Donald Trump and Kamala Harris met for the first time on the presidential debate stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.
They may have shaken hands, but they did not hit it off. In a fiery 90 minutes, Harris frequently rattled the former president with personal attacks that threw him off message and raised the temperature of this highly-anticipated contest. Her pointed digs on the size of his rally crowds, his conduct during the Capitol riot, and on the officials who served in his administration who have since become outspoken critics of his campaign repeatedly left Trump on the back foot.
The pattern for much of this debate was Harris goading her Republican rival into making extended defences of his past conduct and comments. He gladly obliged, raising his voice at times and shaking his head. Americans should go to a Trump rally, Harris said during an early question about immigration, because they were illuminating. “People start leaving the rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom,” she said. That barb clearly rattled the former president, as he then spent most of his answer – on a topic that should have been one his main area of strength – defending his rally sizes and belittling hers.
Trump went from there to an extended riff on a debunked report that Haitian immigrants in the town of Springfield, Ohio, were abducting and eating their neighbour’s pets. If debates are won and lost on which candidate best takes advantage of issues where they are strong – and defends or deflects on areas of weakness – Tuesday night tilted in favour of the vice-president.
In the end, however, it was Trump’s responses and eagerness to take and devour whatever bait Harris set out for him that was the story of the evening. And that played out in the faces of the two candidates. Whenever her opponent was talking, Harris took on a studied look of bemusement or incredulity. Trump, for his part, mostly scowled. Up until now, the Harris campaign had been coy about whether she would agree to another debate. Almost immediately after this one ended, they called for a second presidential debate before November. That alone should indicate how well the Democrats think Tuesday night went for Harris.
Rawr
Article URL : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gdnl9pg1wo