Five takeaways from the Harris-Trump Presidential Debate

Harris brought out her natural prosecutorial skills to charge at Trump’s past — his criminal convictions, the January 6 Capitol Hill attack under his watch, and the fact that world leaders laugh at him. Trump was provoked, and he was angry, almost yelling, trying to counter them.

This was a far cry from the way Biden had dealt with Trump, and the Republican nominee failed to press the vice president enough on her weaknesses. He lost the opportunity to score points.

Harris set up the encounter at the beginning by moving towards Trump and shaking his hand — this was their first meeting ever, and the first handshake between Trump and a rival presidential candidate since 2016.

Trump was fact-checked live by the ABC news anchors, who were hosts of the Presidential debate. This was the first time a live fact-check of a presidential debate took place.

When Trump spoke, Harris typically had a half-smile on her face, maybe a quarter-smile, and she would turn to the camera to speak to the viewers. Trump rarely looked at her, and instead addressed the hosts and the viewers.

While there was much debate about the muting of the microphones, the ABC news TV network went pragmatic, and let the candidates joust at times by keeping the mics on. Quite naturally, the debate went on beyond 90 mins, by about 15 mins.

The economy, abortion, immigration, and health care were among the top issues that were discussed during the debate.

Trump started off by criticising the Biden administration’s handling of the economy. Harris pushed back by reminding the state of the economy the Biden-Harris administration inherited from the Trump administration. He called her a “Marxist”, and then the name-calling began.

The debate on politics became heated when Harris reminded everyone about Trump’s links to the Project 2025 plan, and that he is a convicted felon.

This got Trump riled, and he accused Harris of being responsible for illegal immigration. He also referred to some online conspiracy theories about immigrants eating people’s pet dogs. At one time Harris responded, “talk about extreme”.

The exchanges were sharp, and Harris repeated a few times the line that she has been using to describe Trump’s statements: the “same old and tired lies”.

The January 6 attack was brought up, and Trump denied having any role in it. When asked if he had any regrets, he sought to deflect the question. Harris, who took on the opportunity to question Trump’s commitment to a peaceful transfer of power, went to her campaign theme — “let’s turn the page”.

The candidates sparred on the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas war, and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

On the Russia-Ukraine war, Harris sought to paint Trump in Putin’s corner. Trump said he would talk to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but refused to say that he would back Ukraine’s victory in the war.

Trump also accused Harris of failing to negotiate on behalf of the Biden administration — this though, was something that she had never been tasked to do. He also said that he would bring the war to an end while he was President-elect — meaning between November, when the election will take place, and January 2025, when the new President takes charge.

On the Israel-Hamas war, Harris said she backed Israel’s right to defend itself, but also committed to a two-state solution and referred to the plight of the Palestinians — trying to walk a delicate balance in the diplomatic minefield.

China was mentioned a few times — Harris accused Trump of being a sell-out, while Trump said that China, Russia, and North Korea were scared of him.

At one point, when Harris said world leaders laugh at Trump, he countered that he had been endorsed by Hungary’s leader Viktor Orban. Orban is known for his authoritarian ways, and Harris latched on to the statement to convey that Trump is an admirer of strongmen and dictators across the world.

Trump skilfully brought up Biden’s disastrous troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Harris sought to distance herself by saying that she supported Biden’s decision to withdraw the troops — but she stopped short of supporting the manner in which it was done. Instead, she focussed on the fact that American taxpayers’ money and troops are not there in the combat zone.

Harris tried to distance herself from the unpopularity of Biden, and instead stuck to the fact that she was different from not just Trump, but from Biden as well. Her messaging was sharp and clear: she is not Trump, she is not Biden either.

This was spelt out by her once directly, and in her statements throughout the debate, she kept saying “let’s turn the page” repeatedly. This was a key message from her side. While she did spell out some of her policy positions, she did not flesh them out in detail.

Trump, who was responding to Harris’ attacks throughout the debate, tried hard to paint her as a Biden surrogate, and to link her to the failures of the Biden administration.

When Harris talked about her plans, Trump made his best comeback: “Why didn't you do it in the last three-and-half years?”

There was no mention of India during the debate — either in the positive way or in a negative way. That was a relief to many in South Block who were tracking the debate early on Wednesday morning.

The fact that China was part of the discussion — mostly in a negative tone while talking about the chips industry or that China was scared of Trump — is an important takeaway for many in the Indian foreign policy establishment. That the political debate between candidates viewed Beijing as a rival and a threat clearly came out during the debate by both candidates.

There was no mention of high tariffs on goods and services from India, or a potential clampdown on legal and skilled immigration.

Terrorism was mentioned in the context of Hamas, but no big-picture strategic issues came up — such as the situation and commitment to the Indo-Pacific, terrorism in other parts of the world, the threats to energy and food security in the world because of the two wars, etc. This also reflected the innate domestic focus of the debate — primarily about America alone.