Harris gives Trump a debate fight that Biden couldn't

Harris took her indictment of Trump in Philadelphia on Tuesday in a personal way, provoking him into being a less presidential version of himself by alluding to the size of the crowds and how world leaders were laughing at him. At the same time, Harris did not emerge unscathed, appearing disturbed that Trump parroted her “I'm speaking” line from their 2020 vice presidential debate and later told her to be quiet.

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In their very first meeting, Harris and Trump grilled each other for 90 minutes on issues such as the economy, immigration and abortion policy during the debate moderated by ABC at the National Constitution Center, after an awkward handshake initiated by Harris.

Harris tried to portray herself as a positive, forward-thinking and younger candidate, appealing to independent and undecided voters, and Trump tried to shortlist her alongside Biden in the hope that his record would drag her down. Add to that her constant back-and-forth on policy positions she took during her 2020 Democratic primary campaign, the last time she ran for president.

“Donald Trump doesn't actually have a plan for you because he's more interested in defending himself than looking out for you,” Harris said in her opening remarks as she unveiled her economic plan and criticized Trump's plan to impose a “sales tax.”

“That's just a soundbite they told her,” Trump replied. “She doesn't have a plan. She copied Biden's plan, and it's about four sentences. Something like, 'Run, feel, run.'”

Harris also reminded Trump that she is now the Democratic nominee for the 2024 presidential election, saying, “You're not running against Joe Biden. You're running against me.”

But since 2020, when Trump last ran for president, his own record now includes the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the Supreme Court’s overturning of the abortion precedent Roe v. Wadeand his civil and criminal prosecutions, all of which Harris launched during the debate that was dominated by Trump.

“Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people,” Harris said. “We cannot afford to have a president of the United States who, as he has done in the past, seeks to disregard the will of the voters in a free and fair election.”

“I probably got a bullet in the head because of the things they say about me,” Trump replied. “They say I'm a threat to democracy – they are the threat to democracy.”

Trump, who mentioned Harris' “Marxist” economist father, also would not commit to blocking a federal abortion ban. He acknowledged he had not “discussed” it with Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH). Last month, Vance told NBC News that Trump would block an abortion ban with his veto.

Ed Lee, director of the Alben W. Barkley Forum for Debate, Deliberation and Dialogue at Emory University, admitted he was surprised that Trump mentioned support for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

“However, it is in line with his desire to be seen as strong and determined,” Lee told the Washington Examiner. “Although Harris should be in a better position if she talks more about the bipartisan immigration bill and the 'Trump tax,' she has controlled much of this debate by getting Trump to talk about issues unrelated to inflation. She clearly got under his skin. The interruptions and firing of the moderator did not reflect well on him.”

Republican strategist Cesar Conda agreed that Trump “scored early on with his economic policies, but failed to mention inflation for over an hour.”

“She has an extremely liberal record, but Trump has missed so many opportunities to clearly define her extreme views and positions,” Conda told the Washington Examiner.

Both campaigns were concerned about how Harris's gender and race would impact the debate as the first minority woman to run as a major party presidential candidate, especially after Trump told the National Association of Black Journalists in July that Harris's acknowledgment of her blackness was political opportunism. Some of his interactions with 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during their debates, including calling her a “nasty woman,” also became viral moments this election cycle.

Trump benefited from the debate's time limit and muted microphones, as well as the fact that there was no one in the room to defer to. However, he did unpromptedly spread a controversial story about illegal immigrants in Ohio eating pets. Despite the muted microphones, his and Harris' complaints about each other could be heard at times, with Harris using the split screen to express her emotions while Trump stopped looking at her altogether.

But moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis didn't help Trump. They focused on Trump's policy positions, including foreign policy and Obamacare, and took the time to fact-check the former president, while they pushed Harris to change her mind.

“This was not a debate between Trump and Harris,” said Conda, the Republican strategist. “It was a debate between Trump and the ABC anchors. It was a tie between Trump and the Harris-ABC anchor team.”

Before the debate, the Harris team downplayed expectations for the vice president, describing Trump as “ready” for his seventh presidential debate, more than any other candidate in modern history, despite polls showing respondents expected their chancellor to “win.”

“He is a showman who won his last debate in June, and we know he has trained even more and prepared harder than ever before,” a spokesman for Harris' campaign team told the Washington Examiner“His constant lies and lack of fact-checking by the moderators make him difficult to prepare for, and his team has insisted on muted microphones to keep him as disciplined as possible.”

But the Harris team was confident that the vice president could underscore the choice between her and Trump by comparing her “new way forward” approach to policy, particularly to the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. Trump again distanced himself from the conservative think tank's policy proposals during the debate.

Meanwhile, the Trump team stressed what was at stake for Harris in the debate, as polls, including those from last weekend, New York Times– A Siena College survey shows that their summer momentum may wane as they move into fall, as their advisers have so far shielded them from the press and unexpected moments.

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“These poll results underscore that despite spending over $250 million on ads in just seven weeks and receiving extremely positive media coverage, Harris and her allies have failed to convince voters that Harris is not responsible for the mistakes of the past 3.5 years and that she is still not the radical liberal who has pursued crazy ideas throughout her career,” Trump campaign co-managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles wrote in a memo.

After the debate, Harris is scheduled to travel to New York for 9/11 memorial services before traveling to North Carolina on Thursday and Pennsylvania on Friday. Meanwhile, Trump will be in Arizona on Thursday and California on Friday.