Harris baits Trump over and over at presidential debate

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met former President Donald Trump for the first time on Tuesday night – and promptly goaded him into a number of missteps and false statements.

In the first and possibly only debate between the two major-party nominees before November’s elections, Ms. Harris repeatedly tweaked Mr. Trump’s ego, sending him down rabbit holes on topics from their comparative crowd sizes, to how much money his father gave him to start his career, to a baseless social media rumor about Haitian immigrants eating pets.

Why We Wrote This

Kamala Harris sought to wound Donald Trump’s ego, getting him to waste valuable time litigating things like crowd size rather than zeroing in on the economy or her numerous flip-flops on issues.

Ms. Harris’ team clearly felt she’d won, immediately proposing a rematch. Mr. Trump himself seemed to know things hadn’t gone great – he came to the spin room to speak to reporters, a very unusual move for a presidential candidate. Mr. Trump’s allies were left complaining about the moderators, who on a few occasions fact-checked falsehoods from Mr. Trump without doing the same for Ms. Harris.

Mr. Trump has had bad debates before and rallied. And this debate was nowhere near as bad as the disastrous outing President Joe Biden had in June.

But Ms. Harris, who had more at stake as the lesser-known candidate in this tight race, clearly had the better night on Tuesday. 

Vice President Kamala Harris met former President Donald Trump for the first time on Tuesday night – and promptly goaded him into a number of missteps and false statements.

In the first and what might be the only debate between the two major-party nominees before November’s elections, Ms. Harris repeatedly tweaked Mr. Trump’s ego and seemed to get under his skin, sending him down rabbit holes on topics from their comparative crowd sizes, to how much money his dad gave him to start his career, to a baseless social-media rumor about Haitian immigrants eating pets.

Ms. Harris’ team clearly felt she’d won, immediately proposing a rematch. “Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?” campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon asked in a statement.

Why We Wrote This

Kamala Harris sought to wound Donald Trump’s ego, getting him to waste valuable time litigating things like crowd size rather than zeroing in on the economy or her numerous flip-flops on issues.

Mr. Trump himself seemed to know things hadn’t gone great – he came to the spin room afterwards to speak to reporters, a very unusual move for a presidential candidate and the first time he has done so after a general-election debate. Mr. Trump’s allies were left complaining about the moderators, who on a few occasions fact-checked falsehoods from Mr. Trump without doing the same for Ms. Harris.

Mr. Trump has had bad debates before and rallied. Pundits and polls widely found he was the loser of his three 2016 debates against Hillary Clinton, before he beat her in the election that November. His 2020 performances against Joe Biden were uneven as well, before Mr. Trump fell just short in the swing states. And this debate was nowhere near as bad as the disastrous outing President Biden had in June, the last time Mr. Trump was on the debate stage.

But Ms. Harris, who had more at stake as the lesser-known candidate in this tight race, clearly had the better night on Tuesday. Here are five takeaways from the debate.

Vice President Kamala Harris reacts during the debate with former President Donald Trump, Sept. 10, 2024.

“They’re eating the pets of the people that live there”

Mr. Trump decided to elevate an internet rumor with zero evidence behind it on the national debate stage, claiming that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, had been stealing residents’ pets and eating them.

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