(Image via cnn.com)

Staff Writer: Brian Galindo

Email: bgalindo@umassd.edu

Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris faced off in their first official debate on September 10th, 2024. 

The debate was streamed live on ABC News and hosted in Pennsylvania. If you didn’t get the chance to catch it, here’s a quick recap.

The two started on the issue of the economy. Kamala explained her goal of uplifting middle-class families, accusing Trump of imposing stricter taxes on everyday people.

Trump countered, claiming that he had no intent to raise sales taxes. Instead, he wanted to increase tariffs, making it so foreign products within the U.S. would cost more than purchasing from U.S. businesses.

Kamala kept on the offensive, accusing the former president of leaving the current administration with a weak economy and calling out his ties to a far-right think tank known as Project 2025. 

Trump denied these accusations, saying his administration did an incredible job with the pandemic and that he has nothing to do with Project 2025.

While Trump has repeatedly claimed that he knows nothing about Project 2025 and that he doesn’t endorse it, it is worth mentioning that many of the people involved were, and still are, associates of Trump. The director of Project 2025, Paul Dans, served as a senior advisor to the former president.

Trump doubled down on his tariffs, even after it was pointed out that the increase in trade cost could lead to an increase in prices domestically. He further went on the offensive, pointing out economic issues in the Biden-Harris administration.

Next came the issue of abortion, and this was the start of the misinformation train that would begin to derail the debate.

Former President Donald Trump claimed that doctors in states like West Virginia were allowing fetuses to be aborted after birth.

After a member of the ABC team immediately fact-checked Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris responded to his claims about abortion, as well as the original question asked.

She claimed that the issue of abortion only returned to the public eye after the former president appointed three Supreme Court justices with the intent of overturning the landmark 1972 case Roe v. Wade. 

She followed up by saying that, despite Trump claiming not to support an abortion ban, the laws being put in place now made abortion a lifetime jail sentence. Preventing many women from getting the healthcare they need.

Trump avoided a few more questions, then admitted that he’d never discussed the issue of abortion with his running mate, J.D. Vance. He then continued on the offensive, doubling down on his disproven statement, claiming that abortions are allowed after a woman has carried to term.

The next hot-button issue was immigration. Harris responded rather generally, slightly on the offensive, as she brought up a bill that Trump supposedly had squashed.

Trump responded by spouting even more misinformation. In a now infamous quote, the former president claimed that immigrants were eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio. 

Even after the moderator clarified that there was no evidence supporting such a claim, Trump said that he had heard about it on television.

Vice President Harris used this opportunity to bring up her support from many Republicans, including most notably former Vice President Dick Cheney. 

Trump’s response was simple: anyone who formerly worked for him that no longer supported him, didn’t support him because he fired them.

After some more debate, the moderators turned to changes in the ideologies of Kamala Harris and how her beliefs sometimes can’t be pinned down, especially her recent endorsement of fracking.

Harris claimed that her ideals have not changed, then immediately pushed the issue back over to Trump. Trump, instead of arguing, accused Harris of lying on every single topic.

When the issue of peaceful transfer of power and January 6th, 2021, came up, Trump continued not to answer questions, instead shifting the blame to Nancy Pelosi. Harris took the chance to say that her campaign would be in no way similar to the one that started a riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Donald Trump continued to insist he won the Election of 2020. He told the moderators that despite his apparent mountain of evidence- no judge would consider looking at his case.

The debate continued with the discussion of three major international conflicts that have either started or ended since the Election of 2020.

First discussed was the conflict in Gaza. Harris responded to the questions first, saying that while she felt Israel had the right to defend itself from the Hamas attack on October 7th, 2023, they needed to find a peaceful solution as too many lives were lost.  

Trump stated that, quite simply, were he president, the conflict would not have happened.

When discussing the war in Ukraine, Trump said that he would stop the war in 24 hours if he gets elected. He did not say that he would help Ukraine win, just that he would make the war end. 

Harris pointed this out and called him out for his admiration of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Next discussed was the end of the war in Afghanistan. Vice President Harris supported President Biden’s desire to end the war. Former President Trump, however, did not agree, citing the leftover military equipment and casualties as reasons that the exit was a failure.

The debate finished with a few more hot topic issues. The first was a discussion of race- specifically involving claims that Kamala Harris is not black. 

Trump did not respond, even though he made the claims himself. Harris responded by bringing up a history of alleged racism by the former president; calling out how this accusation would be nothing new.

Following was the issue of healthcare. Trump said he did not have a plan for healthcare, just a “concept of a plan.” 

Harris used the fact that the Biden-Harris administration successfully capped the price of insulin to show her results in getting things done in relation to healthcare.

The last topic of debate was climate change. Harris brought up that Trump has denied the existence of climate change on multiple occasions and that the current administration has created many manufacturing jobs. 

Trump responded with a non-answer, one more time calling President Joe Biden crooked.

In her closing remarks, Vice President Kamala Harris said that she wanted to bring the nation forward. She said she wants to put the people first, and if she becomes president, she promises to do that.

Former President Donald Trump said in his closing remarks that the U.S. is being laughed at on the global stage and that he has the power to stop that. He finished by calling the current administration the worst in history.

The presidential election is the most important political process in the United States. Make sure to vote this year, and make sure your voice is heard.