27 lines to explain the Trump-Harris presidential debate
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Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced off on facts, dueled on policy and traded barbs during the presidential debate hosted by ABC News on Tuesday, in which Trump also veered off on a tangent about immigrants eating pets.
Here are 27 quotes to understand what happened during their showdown in Philadelphia.
These quotes don’t cover some of the moments on both sides that included detailed factual claims, but CNN’s fact check does a good job of giving context for those.
This comes from the middle of the debate, but it is perhaps the most important line because this debate was, in every possible way, different than the one between Trump and President Joe Biden in June. That debate eventually ended Biden’s reelection campaign. This one gave Harris an opportunity to laugh at Trump, tell him he was weak and get under his skin in multiple ways.
Harris on multiple occasions accused Trump of lying. He also said she lied about his positions, including on Project 2025, the conservative policy plan hatched by his allies but which he said he hasn’t read.
He’s talking here about Harris’ “opportunity economy” plan, but it is a line, replete with insult, that expresses Trump’s theme for the night – which was to tie Harris to Biden and also make her appear to be too willing to change her policy proposals.
Another example came during a discussion about tariffs. The Biden administration kept some Trump tariffs imposed on China, but Harris opposes Trump’s plan to impose new tariffs on all foreign goods.
Later, during a heated exchange on abortion, Trump repeated the false claim that Democrats want to allow abortions to occur in the ninth month of pregnancy. The following was part of Harris’ response:
Harris also made an argument about abortion rights and freedom:
Trump tried to argue that by appointing “genius” Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, he united the country and gave voice back to the states – where voters, when given the opportunity, have largely supported abortion rights.
Of course, in many other states, abortion rights have been severely curtailed. The fact that the states have such different laws suggests the country is not united like he said.
In a separate exchange, Trump tried to make a point about an influx of undocumented migrants by repeating an apparently false story about migrants eating dogs and cats in a town in Ohio. Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, has admitted it probably wasn’t true. Responding, Harris said:
She added that many of Trump’s former aides and people who worked in his administration have also warned he should not return to the White House.
Trump complained that many of the people who worked for him who now oppose him, like former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, have gone on to write books about their experiences.
Harris was asked if she took any responsibility for the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and the death of 13 US service members at Abbey Gate outside the airport in Kabul. She instead defended the decision to withdraw:
Trump acknowledged that his administration negotiated with the Taliban to begin withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan. But he said he would have done things differently than Biden after Trump struck an agreement with the Taliban.
Harris mocked Trump’s foreign policy and repeatedly called him “weak.” After Trump argued that Harris hates both Israel and Palestinians, she said this:
She added:
Trump then went on to heap praise on Viktor Orban, the autocrat who leads Hungary and who Trump has hosted at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
The fear he inspired in world leaders, Trump said, made the world a safer place during his presidency.
In another exchange, Harris invited people to attend a Trump rally, in a clear attempt to get under his skin:
Trump strongly disagreed:
Trump also repeatedly said Harris would end fracking in Pennsylvania and take away people’s guns. She repeatedly said that no, she would not end fracking, and argued the US can both have fracking and fight climate change, something sure to anger environmentalists.
And on guns, she interrupted her own answer about Obamacare to say this:
The issue that Trump kept returning to was immigration, and his theory, for which there is no evidence, that Democrats are bringing migrants to the US on purpose.
Trump said migrants are behind a spike in crime. When one of the debate moderators pointed out FBI data that shows overall violent crime is falling, Trump said the data is false. Moments later, Harris answered this way:
Trump’s legal problems do not suggest a respect for the rule of law, she said. Trump argued the justice system has been weaponized against him.
That was a nod to the Russia investigation from Trump’s White House term, which seems like so long ago.
Harris argued several times it’s time to “turn the page” to a new generation and a president who builds people up rather than insults and tears them down. But she was not above slipping an insult into a point about home ownership:
Trump is also proud of his background:
Separately, Trump said he still does not accept his 2020 election loss and, despite all the evidence and all of his failures in court litigating the results, he still thinks there is evidence of voter fraud. While he doesn’t understand why people who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, have been targeted by prosecutors, he also doesn’t feel like he has anything to do with the insurrection:
Trump was also asked about his recent comments that Harris “happened to turn Black” a few years ago. One of the debate moderators asked if Trump thinks it’s appropriate to comment on the racial identity of his opponent.
Harris, on the other hand, said Trump has a history of trying to divide the country around race. She pointed out he argued the Central Park Five – Black and Latino boys falsely accused of rape in the late 1980s – should be executed and that he questioned former President Barack Obama’s citizenship.
Trump is adamant there is election fraud even though there is no evidence of any widespread conspiracy. He repeatedly points out he got the vote of nearly 75 million people in 2020, suggesting it’s not possible he could have lost.
Harris returned to the 2020 election later and said the votes for Trump were not enough.
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