On Tuesday, Sept. 10, the nation tuned in to a debate that saw the first meeting of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. It was Harris’ first debate since Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race and she became the nominee for the Democratic Party. This switch from Biden to Kamala fundamentally altered the nature of the race and the discourse surrounding each candidate. After making consistent negative remarks about Joe Biden’s age and mental state, Trump now stood against a far younger candidate. With the spotlight of age within the presidential race shifted to Trump, the debate was a chance for him to alter public conceptions of his presidential candidacy.
As the debate began, it was Harris who took the initiative, walking across the debate stage to shake Trump’s hand, setting an initial tone that she was there to win. In her initial statement, Harris discussed her middle-class background and her plan to implement a $6,000 tax credit for families with new children alongside a $50,000 tax deduction for small business owners. Trump began by claiming that he plans on increasing American revenues through foreign tariffs and then went on to make claims that illegal immigrants were harming unions as a result of weak border security. As the debate continued, things began to go off the rails. Trump began to make claims that Kamala was a Marxist and that her father was a Marxist professor in economics. The debate then turned to the issue of abortion, where Trump made claims that some states were allowing abortions into the ninth month of pregnancy. Kamala then attacked Trump’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and discussed how, in some states, couples are even being denied IVF treatment, which Trump denied.
A highlight of the night came when the issue of border security was brought up, and Trump was asked why he killed a bill that would have added thousands of border patrol agents. Trump went on a tangent about how in Springfield, Ohio illegal immigrants were “Eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” These claims were disputed by moderator David Muir who claimed ABC had reached out to the city manager of Springfield who reported there were no credible reports of any such thing occurring. Trump then went on to claim that countries were sending their criminals to the U.S. and that American crime rates were rising as a result. This claim was again disputed by Muir who cited an FBI statement that showed that the national violent crime rate was down, which Trump called “defrauding statements.” Harris then went on to attack Trump for his recent trials for national security and economic crimes, election interference and sexual assault charges. The Jan. 6 insurrection was discussed, alongside the Israel-Hamas war and the war in Ukraine. Trump claimed that Kamala had been sent to negotiate with Vladimir Putin, however, this was disproven as Harris has never actually met Putin. The discussion then turned to Trump’s former questioning of Harris’ racial background and identity. The moderators then asked Trump about his proposed plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, to which he responded that he had “Concepts of a plan.” Harris claimed that she fully supported the growth and expansion of the Affordable Care Act.
Declan is a surviving biochemistry major at the University of Notre Dame. He is usually trying to figure out how to work the printer. Contact at dburke7@nd.edu.
