The 2024 Presidential debate occurred early this month, and a lot happened in the debate that could prove to be useful for everyone to know. Before we get into the meat and potatoes of the debate, we must state that this debate would serve as a momentum-creation moment in each of the candidates’ campaigns. Either candidate could use this as something that could propel their campaign to higher highs, or lower lows.
The Debate was between Donald Trump (Republican) and Kamala Harris (Democrat), expectations were high for both candidates and both sides were teeming with excitement for this debate. This would be a crucial moment for Harris to prove herself on a national stage and for her to show that she is ready to become president. For Donald Trump, this would show how ready he is to be president.
The debate started off with both candidates shaking hands, in which Harris made the initial move to shake hands. This was the first time since 2016 that two candidates shook hands before a debate started. Throughout the debate, Harris would place pieces of “verbal bait” to attempt to see if they would sidetrack the former president. Those bait statements did in fact sidetrack Trump. One of the many comments made was about how people often yawn and sometimes even leave Trump’s rallies. Within that statement, Harris also stated that many of Trump’s former cabinet and staff members criticized him. Instead of responding to the criticisms made by his former staff, Trump only focused on the claim about people leaving his rallies, stating that “people don’t leave my rallies.”
In her early remarks, Harris focused a lot on her economic plans. This was an important play as people who don’t constantly keep up to date with the Vice President might not know these things. Trump, instead of bringing up his economic plans to contrast those of the Vice President, talked about immigration and conspiracy theories. One of the theories he peddled, which you might’ve already heard about, was that Haitian immigrants were eating people’s dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio. It must be noted that the claims he made are categorically false and were even denied by debate moderator, David Muir. These claims were initially made by Trump’s partner, JD Vance. Vance later went on to admit that the claims were false and that “if I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.” These claims have also resulted in numerous bomb threats being made to schools in the Springfield region.
Trump then went on to discuss his treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic, the firing of important military intelligence figures, and his response to a deadly far-right rally that happened in Charlottesville, VA in 2017. During this moment, he did not mention what he would do with a second term as president. He then followed up with how he invited members of the Taliban, an Afghan fighter group, to Camp David, located in Maryland, in 2019. While on the topic of foreign affairs, Harris brought up that Trump was “weak” on matters of national security and that dictators like Vladimir Putin, the current president of Russia, is someone who “would eat you for lunch…”.
Shortly thereafter, the topic of abortion rights came up. Abortion is a topic that’s been talked about a lot in the past few years, especially in this election season. The legality of abortion remains a deciding factor for a good portion of voters, so both candidates would have to word their arguments for/against abortion very carefully and very clearly. Kamala Harris took a pro-abortion stance, stating that she’s heard stories of women who’ve bled in parking lots because they couldn’t get proper care in their state. Trump carefully danced around the topic of abortion: “I’m not in favor of abortion ban…”. That was one of the main remarks the former president made on the topic. Many people criticized this stance that he made as Donald Trump’s vice president candidate, JD Vance, has taken a strong anti-abortion stance. Many people wish that the former president would take a clear stance on the matter like how his vice presidential partner has. When he was asked about his stance compared to Vance’s, he stated that he “didn’t discuss it with JD”.
Foreign conflicts like the ones in Ukraine, between Russia and Ukraine and the one in Israel between Israel and Palestinian fighter groups were brought up. Harris placed importance on continuing to send aid to Ukraine and supporting Israel. When she was talking about Israel, she stated that atrocities done by Israel to innocents in the region must be acknowledged. When it was Trump’s turn to speak on the matter, he stated that after he left office in 2021, he met with Putin to discuss the war in Ukraine and potentially bring the war to an end. We feel that it is necessary to say that speaking with foreign leaders on diplomatic matters is a direct violation of the Logan Act. The former president took a hard stance on protecting Israel, stating that if Harris is elected, Israel would collapse within 2 years. Harris still plans to support Israel, so where this claim comes from is unknown.
The difference between the candidates’ dispositions during the debate was apparent every time the camera flipped between the candidates. When Harris was talking, she would regularly make eye contact with both the camera, and her opponent. Meanwhile, Trump appeared to only make eye contact with the camera, rarely, if ever trying to make eye contact with his opponent. After bringing up his criminal record, Harris stated that world leaders were laughing at him. As a response, Trump brought up baseless claims about numerous Democrat politicians. At one point in the debate, Harris tried to interject when she was not allowed to speak and Trump stated, “I’m talking now, if you don’t mind, please. Does that sound familiar?”. This is a call back to something that Harris said in a 2020 Vice Presidential Debate.
The only moments where Harris struggled was when she was talking about her economic plans as she tried to cram all her ideas into one speaking moment, which isn’t enough time to cover any number of plans thoroughly. During the debate, Trump conducted himself in the way he would if he was debating Joe Biden. It got to the point where Harris had to remind Trump that he was running against and debating her, “It’s important to remind the former president you’re not running against Joe Biden, you’re running against me”.
A lot of online talk about Harris from online conservatives and right-wing influencers was that Harris was so far left-wing that she could be called a Marxist and a communist. However, during the debate, Trump stated that he felt he should send her a MAGA hat for her policies. This disparity between how people online view this election and how people in reality view it are vastly different. For his closing statement, Trump asked a question about Harris: “She’s going to do all these wonderful things, why hasn’t she done it?” This is in relation to her already being vice president. The argument is: If she is already vice president, why doesn’t she do anything she’s promising to do right now? However, it must be noted that vice presidents don’t have nearly as much power as people think they do. Harris was unable to answer this question as the debate ended before she could respond. We also feel it is important to say that shortly after this debate, the Harris campaign offered to do a second debate, however, Trump stated that there would be no second debate and that he does not agree to any future debates.
If any of this seemed at all interesting, we encourage you to get invested in this election as it could very well shape your future. Watch the news, read articles, but most importantly of all, take all information with a grain of salt.
