Disgraced former Republican President Donald Trump was in rare form as he spewed nonsense and lies throughout his 90-minute debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.
Harris stood toe to toe with her opponent, starting with her initial action of approaching the Republican “81 million Americans fired in 2020,” and almost forcing Trump to shake her hand at the beginning of the debate.
Harris accused the Republican of retreating but Trump refused to say whether it’s in the best interest of the United States for Ukraine to win the war with Russia.
Instead of staking out a moral position, Trump insisted it’s in the best interest of the U.S. to end the war.
Harris slammed Trump on foreign policy issues contending that he is “weak and wrong on national security and foreign policy.”
“It is well known that he admires dictators, wants to be a dictator on Day One, according to himself,” Harris said.
“It is absolutely well known that these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again because they’re so clear they can manipulate you with flattery and favors,” said Harris. “And that is why so many military leaders, who you have worked with, have told me you are a disgrace.”
Harris repeatedly identified specific lies deployed by her foe, who falsely declared that immigrants are eating dogs and cats in Springfield, an assertion made without evidence according to the city manager there.
Trump flip-flopped on recent comments that seemed to acknowledge his defeat in the 2020 election and returned to his false claims about noncitizens voting and even tried to deflect from his speech inciting a mob of terrorists who sacked the Capitol Building on January 6th.
ABC News moderator David Muir asked if his comment that he “lost by a whisker” meant: “Are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020?”
“No I don’t acknowledge that at all,” Trump said. “That was said sarcastically.”
Trump said he “doesn’t care” about Harris’ racial identity, despite his previous repeated comments about her race, including that she “happened to turn Black.”
“I don’t care what she is. I don’t care,” he said. “Whatever she wants to be is OK with me.”
Asked for her thoughts, Harris said it’s a “tragedy” that Trump has attempted to use race over his career to divide the country — citing the case of the Central Park Five.
“I think the American people want better than that, want better than this,” she said.
Harris said “Honestly, I think it’s a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president who has consistently, over the course of his career, attempted to use race to divide the American people.”
“You know, I do believe that the vast majority of us know that we have so much more in common than what separates us, and we don’t want this kind of approach that is just constantly trying to divide us, and especially by race,” replied Harris, who later said, “Stop with the lying.”
On Trump’s false claims he won the 2020 race, she said he lacks the ability “to not be confused by fact.” And on foreign policy, she claimed “it is absolutely well known that these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again” because they can “manipulate you with flattery and favors.”
After Harris voiced support for a two-state solution in the Palestine and Israel conflict, Trump dodged the question when asked about it, simply repeating his claim that Harris and Democrats hate Israel and that the conflicts would not be happening under his administration.
“I will get that settled and fast, and I’ll get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended if I’m president-elect, I’ll get it done before, even becoming president,” Trump claimed.
“Obamacare was lousy healthcare,” said Trump, who was stumped by a direct question about his plan to replace the national insurance policy put in place by his predecessor.
Harris said that she supports private health insurance and would work to protect enhance and improve the Affordable Care Act, signed by former President Barack Obama.
The 2020 election loser contradicted the findings of the bipartisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, which determined there was “no evidence” to support the claim that Trump gave an order “to have 10,000 troops ready for January 6th.”
The report quoted Trump’s Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, who directly refuted this claim under oath, saying, “There was no direct order from the President” to put 10,000 troops to be on the ready for January 6th, but the Republican reiterated his false claim.
The list lies and falsehoods from Trump is too long to list but the Democrat succeeded in prosecuting her case against the 2020 election loser, sharing concerns for the future of working class Americans and her own upbringing.
The defining feature of the high-stakes presidential debate was encapsulated in the remark of CNN’s Chris Wallace, who said: “Donald Trump looked old tonight.”