On Tuesday evening, the first presidential debate was held between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The clash was full of emotion, sharp exchanges and controversy. Trump faced not only Harris, but besides ABC News moderators who repeatedly interrupted him and checked the facts live, which Trump found unfair.
During the 90-minute debate, issues related to the economy, abortion, immigration and abroad policy were raised. Both candidates tried to convince voters that their program was the best for America, but the debate rapidly turned into direct accusations of lies and manipulation.
Kamala Harris She focused on the criticism of Trump's administration, trying to hit the erstwhile president about his immigration policy and economical plan. Trump, on the another hand, accused Harris respective times of deficiency of clear proposals and "copying" Biden's policy.
Economy and inflation – Trump debate – Harris
One of the main themes was the economy, which started with a question addressed to Harris: “Are Americans better off than they were 4 years ago?”. The candidate missed the answer, focusing on Trump's criticism, which she claimed would introduce a sales taxation on regular products. Trump firmly rejected these allegations as false, recalling evidence inflation that takes place under the governments of Harris and Biden.
The debate's moderation suggested that Trump's proposals to introduce duties on imported goods could rise costs for consumers. Trump nevertheless countered, emphasizing that inflation is the biggest problem of the Harris administration.
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Immigration and border
Another subject was issues related to illegal immigration. Trump harshly criticized the Harris-Biden administration for the chaos at the Mexican border, claiming that its policy "destroyed our country". He recalled that at the time of his presidency the situation was stable, and the evidence numbers of illegal immigrants we are seeing now are the consequence of the "catastrophic" decisions of his opponent.
In 1 of the most controversial moments of the debate, Trump repeated the viral accusation that Ohio migrants were to “eat pets”. Kamala rejected these allegations as absurd, and moderators immediately tried to correct this information.
An abortion dispute
Trump and Harris powerfully exchanged opinions on abortion. Harris accused the erstwhile president of wanting to introduce a national abortion ban, which Trump denied. He explained that although he is in favour of restrictions on abortion, it is up to individual states after the overthrow of Roe v. Wade's ruling. Moderation pressed Trump, asking if he would veto the bill on abortion ban, but the erstwhile president powerfully stressed that he did not support specified a ban at national level.
Harris avoided a clear answer to the question whether she supported any restrictions on abortion until birth, which sparked Trump's acute reaction and his supporters.
Moderator criticism
Trump repeatedly criticized moderators, accusing them of bias and favoritism of Kamala. At the end of the debate, the erstwhile president said that it was “the best start in his career”, even though, as he claimed, he had to fight not only Harris but besides moderators, which he called “the three-on-one run”.
His allies, like Senator Tom Cotton, emphasized that Harris was not sufficiently confronted for her “liar” and imprecise statements.
Return to the electoral trail
After the debate, both candidates returned to the electoral trail. The Democratic candidate planned a series of rallies in key states, starting with North Carolina. On the another hand, Trump appeared in Arizona, where he continues his campaign.
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