PHILADELPHIA (Reuters): Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris put Republican Donald Trump on the defensive at a combative presidential debate on Tuesday with a stream of attacks on abortion limits, his fitness for office and his myriad legal woes, as both candidates sought a campaign-altering moment in their closely fought election.
In a boost to the Harris campaign, pop megastar Taylor Swift told her 283 million followers on Instagram in a post immediately following the debate that she would back Harris and her running mate Tim Walz in the Nov. 5 election. The post had been liked nearly 2 million times within 25 minutes.
A former prosecutor, Harris, 59, appeared to get under the former president’s skin repeatedly, prompting a visibly angry Trump, 78, to deliver a series of falsehood-filled retorts.
At one point, she brought up Trump’s campaign rallies, goading him by saying that people often leave early “out of exhaustion and boredom.”
Trump, who has been frustrated by the size of Harris’ own crowds, said, “My rallies, we have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.” He then pivoted to an unsubstantiated claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are “eating the pets” of residents.
“Talk about extreme,” Harris said, laughing.
The candidates clashed over issues such as immigration, foreign policy and healthcare, but the debate was light on specific policy details.
Instead, Harris’ forceful approach succeeded in putting the focus on Trump, leaving her allies jubilant and some Republicans acknowledging Trump’s struggles.
“Trump missed an opportunity to stay focused prosecuting the case against Biden-Harris on the economy and border, and instead took her bait and chased down rabbit holes on election denialism and immigrants eating our pets,” said Marc Short, who served as chief of staff for Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence.
Online prediction market PredictIt’s 2024 presidential general election market showed Trump’s likelihood of victory declining during the debate, to 47% from 52%. Harris’ odds improved to 55% from 53%.
In a sign of confidence in the debate’s outcome, Harris’ campaign challenged Trump to a second debate immediately.
Trump, who has spent weeks launching personal attacks on Harris including racist and sexist insults, largely avoided that pattern during the debate’s early moments but quickly became agitated under Harris’ offensive.
Trump was asked by the moderators about one of those attacks, when he told an event with Black journalists in July that Harris had recently “become a Black person.”
“I couldn’t care less,” he said. “Whatever she wants to be is OK with me.”
Harris, who has both Black and South Asian heritage, responded, “I think it’s a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president who has consistently over the course of his career attempted to use race to divide the American people.”
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