Critics say that Kamala Harris baited Donald Trump during their historic Philadelphia debate, and Trump took the bait. Several publications, in the US and abroad, criticized the former President for rising to Harris’s taunts, even allowing her to wrongfoot him on immigration. The Vice President said Trump killed the border bill that would have put thousands more border agents on duty, adding, “He’d prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.”
After delivering her rebuttal to Trump’s claim that the border crisis was the fault of the Biden administration, Harris pivoted and said the Republican would talk about immigration all night, but she would “do something unusual” and invite people to attend a Donald Trump rally. The Vice President then described Trump’s events as boring and dull and said people regularly leave because he raves about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter or “talks about windmills causing cancer.”
When the moderator gave Trump the opportunity to respond and address the border, he ignored it and spoke at length about rally sizes. He said nobody attends Harris events, whereas he has the “biggest” and “most incredible” rallies in history.
Subsequent polls and commentary suggested that Harris had given a better performance, but conservatives and Republicans lashed out at the ABC moderators, saying they were clearly biased against Mr. Trump. New York Rep. Elise Stefanik said, “The ABC moderators were not journalists, they were pro-Kamala activists.” Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, said the former President did his job, but the ABC moderators did not.
Mr. Trump agreed and insisted he was the evening’s victor. He told Sean Hannity that the debate was “three against one.”
Fierce Trump critic and former GOP Presidential primary candidate Chris Christie declared the event a significant victory for the Vice President and said she achieved her most important task – showing the American people that she has what it takes to be President. “She belonged on that stage,” he added.
Senior Democrats expressed elation at Harris’s performance, including Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, who called the debate a “knockout.” California Governor Gavin Newsom said the Vice President proved she was the only commander-in-chief on the stage.
