How Harris baited angry Trump, took control of contentious debate
Vice President Kamala Harris entered the ABC Presidential debate last night with a clear strategy to corner former President Donald Trump, and by the end of the night, it was evident that her plan worked. Armed with facts and prepared for Trump’s usual tactics, Harris masterfully steered the debate, turning Trump’s own strategies against him.
Trump, riding high after his June debate against President Joe Biden, where his aggressive style and barrage of untruths appeared to knock Biden off balance, came into this debate hoping for a repeat performance. Biden, after a lackluster showing, had since dropped out of the race, leaving Harris to carry the Democratic banner into November’s presidential election. With the stakes higher than ever, the two political titans clashed in a ferocious 90-minute exchange over key issues like inflation, abortion, immigration, and foreign policy.
As the debate unfolded, it was clear that Harris had done her homework. Trump unleashed his typical arsenal of attacks—many of them steeped in falsehoods—but Harris, far from being flustered, methodically countered each one. The former president quickly found himself on the defensive, a position he rarely occupies in the public eye.
The debate, filled with sharp criticisms, mudslinging, and intense back-and-forths, was no ordinary political discussion. Trump launched numerous false claims against the Biden administration, of which Harris has been an integral part. But unlike Biden, Harris responded swiftly, using Trump’s words against him and succeeding in forcing him into uncomfortable corners. She invoked a crucial debate strategy by tapping into Trump’s well-known temperament, skillfully pushing him into a state of anger.
Harris’s approach was deliberate from the outset. She began by attacking Trump for what she described as “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War” and “the worst public health crisis in a century,” referencing the January 6 Capitol insurrection and the COVID-19 pandemic. This clearly got under Trump’s skin, and he spent the remainder of the debate visibly agitated, making a series of unforced errors. The confrontation soon escalated when Harris criticized Trump’s handling of the economy: “Donald Trump left us with the worst unemployment since the Great Depression,” she stated, asserting that the Biden administration had been cleaning up the mess Trump left behind.
Trump, in characteristic fashion, threw out a stream of falsehoods, from abortion to immigration to the economy. One of his more outlandish claims was that migrants coming into the U.S. were fleeing prisons and mental institutions. “We have millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums,” he said. There was no evidence to back this claim, yet Trump doubled down, also stating—without basis—that 21 million people were crossing the border into the United States each month under Biden. Harris didn’t miss a beat, calmly refuting his lies and turning the conversation back to the failures of Trump’s administration.
Perhaps one of the more significant moments of the debate came when Trump attempted to attack the Biden administration’s record on inflation, falsely claiming there had been no inflation during his presidency. A fact-check by CNN quickly revealed the truth: cumulative inflation over Trump’s time in office was around 7.8%. Harris didn’t let this slide, reminding viewers that Trump’s economic policies disproportionately hurt middle-class families and would continue to do so under a potential second term.
The debate also delved into foreign policy, with Harris landing more blows on Trump. She accused him of damaging America’s standing in the world, claiming that global leaders no longer respected him. Harris pointed out how military figures considered him a “disgrace,” which led to a flustered Trump lashing out.
Throughout the debate, Harris baited Trump into displays of anger, an intentional tactic that paid off. She told him that people left his rallies out of “exhaustion and boredom,” while Trump shot back that no one attended hers in the first place. Trump attempted to criticize Harris on her handling of immigration and her shifting policy stances, but Harris effectively blamed Trump for the “Trump abortion bans” and January 6, positioning him as the source of many of the nation’s woes.
After the debate, the media weighed in heavily on the performance of both candidates. Conservative outlets like The Wall Street Journal ran opinion pieces acknowledging that Trump had thrown away key opportunities to score decisive blows, while The New York Post, despite being critical of Harris’s policy shifts, admitted she had managed to rattle Trump and maintain her composure throughout the debate.
On the other side, liberal networks like MSNBC were quick to point out how Harris remained unphased by Trump’s attacks, emphasizing that she kept him off-balance for much of the debate. Fox News also declared Harris the winner of the night but criticized the moderators for what it considered a bias in favour of the vice president.
Registered voters who watched the debate agreed with the media’s assessments. A CNN poll of debate viewers gave Harris a 63% to 37% advantage over Trump. While voters were split on which candidate understood their problems better, the overwhelming consensus was that Harris had delivered the stronger performance.
Trump’s erratic showing at the debate may have cost him future opportunities to confront Harris on stage. While he told Fox News that he believed he had won the debate, he was notably hesitant when asked about participating in another face-off with Harris. Complaining about the moderation and seemingly uninterested in further debate dates, Trump suggested he might not return for a second debate.
Harris’s campaign, meanwhile, seized the opportunity to push for more debates. Campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon stated that the choice for voters was now clearer than ever: “Between moving forward with Kamala Harris or going backward with Trump.” Harris, she said, was eager for another debate, asking rhetorically if Trump would be willing to face her again.
Trump entered last night’s debate with the hope of dominating Harris in the same way he had overpowered Biden, but the night did not go as planned. Instead of gaining the upper hand, Trump walked away flustered and defensive, while Harris left with a wave of positive media coverage and a growing base of undecided voters now backing her. As the campaign enters its final stages, Harris’s debate win may well have shifted the dynamics heading into November’s election. The big question remains: Can she upstage Trump at the ballot box?
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