As a first general impression of the televised debate between the candidates for the U.S. presidency, one could say that Kamala Harris crushed Donald Trump. She surprised him on all levels and in every field of confrontation – even in fake news, which she didn’t hesitate to launch against him, especially in the field of economics.
This was confirmed by a poll presented by CNN shortly after the debate ended, with 63% of registered voters who watched the debate saying that Harris performed better than Trump, while 37% of participants supported the opposite. Before the debate, the same voters were evenly split 50%-50% on which of the two candidates would do better.
The Great Debate begins with the most awkward handshake in modern political history. pic.twitter.com/rzuttNuyPf
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) September 11, 2024
As CNN notes, this marks a shift in public sentiment, as in June during the Trump-Biden debate, 67% had judged the Republican former president as the winner.
The element of the debate that marked a key difference from the past and infuriated Trump beforehand was ABC’s innovative choice to subject both candidates’ arguments to real-time fact-checking.
It’s said that Trump had threatened to cancel his participation in the debate precisely because of this, knowing that with ABC’s live fact-checking, he would lose one of his strongest advantages – the grandiose statements and exaggerations that he often presents as facts.
Debate moderator Linsey Davis fact-checks Donald Trump who claimed there are abortions happening during the 9th month of a pregnancy:
— Pop Base (@PopBase) September 11, 2024
“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it is born.”
pic.twitter.com/v7lFStm3tI
Moreover, Trump is already embroiled in a legal battle with one of ABC’s most prominent figures, former Clinton advisor George Stephanopoulos. Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against Stephanopoulos.
For example, besides Trump’s documented vulnerabilities – his multiple convictions for various serious crimes, his still-open legal cases, his disastrous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, his marginalization by the international leadership community, etc. – Harris declared that under Biden’s presidency (and thus her own vice-presidency), “we opened 800,000 new jobs in industry and achieved the greatest reduction in dependence on imported oil,” and that “when Trump left, he left us with the highest unemployment rate and the largest deficit ever” – among many other things.
None of the above is entirely accurate as Harris presented it. However, it was part of her debate strategy to convey the message, primarily to Trump himself, that she isn’t afraid of him at all and can outdo him even in delivering questionable – to say the least – statements.
Harris struck Trump directly where she knew it would hurt most. “As a ‘candidate,’ 81 million Americans fired you,” was Harris’s poisonous remark, referring to Trump’s refusal to accept that he lost the election to Joe Biden in November 2020. She further mocked him for his role as a television star in the show “The Apprentice,” which focused on aspiring entrepreneurs.
Donald Trump has been prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference—and has been found liable for sexual assault.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 11, 2024
Let’s be clear: I will always stand for the rule of law.pic.twitter.com/tAl0qZ1Pks
Trump’s defense resorted to his alleged assassination attempt, which he blamed entirely on the Democrats and personally on Joe Biden – and by extension, on Kamala Harris. “I was shot in the ear because of your propaganda against me,” Trump angrily said, already in the first minutes of the debate.
Nevertheless, Kamala Harris generally appeared more dynamic, more lively, and far better prepared. Above all, she showed that she entered the debate fully determined to strike first, not to defend and yield even the slightest initiative to Trump. Harris entered the ABC televised ring with the intention of fighting Trump by any means, even playing dirty, using his own weapons without hesitation or reservation – exaggerations, conspiracy theories, personal attacks, etc.
“Immigrants are killing and eating dogs in today’s America,” Trump said at one point. Harris reacted, deliberately pretending to be genuinely surprised by such an outlandish claim and couldn’t suppress her laughter, dismissing her opponent’s tactics completely.
🚨TRUMP: "IN SPRINGFIELD THEY'RE EATING THE DOGS. THE PEOPLE ARE EATING THE CATS. THEY'RE EATING THE PETS OF THE PEOPLE THAT LIVE THERE. THIS IS WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR COUNTRY."
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) September 11, 2024
😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/hoEZ8yrGyh
One of the most impressive “blocks” – in basketball slang – that Harris delivered to Trump was her revelation that “yes, I, too, own a firearm for my personal protection.” This was Harris’s crushing response to Trump’s accusation that “if she gets elected, she’ll immediately confiscate all Americans’ guns.” The issue of gun ownership is, of course, critical for determining the election outcome in the U.S., due to the importance many Americans place on the tradition and right to bear arms.
Despite this, the overall image of the debate saw the 59-year-old Kamala Harris representing something new and dynamic, against a heavily made-up 78-year-old man, who appeared to have nothing new to say – whether due to arrogance and lack of preparation or inability to renew his strategy and rhetoric.
Thus, in purely communicative terms, this debate, the first between Trump and Harris, was a total disaster for Donald Trump. It was a complete reversal of the sad image from the previous debate last June, in which Joe Biden’s political career effectively ended. At that time, Biden’s inability to maintain focus and handle the demands of his role was irreparably exposed, possibly due to biological age-related limitations.
In this new debate, however, Kamala Harris made it clear to Trump that “now you’re facing me, not Joe Biden,” drawing a dividing line between the present and the past. Implicitly, Harris wanted to show that not only does she not fear Trump, but that she is also self-sufficient, ready to follow her own agenda, and not merely step in as Biden’s successor for the Democrats.
Trump’s weak response to the barrage of attacks he received, especially in the first 60 minutes of the debate from Harris, were counterattacks like “she’s a Marxist, everyone knows she’s a Marxist,” etc. Harris didn’t hesitate to laugh, supposedly spontaneously, at her opponent’s extreme rhetoric. She was more active at the podium, more expressive, and primarily addressed the television audience when it was her turn to speak. When Trump spoke, she made sure to show that she was watching him, turning her head toward him, often mouthing words like “not true” even though her microphone was off, so as not to allow Trump’s statements to settle in the collective consciousness, even for a moment.
From his side, Donald Trump tried hard to keep his cool, something he managed to do for quite some time. However, when Kamala Harris, as a former prosecutor, began to pelt him with his “dirty laundry” – reminding viewers that Trump is a convicted criminal, that he associates with dictators like Viktor Orbán, and most importantly, that he attempted to overthrow the democratic order with the Capitol invasion in January 2021 – Trump’s calm façade crumbled.
In its place appeared the old, familiar Trump: angry, abrupt, insulting, and combative. But this was exactly what Harris wanted to achieve, to confirm through impressions that she embodies seriousness and credibility, while Trump represents a temperamental, sometimes irrational, arrogant, and ultimately unpredictable – if not harmful – approach to wielding power, which could be detrimental to the American people.
“She hates Israel. She wouldn't even meet with Netanyahu when he went to Congress to make an important speech. She refused to be there because she was at a sorority party.”
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) September 11, 2024
— Donald Trump to Kamala Harris during the presidential debate pic.twitter.com/z7sFELABbY
Regarding political content, Trump tried to corner Kamala Harris in the areas of the economy and foreign policy, accusing her, among other things, of “hating Israel” and claiming that when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently visited the U.S., Harris chose to attend a “soiree” instead of meeting with the Israeli leader.
Key points of friction between the two candidates, and more broadly between the Republicans represented by Trump and the Democrats represented by Harris, included issues such as social policy, strengthening the U.S. armed forces, immigration, and notably, the abortion law.
With the natural advantage of speaking as a woman, Kamala Harris attacked Donald Trump, accusing him of a primitive and inhumane intention to strip women of their right to control their own bodies, as Trump’s ultra-conservative stance promotes banning – under certain conditions – the voluntary termination of pregnancy. In this context, Harris seized the opportunity to emphasize basic human rights, injecting the necessary emotion into the discussion around a major and fundamental social issue – obviously to her benefit.
Vice President Kamala Harris pushed back against a false claim repeated by former President Donald Trump during their Sept. 10 presidential debate that some states and Democrats supported "post-birth" abortions, or killing babies after they are born.
— PBS News (@NewsHour) September 11, 2024
Killing anyone after birth… pic.twitter.com/9PaitFtjtl
After 90 minutes of verbal crossfire, often brutal on both sides, the debate between the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Kamala Harris of the Democrats came to an end. It confirmed that the landscape in the U.S. has changed dramatically during the election campaign following Joe Biden’s withdrawal and Harris’s emergence onto the scene. Trump clearly struggles to realize that he may not have the easy path to the White House that seemed certain with his expected victory over Biden. The debate showed that underestimating Harris’s candidacy, using the same unchanged arguments against her, is anything but a clever and inspired choice.
Furthermore, in the polls, Kamala Harris now leads, even if only by 2 percentage points (49% to 47%). How her undeniably successful debate performance will influence American public opinion will become apparent in the coming days.
