Trump and Harris debate in their first presidential showdown of 2024

Trump defended his implementation of tariffs, which many economists say increases the costs of goods for American families.

Harris said that Trump “invited trade wars” with other nations, and under him, the trade deficit was one of the highest the U.S. has ever seen. Harris said the Trump administration sold American chip technology to China to help them “modernize” their military. Trump “basically sold us out,” Harris said. Instead, the next administration needs to focus on relationships with U.S. allies, and on enhancing the American workforce, Harris added.

Harris argued that Trump was weak on China, pointing to a tweet when Trump thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for his handling of the COVID crisis, despite China “not giving us transparency about the origins of COVID.” 

Trump hit back, saying the U.S. hardly made chip technology before, and criticizing Harris for her policy pivots. 

“Everything that she believed three years ago and four years ago is out the window,” Trump said of Harris, saying Harris is adopting his own policies. Trump joked about sending Harris a MAGA hat. 

The vice president took little time before working to draw a stark contrast between herself and the former president when it comes to their views of the country and a message of unity.

“In this debate tonight, you’re going to hear from the same old tired playbook – a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling,” Harris said. 

“I believe very strongly that the American people want a president who understands the importance of bringing us together knowing we have so much more important than what separates us, and I pledge to you to be a president for all Americans,” she added. 

Harris also said Americans would hear during the debate about a “dangerous plan” that she said Trump intends on implementing called Project 2025 — an outline for a conservative administration spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation that Trump’s campaign has distanced itself from. 

Trump quickly responded, saying, “I have nothing to do with Project 2025,” and that he hadn’t read the plan for a conservative administration “purposefully.” Many of those involved in Project 2025 served in the Trump administration.

For the first question, Muir asked Harris if Americans are better off economically than they were four years ago. She didn’t directly answer, but touted her economic agenda.

“I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people,” Harris said, describing her upbringing and saying she wants an “opportunity economy.” 

Harris described her plan to increase the child tax credit to $6,000, and offer tax deductions for small business startups.  

Trump, given an opportunity to respond, said he’s in favor of imposing tariffs, in some cases, “substantial tariffs.” He then went on to say undocumented immigrants are taking jobs from Black and Hispanic Americans, and said criminal immigrants are “taking over towns, they’re taking over buildings.” 

“They’re dangerous, they’re the highest level of criminality,” Trump said.

Harris said Trump left the Biden-Harris administration with the worst unemployment level since the Great Depression, and the worst attack on the United States’ democracy since the Civil War, a reference to Jan. 6. 

The two candidates emerged on stage shortly after 9 p.m. to get things started. Harris walked to Trump’s side of the stage to shake his hand.

“Kamala Harris. Let’s have a good debate,” Harris said.

“Nice to see you. Have fun,” Trump replied.

ABC held a virtual coin toss last week, and Trump won. He got to choose the order of closing statements or where he would stand on stage. Trump chose to offer the last closing statement. Harris then chose her position on stage, opting to appear on the right side of viewers’ screens.

The debate is being moderated by ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis.

ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has prepped Trump in debates before, “which Trump” will show up tonight — a calm and collected Trump, or a more chaotic one.

“I think at the beginning of the debate, the Trump who will show up will be the calmer Donald Trump,” Christie said. “The question is going to be, will he be able to maintain that approach through questioning by David [Muir] and Linsey [Davis], through any comments that Vice President Harris makes in his direction?”

Christie said Trump took Hillary Clinton very seriously during debate prep in 2016. Christie said Trump took Mr. Biden “lightly” in 2020, and it was “very, very difficult” to get Trump to focus on what Mr. Biden might do. 

In recent days, Trump has been insulting Harris’ intelligence and ability to lead. “Is what he’s saying publicly what he really believes?” Christie asked. 

Trump and Harris will almost certainly face questions about abortion during their match-up Tuesday night, as the vice president looks to hammer Trump over the issue that’s taken a central role in her campaign.

The former president has expressed shifting views on abortion over the years, though he’s pledged in recent months to leave the issue up to the states, while celebrating the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision that overturned a constitutional right to abortion. Meanwhile, Harris has put abortion rights front and center in her White House bid, pledging to restore the protections under Roe. But nationwide restrictions or protections for abortion would need the approval of Congress, making either proposition extremely unlikely regardless of who is in the White House. 

A new CBS News poll found that Harris leads Trump by a wide margin in three battleground states — Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — among those who say abortion is a major factor in their vote.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper says Harris is “her own person” and has already shown that she wants a way forward while outlining some of her positions on the campaign trail. “It’s a pretty clear choice for me,” Cooper told CBS News’ Caitlin Huey-Burns ahead of Tuesday’s debate:

Harris arrived at the National Constitution Center debate site at 8:17 p.m., with onlookers waving at her motorcade as she went by, according to reporters traveling with her. 

Along the way, a digital billboard on the highway said, “VOTE TRUMP.” 

Harris has been in Philadelphia since Monday. She had been in Pittsburgh since last week, preparing for tonight. 

President Biden and Trump faced off in the first presidential debate of the cycle on June 27, and the race has been completely upended in the 75 days since. 

On July 13, an assassination attempt on the former president sent shockwaves through the nation. Trump announced his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, at the Republican National Convention two days later. 

Then on July 21, Mr. Biden announced he would leave the race under intense pressure from members of his own party following his debate performance weeks earlier. With the president’s endorsement, the party then coalesced around Harris as the new nominee. 

On Aug. 6, Harris selected her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The party rallied around the ticket at the Democratic National Convention that wrapped on Aug. 22. 

As Harris and Trump are set to take the stage Tuesday, the race is unrecognizable from where it stood at the start of the summer.

Heading into Tuesday night’s debate, the race between Trump and Harris is tight in key battleground states, according to the latest CBS News/YouGov poll conducted last week.

The poll showed Harris at 50% in Michigan to Trump’s 49%. The two were tied in Pennsylvania at 50%, and Harris had a one-point lead, 51% to 49%, in Wisconsin. 

Harris sparks slightly more enthusiasm among Democratic voters in those key battleground states than Trump does among Republican voters, according to the same poll. 

The presidential debate will begin at 9 p.m. ET and last 90 minutes, with two commercial breaks. 

There will be no opening statements — questioning by moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC will begin immediately. Both candidates will get two minutes for closing statements at the end of the debate.

The debate is being hosted by ABC News, which is allowing other networks to simulcast it. CBS News’ prime-time coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET — check your local listings.

Viewers can also stream the debate on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu, as well as CBS News 24/7 in the player above, on the CBS News app and on Paramount+.  Post-debate analysis will continue on CBS News 24/7 until 11:35 p.m. ET.

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The former president has been reviewing policy positions with advisers in the lead up to the debate, sources familiar with the former president’s preparation told CBS News, though his preparations are characterized as somewhat informal and include speaking with voters and engaging with the media.

In a call with reporters on Monday, Trump adviser Jason Miller said that preparing for debating Trump is like “trying to prepare for Floyd Mayweather or Muhammad Ali.”

“You don’t know what angle they’re going to come at you with. You don’t know what style of contrast that they’re going to deliver. There’s an amazing mix of humor and charm as well as very hard hitting facts of why we’re doing this, because Americans are suffering,” Miller said. 

“In this debate, President Trump will tie Kamala Harris to her record, her record on the border, her record with global instability, and her record being the deciding vote for high prices,” Miller added. “And if President Trump ties Kamala Harris to her record, which we are very confident he’ll do and that’ll be a success, because the American people will see what a dangerous radical liberal she is.”

Trump told “Good Morning New Hampshire” last week that he’s “been preparing all my life for this debate.”

“So, you know, I do. I have meetings on it,” Trump added. “We talk about it, but there’s not a lot you can do.”

The vice president was in Pittsburgh over the weekend to prepare for the debate before arriving in Philadelphia on Monday. She practiced with extended mock debates on a stage with lights to recreate the debate environment, while focusing on policy and an effort to draw a contrast with the former president. For the debate prep, Philippe Reines, a former aide to Hillary Clinton, played Trump, with a source saying he even dressed like the former president. 

After the Harris campaign made an unsuccessful push to have both candidates’ microphones unmuted during the debate, the vice president and her team also used the time in Pittsburgh to go back to the drawing board on their debate strategy, a senior campaign official said. Harris had planned to pepper Trump with questions, but her campaign has had to seek out a new approach due to the microphone restrictions. 

Surrogates for Harris have appeared to downplay expectations for the debate, like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who told CNN’s that “it will take almost superhuman focus and discipline to deal with Donald Trump in a debate.” Buttigieg was involved in Harris’ debate preparations against former Vice President Mike Pence in 2020.

“It’s no ordinary proposition,” Buttigieg said. “Not because Donald Trump is a master of explaining policy ideas and how they’re going to make people better off. It’s because he’s a master of taking any form or format that is on television and turning it into a show that is all about him.” 

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