. Harris also talked about trying to move on from the border rhetoric that the Trump campaign and many Republicans support and “turn the page” to focus solutions rather than finger-pointing and vilifying immigrants.
“Let’s talk about what is important in this race,” she said. “It is important that we move forward that we turn the page on this same old tired rhetoric, and address the needs of the American people, address what we need to do about the housing shortage, which I have a plan for, address what we must do to support our small businesses, address bringing down the price of groceries, but frankly the American people are exhausted with the same old tired playbook.”
Trump:
During the time Trump had to speak on border security, he made many false statements regarding the border and blamed most of these claims on the Biden-Harris administration, calling America a “failing nation.” Trump’s main plan to combat immigration and strengthen border security is to deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. When asked about this plan, he did not specify how the deportation would be executed. Instead, he confirmed with moderator David Muir that he is in fact planning to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants and then talked about crime rates and made claims about other countries sending criminals to the United States.
“The [Biden-Harris administration] allowed people to come in, drug dealers, to come into our country, and they’re now in the United States,” Trump said.
Transfer of power
Harris:
The Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection was brought up towards the end of the debate. Harris described the involvement that Trump had with the attack and said that this was not an “isolated situation” but rather in line with other events like Trump’s reaction to the 2017 antisemitic mob in Charlottesville and earlier actions Trump took before he became president like being accused of refusing to allow Black tenants and taking out a full page ad in the New York newspapers calling for the execution of the Central Park Five, who were found innocent of the crimes they were accused of committing.
“For everyone watching who remembers what Jan. 6 was I say, we don’t have to go back, let’s not go back,” she said. “We’re not going back. It’s time to turn the page, and if that was a bridge too far for you, then there is a place in our campaign for you to stand for our country, to stand for our democracy, to stand for rule of law and to end the chaos and to end the approach that is about attacking our foundation of our democracy if you don’t like the outcome.”
Trump:
In the discussion of Jan. 6, Trump denied his involvement with the attack on the capital, stating that he had nothing to do with it “other than they asked me to make a speech.” He then placed blame on politicians like Nancy Pelosi, saying that she rejected his offer for the National Guard to defend the Capitol against invaders. Trump also found a way to connect Jan. 6 back to the topic of immigration despite that not being the issue under discussion.
“You talk about the Capitol,” he said. “Why are we allowing these millions of people to come through on the southern border?”
Climate change
Harris:
During the discussion of climate change and the environment, Harris talked about her work done with the Biden administration. Harris then talked about how she wants to build on those achievements while also introducing more solutions.
“Part of building a clean energy economy includes investing in American-made products, American automobiles; it includes growing what we can do around American manufacturing and opening up auto plants and not closing them,” Harris said.
Trump:
Trump talked about manufacturing and the failure he believes the Biden-Harris administration caused within the industry. He also continued to say throughout the conversation that Harris would ban fracking, which she said she would not do, and he also stated that if she was elected president, the day after the election, “they’ll go back to destroying our country and oil will be dead: fossil fuel will be dead.” Trump also said that he is a “big fan” of solar but proceeded to share negative thoughts about the land usage solar takes up.
“What they’ve done to business and manufacturing in this country is horrible,” Trump said.
