Setting the stage
After the handshake. The gloves came off.
The Democratic vice president seemed to get under the skin of the Republican former president, provoking him with reminders about the 2020 election loss that he still denies, mocking his rally crowds and delivering derisive asides at his other false claims.
Trump tore into Harris as too liberal and questioned why she was proposing ideas she hadn't accomplished while serving as vice president. He often launched into the sort of freewheeling personal attacks and digressions from which his advisors and supporters have tried to steer him away.
Debating the issues
Harris promised tax cuts aimed at the middle class and said she would push to restore a federally guaranteed right to abortion overturned by the Supreme Court two years ago.
Trump said his proposed tariffs would help the US stop being cheated by allies on trade and said he would work to swiftly end the Russia-Ukraine war — though he twice refused to say he wanted Ukraine, which bipartisan majorities in Congress have backed, to win the war.
Harris’ performance by nearly every measure seemed to be the opposite of President Joe Biden’s in June, with sharp, focused answers designed to showcase the contrast between her and Trump, whereas Biden at times was muddled, halting and at times incoherent.
Harris used her body language and facial expressions to confront Trump and express that she found his answers ridiculous or amusing — or both — a pronounced change from Biden's slack-jawed expression when Trump attacked him.
In one moment, Harris turned to Trump and said that as vice president, she had spoken to foreign leaders who “are laughing at Donald Trump,” and said she had spoken to military leaders, “and they say you’re a disgrace.”
As Trump, 78, again questioned her racial identity, the 59-year-old Harris, the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president, pointedly gestured to Trump and responded, "I think the American people want better than that, want better than this.”
Trump in turn tried to link Harris to the still-unpopular Biden, questioning why she hadn’t acted on her proposed ideas while serving as vice president. “Why hasn’t she done it?” he said. Trump also focused his attacks on Harris over her assignment by Biden to deal with the root causes of illegal migration.
He repeatedly dismissed her and Biden as weak, and cited the praise of Hungary’s nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán to show that he is a widely respected by leaders around the world, saying Orbán calls him the “most feared person.”
Swift's support for Harris
Pop superstar Taylor Swift made up her mind after the encounter, endorsing Harris soon after the debate finished.
Swift made the endorsement in a post on Instagram and said she would vote for the US vice president in the November 5 elections which polls show to be very tight.
Swift's post included an image of the singer with a cat and her statement was signed off as "childless cat lady" in an apparent dig at remarks previously made by Trump's running mate JD Vance. (Agencies)
