As the United States presidential elections draw near, with just under two months remaining till November, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump engaged in a high-stakes debate on Tuesday evening that could significantly impact the ongoing race for the White House.
Trump, the erstwhile Republican president, found himself continuously on the backfoot during the live-broadcasted debate, fending off continuous blows from Harris, who serves as the Democratic vice-president.
Here’s a look at five notable scenes from the charged 90-minute dispute which held the attention of countless Americans.
Reproductive Rights and Access to Abortion
One of the key points during the event was when Harris fiercely criticised Trump over the issue of access to abortion and reproductive rights – an area that her team believes could be instrumental in garnering votes following the 2022 US Supreme Court’s judgement to revoke Roe vs Wade. This pivotal 1973 judgement had secured the legal permission for a woman to have an abortion.
The Democrats attribute the judgement’s revocation squarely to Trump who was responsible for the appointment of three out of the six Supreme Court justices who reversed Roe vs Wade. The former president has been attempting a political balancing act, concurrently catering to the concerns of the religious right and wooing the more moderate swing voters.
Harris confronted Trump after he declared that the American public “wanted” Roe vs Wade to be revoked, citing the introduction of severe abortion restrictions in some states and the removal of exemptions for rape victims.
Immigration
The former president steered the discussion towards immigration multiple times, criticising the Biden administration’s management of the surge of migrants at the US-Mexico border and provoking worries about illegal immigrants settling in various US communities.
During a fiery exchange, Trump reiterated unverified claims, propagated by his running mate, Ohio senator JD Vance, that Haitian migrants are abducting and consuming household pets in Ohio. Despite these allegations and related animal-themed memes shared on their social media accounts, local authorities in Ohio have reported no proof of such incidents.
Trump has mentioned about a shocking phenomenon in Springfield, where local residents have resorted to eating domestic animals. He commented “It’s truly unfortunate that in our nation, people are consuming their own pets.”.
Continuing to reject the 2020 election’s outcome, Trump expressed a sarcastic tone recently when acknowledging his ‘close loss’ to Biden. “There’s ample evidence” of the election being rigged against him, he asserted. Vice President Harris retorted that Trump was “dismissed by 81 million voters”. She pointed out that his struggle with accepting defeat was evident. Harris argued that the US couldn’t afford a leader who tries to challenge the voters’ democratic decision, as witnessed previously.
Harris revealed her experience as Vice-President, talking with global and military leaders who belittled Trump. “They consider your leadership a disgrace,” she declared. An unnerved Trump countered that Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, a man he referred to “highly esteemed”, stated the global necessity of him as the President.
The exchange took an interesting turn when discussions arose about the ongoing war in Ukraine. Asked directly if he wished for Ukraine’s victory, Trump responded vaguely, “I desire the war to end. The gratuitous loss of lives in millions is unbearable.”. To conclude the topic, he said, “I want to negotiate peace. I have good relations both with Zelenskiy and Putin.”
The issue of respect was brought up by a former US President, who highlighted his belief that he was more respected than the incumbent, Joe Biden. This comment was met with a response from Harris, a woman of mixed race heritage who was only selected as the party’s White House candidate following Biden’s suspension of his own campaign. Harris reminded the former president that the competition was against her, not Biden.
During the summer, the former US president sparked controversy by questioning Harris’ racial identity. During a meeting of black journalists in Chicago, he purported that he wasn’t aware of Harris being black until relatively recently. Harris, in fact, has a black father from Jamaica and an Indian mother. It’s worth noting that Harris attended Howard University, a historically black college.
The former US president’s comments regarding Harris’ racial identity sparked criticism. When asked about his thoughts, the former US president attempted to shrug off the issue, expressing his indifference towards Harris’ racial identity, stating there was no issue whichever racial identity she ended up identifying as.
In return, Harris noted the repeated attempts made by the former US president to instigate racial division amongst the American people, which she referred to as a “tragedy”. She emphasized the commonality amongst the varying fractions of the US population, expressing her disapproval of his racially divisive approach.