What we all witnessed last night during the second presidential debate of this season was nothing short of historic. We had a Black and Asian American woman represent a primary party on the debate stage. And my Lord, what a representation it was indeed. Many of us believed the convicted felon and former president Donald Trump would not be as prepared as Vice President Kamala Harris, the former prosecutor and senator, but did we expect it to be that bad?
Yes. Yes, we did.
And still, it was a sight to behold.
I knew it would go down fast when Trump stated towards the top of the debate “She has no plan.” Throwing Harris’s words for him back at her. Trump added, “It’s like four sentences. Run spot run.” I should have poured myself a drink and grabbed a cookie then because I knew it would be a night.
For those who did not watch, allow me to set the stage…
Accurate. pic.twitter.com/D0Zzd3SmkP
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 11, 2024
David Muir and Linsey Davis served as last night’s moderators and for the first time in a while during a debate, we witnessed true journalism at work. Their fact-checking was well done, their emphasis on the candidates to keep time was good, their push back when they felt a candidate did not answer a question was appreciated, and the questions were fair to both candidates. Prior to last night, the candidates had never met in person and began the debate with a handshake.
The debate was 90 minutes with two commercial breaks, and each candidate had to agree to a few debate rules:
- Candidates had to remain on stage during the breaks, and could not speak with staff
- No opening statements
- No studio audience
- Only the moderators could ask questions
- Two-minute answers; two-minute rebuttals; one-minute follow-ups
- No pre-written notes allowed
- A pad of paper, pen, and water bottle were provided on each lectern
- Trump delivered his closing statement last
- Microphones were muted when a candidate was not speaking
This last rule was essential as Trump continuously spoke out of turn or tried to interrupt Harris. To be fair, Harris also spoke out of turn a couple of times. I am not sure I would have done better than she did while listening to someone accuse people of eating their pets.
I will not rehash the entire debate, but I will summarize a few points and highlight a couple of policies where applicable. Timestamps for the conversation topic can be found in parenthesis next to each topic.
Project 2025 (7:00)
Harris brings up Project 2025 quickly, discussing some of the potential impacts on departments such as the Department of Education. Trump doubled down on his distancing himself from the Mandate for Leadership stating “I don’t know anything about Project 2025. I don’t know those folks. Seems like some people got together and put some thoughts together but I have nothing to do with that.”
The facts are quite the contrary. Many of the architects of the latest policy agenda from The Heritage Foundation served in Trump’s administration or have previously worked for or with him in some capacity. Ben Carson, for example, previously served as 45’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) while John Ratcliffe served as the National Intelligence Director. Both contributed chapters in Project 2025 and are in the count of at least 140 former Trump hires who played a role in the policy guide.
Abortion and Reproductive Rights (15:40)
Trump claimed he has been an advocate for in vitro fertilization (IVF). He recently spoke out against the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision to temporarily pause IVF suggesting that it should be covered by health insurance. He then condemned states that allow for termination after birth. Davis fact-checked Trump stating, “There is no state in this country where it is illegal to kill a baby after it’s born.” He doubled down on the claim later.
When asked about his running mate, JD Vance, commenting that Trump would veto an abortion ban, Trump responded that he had not discussed the matter [of a MAJOR policy position like reproductive rights] with Vance and did not say if he would or would not veto a ban. Davis repeated the question if he would veto a national abortion ban. “I won’t have to because…she won’t get the vote [in Congress].” He then compared his response to abortion to student loan forgiveness and talked about “her boss” President Joe Biden spending all his time on the beach and finding other ways to forgive loans.
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Harris was very strong in her response on this matter. “Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That isn’t happening; it’s insulting to the women of America,” Harris said. “One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government, and Donald Trump certainly, should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.” pledged as she has continuously, “When Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade, as President of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.”
Immigration and Border Security (25:50)
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Muir mentioned the record-high illegal border crossings in the Biden administration and the latest “tough new asylum restrictions” imposed by the administration. He then asked Harris “Why did the administration wait until six months before the election to act and would you have done anything differently from President Biden on this?” Harris responded by calling out Trump for calling certain congressional members behind the scenes to kill the bipartisan immigration bill that was on the table. Muir turns the question to Trump asking why did he kill the bill. Trump responded instead to Harris’s critiques of his rally crowd sizes and how immigrants are coming into places like Aurora, Colorado and Springfield, Ohio. “THEY’RE EATING THE PETS OF THE PEOPLE THAT LIVE THERE” Trump shouted. Muir fact-checks him with comments from the city manager of Springfield who said there has been no evidence that this is occurring.
Trump repeatedly talked about high crime, and gang takeovers, and said “If Harris wins, the US will become ‘Venezuela on steroids.’” Though the Venezuelan immigrant population has significantly increased in Colorado, Aurora’s interim police chief, Heather Morris has stated there is no evidence of gang takeovers occurring in the city. Muir also fact-checked Trump stating the FBI has said “violent crime is actually coming down in this country.”
Harris: “I think this is so rich. coming from someone who has been prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference, has been found liable for sexual assault
and his next big court appearance is in November at his own criminal sentencing.”
Enough said.
Overall Policy Position Shifts (39:05)
Davis pushed Harris a bit mentioning how her positions have shifted on a number of issues since her last run for president. “Vice President Harris, in your last run for president you said you wanted to ban fracking. Now you don’t. You wanted mandatory government buyback programs for assault weapons. Now your campaign says you don’t. You supported decriminalizing border crossings. Now you’re taking a harder line. I know you say that your values have not changed. So then why have so many of your policy positions changed?”
Harris primarily responded to shifting her position on fracking, something climate activists and environmental advocates have begun to criticize her for changing positions. She highlights that she has not and will ban fracking and instead opened new leases through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). She now believes that we need to invest in diverse sources of energy and divest from foreign oil.
Hydraulic Fracturing, also known as fracking, is the process in which water, chemicals, and sand are blasted at high volumes into rock to extract natural gas and oil. Some of the negative impacts of fracking include “leukemia in young children, low birth weight and pre-term births, childhood asthma, and earlier deaths in older people.” There are also impacts to the environment that are being studied and discussed.
Trump’s response: “She wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison. This is a radical left liberal that would do this.” He also mentioned that Harris wants to strip people of their guns and that she would never allow fracking to continue in Pennsylvania. The first portion is not even worthy of acknowledgment let alone fact-checking.
Israel-Hamas War (56:22)
Davis reminded Harris of her comment “Israel has a right to defend itself, but it matters how.” “International humanitarian law must be respected, Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians. You said that nine months ago. Now an estimated 40,000 Palestinians are dead. Nearly 100 hostages remain.” Harris responded by mentioning the atrocities that occurred on October 7th and stated this catapulted the region into this war. She doubled down on her support of Israel defending itself and wanting a two-state solution so that Gaza could rebuild itself as well.
Trump is asked how he would handle the situation. He said, “It would have never started.” He then began talking about the war between Russia and Ukraine, arguing that Harris hates Israel and that she was not at Netanyahu’s “very important speech” because she “was at a sorority party of hers.” Harris met with Netanyahu after he gave his speech to Congress.
Many Palestinian activists and allies have argued that this war began long before October 7th, starting with the Nakba, the 1948 displacement and dispossession of Palestinians. A two-state solution was last in play during the Oslo Accord talks during the administration of President Bill Clinton, between then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzakh Rabin and the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat. Rabin was assassinated on November 4th, 1995, after which Benjamin Netanyahu rose to power.
Closing Statements Highlights (1:31:30)
“I’ve only had one client. The people. And I’ve never asked them ‘are you a Republican or a Democrat?’ I intend to be a president for all Americans” – VP Harris
“She hasn’t done it. She’s been in office for three years and hasn’t done anything! The worst vice president in the history of our country.” – Donald Trump
The remainder content of the debate was filled with jabs being thrown between the candidates with a bit of policy discussion in the mix regarding Afghanistan and other topics. If you want to view the entire debate, you can view that on ABC News’s YouTube and to view our debate night coverage you can watch the replay below or listen to the podcast episode on your favorite app. The podcast links are below. Listen, subscribe, and share as we will continue covering this election season and so much more.
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