The fiery presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris painted the picture of a scorned former president who wants a return to his era and a hopeful Vice President desperate for a different future.
Ultimately, the former president’s rambling answers, repeated blatant falsehoods and consistent interruption hurt him on Tuesday night.
“Make no mistake about it, Trump had a bad night,” Brit Hume said on Fox News.
Where Harris presented clear and direct policies on the economy, immigration, abortion and more, the former president gave into her baiting of him and delivered familiar rambling remarks. He spoke about “migrant crime”, false claims about late-term abortions, inflation, his criminal trials and the 2020 election – all topics he brings up in press conferences and rallies.
“We heard so many of the old grievances that we long thought that Trump had learned were not winners, politically,” Hume said.
Trump prevailed during the first presidential debate against President Joe Biden in June, notably because the president stumbled over answers with a hoarse voice, making him appear weak. Weeks later Biden was forced to drop out of the race, clearing the way for Harris to become the Democratic nominee.
But this time, Trump appeared unprepared.
ABC News moderators corrected Trump on several of his points, like repeating a false claim that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio community were “eating dogs” and “eating cats”, that some states under Democratic leadership want to allow abortions after birth and repeating incorrect statistics about crime rates.
At multiple points during the debate, Harris laughed, rolled her eyes and stared intensely as the former president answered questions.
In the middle of the debate, Harris baited the former president by pettily mentioning the size of his rallies – a sore spot for Trump – and suggesting people were leaving early “out of exhaustion and boredom.”
The former president immediately used his time to assert his rallies were bigger and better than Harris’s.
“People don’t leave my rallies, we have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics,” Trump said.
Joy Reid said on MSNBC that Trump “got destroyed” in the debate “because he can’t control his mind and you don’t want a president of the United States who can’t control his mind”.
When Harris mentioned Trump’s criminal trials, he took the bait, again, and went on a long rant, accusing the Biden administration and Harris of targeting him.
The vice president brought up Republicans who have endorsed her campaign, Trump responded by attempting to undermine their importance claiming he “fired most of those people.”
Allies of the former president quickly took to social media after the debate to assert that he was treated unfairly by the ABC News moderators.
I dont think this is going well for Trump so far at all. Probably doesnt help that it’s a tag team match, but yeah not great.
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) September 11, 2024
“The biggest, I think, failure for the country tonight was ABC,” Fox News anchor Sean Hannity said after the debate.
Senator Marco Rubio affirmed, “Yeah it’s an embarrassment.”
But conservative talk radio host Erick Erickson disagreed.
“Trump lost the debate and whining about the moderators doesn’t change it. He didn’t lose because of their behavior. He lost because of his own performance while his lips were moving, not theirs,” Erickson wrote on X.
At the end of the night, Trump told reporters it was “the best debate” he ever had and claimed Harris wanted another debate “because she got beaten tonight.”
