With Harris baring the torch after Bidens resignation, we must endure another 1 hour 30 long presidential debate. So here’s a summary of the debate so you don’t have to watch it. Closing statements and a video of the full debate are at the bottom of the article.

Economy

Harris started the debate off on the front foot, saying that she has a plan to lift up the middle and working class Americans in what she calls an “opportunity economy” and she is the “only person on this stage” with a plan to do so. She also pledged a 6000 dollar tax cut for young families to support them raising their children and a 50000 tax deduction to start-up small businesses, whilst she claimed Trump will cut taxes for billionaires and increase them for middle class peoples, which Trump denies.

Trump went on to pledge a higher tariff, tax on imported goods, so that other countries can “pay us back for all that we’ve done for the world”. He claims that the Biden administration has produced the worst inflation in American history and that there are millions pouring into America from prisons and asylums and taking the jobs of African Americans and Hispanics. He claimed he had the greatest economy in US history.

Harris hit back hard by claiming Trump had left the worst unemployment since the great depression, the worst public health in a century and the worst attack on democracy since the civil war(in reference to the capitol riot), she claimed that Trump wants to push ‘project 2025‘ though Trump claimed he has never even read it. He also said he handled the pandemic brilliantly, and that the country was economically better after the pandemic, claiming that he laid the foundations for the increase in employment under Bidens administration.

Harris responded by reiterating her previous points about economy, adding that leading economists say Trumps plan would be detrimental whilst hers would be beneficial. Trump claimed that she was essentially lying, and that Harris copied Bidens ‘four sentence’ plan.

The presenter then said that economists have found that Trumps tariffs will effect consumers more than those shipping in the goods. To which Trump essentially said he was lying and that proof of this is his previous tariffs imposed during his administration are still standing. He claims that he had no inflation whilst they had the highest and that the tariffs would bring in hundreds of billions of dollars. He claimed 90% of Americans preferred Trumps economy.

Harris responded saying Trump caused a trade deficit and invited trade wars. She said Trump helped China by selling them American chips helping their military. Trump said that China brought their chips from Taiwan not America. Trump said that Harris and her father are Marxists.

Abortion

Trump claimed that the democrats plan for abortion after nine months and that the previous West Virginian governor said he would abort after birth, and that Harris’s VP pick shares such views. Trump says that he believes in abortion exceptions for rape, incest and life threatening births and that 85% of Republicans agreed. He said that he was able to give states the right to vote on abortion which he claims everyone wanted. Harris claimed that this led to bans on abortion which she called Trump abortion bans, and that in some states it provides prison for life. She claims that Trump would ban all abortions with a monitor on this, reiterating her belief in Trumps links to project 2025.

Harris says that Trump has been detrimental to IVF though Trump calls himself a leader on it,

Within this segment Trump and Harris both avoided questions, when the presenter asked Trump if he would block a national abortion ban he said that a bill like that cannot be proposed so long as the vote stays with the states, a right Harris later pledged to undo. When Trump asked Harris if she would allow for abortions in the 7th-9th month she said he should answer his question.

Immigration and border security

Harris claimed that the congress came up with a border bill that would’ve helped fix many problems caused by migration but that Trump influenced the bill by asking republican congressmen to vote against it. She said Trump would rather “run on a problem than help fixing a problem”. She claimed Trump talks about many things in his rallies but not the American people, and that people leave out of boredom, to which Trump responded saying people cannot leave her rallies because those there are paid to get on busses and attend. He said he has “the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics”. He says the country is being lost and is a failing nation and that Biden will drag the USA into WW3.

Trump then repeated a controversial claim made first by his VP that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating cats and dogs, which caused Harris to chuckle. Trump said that Harris will destroy the country and make it like “Venezuela on steroids”,

The presenter cuts in and says that the manager of the city has denied the claims, Trump replies saying that the manager was lying and that people of the city have claimed otherwise.

Harris says that she has the endorsement of 200 republicans including many from the Bush administration and Trumps former VP Dick Chaney due to Trumps extremeness. She lists quotes from former high ranking members of Trumps administration:

• Chief of Staff and a four star general said Trump has contempt for the constitution
• National Security advisor said he is dangerous and unfit
• Secretary of Defence said the republic cannot survive another Trump term

Trump responded saying that he fired most those people for a bad job, but that Biden never fired anyone over issues such as Afghanistan. He says that all the top generals handling the withdrawal should have been fired. He says that Biden also should have fired his economists. He claimed that he got more votes than any US president ever.

Trump says that immigrants let in by Biden are criminals taken off the streets of their own countries and moved to America on threat of death if they return. He claims that there is a new type of violent crime called immigrant crime.

Harris says Trump is a hypocrite for several crimes he’s committed. She says that Trumps rhetoric is old and tired and we must move on and focus on the economy. Trump says all the cases are political and he is winning most of them and the justice department has been weaponised against him, and that Biden was found guilty on the documents case but Trump won his.

Harris says that Trump is dangerous as he says he will terminate the constitution and weaponize the DoJ, and that congress has given him immunity if he is elected. Trump responded by saying the assassination was the fault of the democrats rhetoric against him.

Fracking(aimed at Harris)

Harris confirms that, contrary to her pledges in her previous presidential run, she will not ban fracking. She says the USA must invest in diverse sources of energy to reduce foreign reliance and cited that the USA has had a large domestic oil increase due to this ethos. She pledges to work with the private sector to build 3 million homes and to protect women and children from violent crime and to protect the provision of medical healthcare and senior citizens from scams. She says that the true measure of a leader is in lifting people up not beating them down.

Trump says that Harris has been against fracking and police funding for many years and has given up on many policies. Trump called Harris a “radical left liberal” who fundraised to let out criminals who “burned down Minneapolis” and wants to perform transgender operations on imprisoned illegal immigrants. He says that if she won the election fracking would be banned and that Trump got the oil business going and decreased energy prices. He says oil and fossil fuels will be dead and we would go to wind mills and solar power, though confirming he likes solar power he says it takes too much space.

Jan 6th riots(aimed at Trump)

Trump says that he called for his supporters to go to the capitol on July 6th, but specifically said peacefully and patriotically. Trump says that his supporters did not kill anyone yet veteran Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by an out of control police officer, though the police department issued a statement saying the shooting was lawful and correct to protect congress members. He questions why murderous immigrants were let in and treated much better by Harris than the Jan 6th rioters were. Trump says he had nothing to do with the violence of the riots and that he warned the mayor of Washington that the march, which he did not play a part in organising, was going to be big. He claims to have offered 10000 national guard or soldiers but was rejected. He says Nancy Pelosi, a key figure in the democratic party, was responsible for security.

Harris responds saying Trump incited the mob, which he was impeached for. She cited other instances where she claims Trump had supported violent rioting. She says that its time to turn the page and stand for democracy and rule of law. Trump says that his involvement in the instances has been debunked and calls on Harris to go to Washington and sign a bill to close the border during the debate.

Truth

Trump continues to claim that he actually won the 2020 elections by a landslide and that he got 75 million votes and there is lots of evidence. He says two things America needs are good voting and borders and that the immigrants are being brought in to America not knowing what country it is or the language so they can vote democrat. He says the election was old news and that the nation is in decline which should be peoples current focus.

Harris says that Trump got “fired by 81 million people” and we cannot afford a president who wants to overturn the will of the people. She says she has travelled round the world and world leaders think Trump is a disgrace. She calls Trump confused about facts.

Trump responds by praising Victor Orban, the controversial Hungarian president, for saying that the world is blowing up because Trump is no longer in power and that China, Russia and North Korea used to be afraid.

Trump says that Harris running for president is adverse to democracy as she was not chosen to run by the people. He says Biden hates her and can’t stand her and she was the first to leave because she failed.

Israel Hamas war

Harris says the war started when terrorists slaughtered and raped 1200 Israelis, note that the number heavily disputed and the rape unproven. She says that Israel has the right of defence but too many Palestinian civilians have been killed and the war must end now through a ceasefire and return of hostages. She reiterates her support for a secure two state solution. She specifies the need for Israeli defence against Iran and the Axis of Resistance. She says that Gaza must be rebuilt.

Trump says that the war would never have started if he were President, nor would Ukraine. He says Harris hates Israel and says she was too busy partying to meet Netanyahu. Trump says if he loses, Israel will not exist in two years time. He says she hates the “Arab population” and that the entire place will be blown up, Jews and Arabs alike. He says that under his presidency Iran would never have had the money to fund their “28 spheres of terror” but Biden lifted sanctions. He says he will get Ukraine and Palestine wars settled quickly.

Harris says that she has supported Israel her entire life and he is trying to divide and distract from Trump being weak on foreign policy and wants to be a dictator on day one and admires dictators. She claims he exchanged love letters with Kim and supported the invasion of Ukraine. She claims dictators want him to win.

Trump says that Harris allowed 168 countries allowed to send criminals to America due to Harris being weak on national security. He says Putin endorsed her last weak and that other countries leaders think Biden is incompetent. He questions why Biden got rid of the Keystone pipeline yet allowed Russia’s Nord stream 2 to go throughout Europe. He goes on to say Biden has made a lot of money, but the presenter cut him off for a break at the hour mark.

Ukraine war

Trump says he wants the war to stop and to save millions of lives, claiming that the civilians casualties are much higher than what he calls fake statistics. He says that America is going to lose 250-275 billion while Europe, who he says should carry more weight than the USA, is only paying 100-150 billion. He says that Biden does not have the courage to ask Europe but Trump could get them to pay. He says that Biden is not even trying to get the war settled. Trump says he will open up negotiations. He says that the war in Ukraine could lead to WW3 under Biden. When asked if he believes it is in the USAs best interest for Ukraine to win the war he says that it is best for the USA for the war to end.

Harris says Trump would give up the war. She says she managed to bring 50 countries together in vital support for Ukraine which, had Trump been president, would not have happened, She says that if Trump were president Putin would be in Kiev with his eyes on the rest of Europe, first Poland.

Trump says that Putin would be sitting in Moscow happy without having lost any men(the war would not have started). He says that Harris was sent to negotiate peace and Harris was weak and stupid and caused the war. He says Harris is worse than Biden and the worst VP in history. Harris says she has never met Putin.

Afghanistan

Harris said she agreed with Bidens position to pull out and that has saved Americans tax money. She claims that no American soldier is in active duty around the world for the first time in a century, Harris said that Trump negotiated a terrible deal, ignoring the American backed regime in Afghanistan and going straight to the Taliban terrorists, promising them the release of 5000 members. She said Trump invited them to Camp David where Americans invite and receive respected leaders. She says that Trump doing so is unappreciative of the role of the president as chief of army and essentially desecrated the camp.

Trump says he got involved with the Taliban because they were the ones killing Americans. He claims to have told the leader of the Taliban to stop and sent a picture of his house and that there was no deaths for 18 months. He says all the equipment and Americans would not have been left behind if he had been negotiating. He says that the reason Russia invaded Ukraine was because of Bidens show of weakness in the withdrawal.

Race

Trump says he doesn’t care what race Harris is and that he read from her she is not black and then she said she was but either way he doesn’t care.

Harris says Trump is consistently racist and has used race to divide Americans. She says Trump refused to rent property to black families in his early days and called for the execution of the innocent central park 5. She says Trump spread lies about Americas first black president. She says Trump seeks to divide Americans but she wants to unite them.

Trump says Biden is the most divisive president ever. He says the CP5 pled guilty then changed their minds. He says Harris had to go back several decades to discredit Trump. He says Harris is Biden.

Harris says she offers a new generation of leadership which brings optimism and not disparaging the people. She reiterates her economic plans, and says she will offer 25000 down-payment assistance for first time home buyers.

Health care

Trump says that Obamacare was lousy healthcare and he is planning to improve it and that he proposed improvements that the democrats refused. He says that he could have chosen to save and improve it or let it rot and show how bad it was. He says that it was too expensive and that it will stay in place until a better plan is put forward which is better quality and cheaper.

Harris says she supports private options and Obamacare needs maintaining and improving. She says that Trump persistently tried to get rid of it. She cites several ways in which the Biden administration has improved health care and says she will continue. She said that healthcare is a right for all.

Trump says Harris wants everybody to be on bad government insurance.

Climate change

Harris says Trump denies it and says that the young people of America care about the issue. She lists many ways that Biden and her have helped the climate including a trillion dollar investment into clean energy. She says that investment must go into American energy.

Trump says Biden is building Chinese plants in Mexico and has allowed too many foreign cars into the country which he pledges to tariff. Trump claims Biden is getting money from China and Russia and selling America.

Closing Statements

• Harris(lasted 3 minutes):
  • Harris is focussed on the future and Trump on the past
  • The American people are more united than separated and can chart a new way forward
  • She will create an opportunity economy for the American people
  • She will keep the USAs military and geopolitical standing
  • She will maintain the right of abortion
  • She will put all Americans first and not herself
• Trump(lasted 3 minutes):
  • Why has Harris not already started fixing these problems during her VP tenure, she will not enact any of her promisses and believes in things that the people do not which will weaken the country
  • We cannot sacrifice our country for the sake of bad vision
  • America is a failing nation that the world laughs at
  • America will end up in a third world war which is nuclear
  • He built up the military but she gave it away to the Taliban
  • She let many criminals in
  • She is the worst VP ever