Kamala Harris put Republican Donald Trump on the defensive at a combative presidential debate on Tuesday with a stream of attacks on abortion limits, his fitness for office, and his myriad legal woes, as both candidates sought a campaign-altering moment in their closely fought election.
A former prosecutor, Harris, 59, appeared to get under the former president’s skin repeatedly, prompting a visibly angry Trump, 78, to deliver a series of falsehood-filled retorts.
At one point, she brought up Trump’s campaign rallies, goading him by saying that people often leave early “out of exhaustion and boredom.”
Trump, who has been frustrated by the size of Harris’ crowds, said, “My rallies, we have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.”
He then pivoted to an unsubstantiated claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are “eating the pets” of residents.
“Talk about extreme,” Harris said, laughing.
The candidates clashed over issues such as immigration, foreign policy, and healthcare, but the debate was light on specific policy details.
Instead, Harris’ forceful approach succeeded in putting the focus on Trump, leaving her allies jubilant and some Republicans acknowledging Trump’s struggles.
“Trump missed an opportunity to stay focused prosecuting the case against Biden-Harris on the economy and border, and instead took her bait and chased down rabbit holes on election denialism and immigrants eating our pets,” said Marc Short, who served as chief of staff for Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence.
Online prediction market PredictIt’s 2024 presidential general election market showed Trump’s likelihood of victory declining during the debate, to 47% from 52%. Harris’ odds improved to 55% from 53%.
In a sign of confidence in the debate’s outcome, Harris’ campaign challenged Trump to a second debate immediately.
Trump, who has spent weeks launching personal attacks on Harris including racist and sexist insults, largely avoided that pattern during the debate’s early moments but quickly became agitated by Harris’ offensive.
Trump was asked by the moderators about one of those attacks when he told an event with Black journalists in July that Harris had recently “become a Black person.”
“I couldn’t care less,” he said. “Whatever she wants to be is OK with me.”
Harris, who has both Black and South Asian heritage, responded, “I think it’s a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be a president who has consistently throughout his career attempted to use race to divide the American people.”
She criticized Trump over his criminal conviction for covering up hush money payments to a porn star as well as his other indictments and a civil judgment finding him liable for sexual assault. Trump has denied wrongdoing and again accused Harris and the Democrats of orchestrating all of the cases without evidence.
Trump also repeated his false claim that his 2020 election defeat was due to fraud, called Harris a “Marxist” and asserted falsely that migrants have caused a violent crime spree.
With eight weeks to go before the election, and days until early voting starts in some states, the debate — the only one scheduled — presented both opportunities and risks for each candidate in front of a televised audience of tens of millions of voters.
