Kamala Harris defeated former President Trump in the debate this week. She baited him multiple times and Trump fell for the trap. The debate has definitely left an impression on the American public. Opinion in the following days has shown that public opinion is Kamala Harris has won by a landslide. This is starting to reflect in the election polls, with Harris' popularity gaining with only 50 days left until the election.
Trump’s many accusations and statements were fact checked during the debate and many statements have since been released by multiple news agencies that statements made by the former president are indeed false.
The first topic to fact check was Trump’s claim that immigrants were eating pets of individuals. He stated in the debate that ‘they eat the dogs, they eat the cats, they eat the pets.’ One moderator of the debate did correct Donald Trump after his allotted time, confirming that Springfield, Ohio had in fact reported that no animals were harmed, especially within the migrant community. Throughout all the statements and accusations made by Trump, it should be noted that Kamala Harris did shake her head at every one, expressing her disagreement and to her credit, remained entirely confident and undeterred.
Another statement to note is those regarding Roe v. Wade and both candidates' stance on abortion. Trump claimed that Roe v. Wade allowed for abortions in the 7th, 8th and 9th months of pregnancy, as well as providing Virginia as an example of a state that ‘executed’ newborn babies claiming it to be abortion. Again, one of the moderators corrected Trump's accusations by reinforcing that it is illegal in every state to practise abortion in the later months of pregnancy and the killing of a child after birth is murder and therefore also illegal. This is not practised legally in any state in the United States of America.
Furthermore, Trump claimed that the Russian-Ukraine war was the fault of Kamala Harris. Trump accused the vice president of worsening tensions between the two countries when she met with Russian President Putin as a negotiator before the war started. Trump claimed that Putin was open to negotiations and did not start making military moves until after Harris’s departure. Kamala Harris was questioned on this matter by a mediator, to which she responded that she had never met with Putin, she has never been given the role of negotiator for the Ukraine-Russian war and the only correspondence she has had in regards to the war is that she had previously met Ukrainian President Zelensky as a show of support from America.
Donald Trump made many remarks questioning the character of the leaders of the Democratic party, stating that they do not leave bed until 4pm, that they are lazy, do not do work and Biden prefers to spend his time at the beach. The former President’s disrespect to Kamala Harris started before the debate. As the two candidates entered the stage, Harris was forced to walk to Trump at his podium in order to shake his hand. The disrespect continued as Trump used phrases such as ‘quiet, please’ and ‘wait a minute, I’m talking now, if you don't mind, please, does that sound familiar?’ Though he regularly spoke over the mediators when being corrected.
Another key thing to be taken away from the debate is the lack of accountability by Trump when it came to the capital riots on January 6th, 2021. When asked by the mediator if he could take accountability for what happened at the capital, he said: “I had nothing to do with that, other than they asked me to make a speech.”
Even though Kamala Harris has won public opinion with the debate, there are still those loyal to Trump who believe that he is the one who won the debate. With the election coming up in only a few days, it still is anyone to win and America could shock us with another Trump administration.
Image taken from @KamalaHarris Twitter account.
