US debate: Kamala Harris rattles Trump as former President peddles conspiracy theories

The first and probably the only debate between Democrat Kamala Harris

and Republican Donald Trump, hosted by ABC News on Tuesday, had the candidates sparring over abortion rights, border issues, the economy and even the Russia-Ukraine war.

The debate saw Harris getting a rise out of Trump, pushing the former President into a defensive position as she mocked his rallies, attacking him on abortion rights and the right-wing policy blueprint Project 2025.

Trump too appeared to take the bait as he peddled conspiracy theories - repeating a bizarre social media rumour about immigrant Haitians eating cats and dogs and reiterating that he won the 2020 election - while dodging questions on whether he would veto federal abortion ban and if he wanted Ukraine to win its war.

Here are the key takeaways from the debate

The handshake

The debate, which happens just two months before the Election Day, saw Harris greeting Trump with a handshake. She walked over to Trump at his podium, extended her hand and introduced herself as Kamala Harris. It is the first time Harris and Trump have ever met in person.

"Let’s have a good debate.” Trump responded: "Nice to see you. Have fun."

Economy

Harris began emphasising her plan to help American families, stressing building an "opportunity economy" which includes affordable housing and expansion of the child tax credit. She attacked Trump’s proposals, such as providing tax cuts to corporations, which she claims would hurt American middle-class families.

Trump, on the other hand, repeated his claims to impose tariffs on other countries, such as China. He hit out at the Biden administration for the high inflation rates, which he said had been a disaster for the country.

Abortion

As expected, both candidates had a lengthy battle on abortion rights, with Harris taking on Trump's stance on the topic and claiming that Trump would sign a national abortion ban if he’s elected.

"But understand if Donald Trump were to be elected, he would sign a national abortion ban. Understand in his Project 2025, there would be a national abortion — a monitor that would be monitoring your pregnancies, your miscarriages," Harris said.  

However, Trump refused to say whether he would veto a federal abortion ban if Congress passed one. "Well, I won’t have to," Trump replied. He said he’s not signing such a ban because there’s no reason to.

Trump's non-committal statements come as his running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance said that the former president would do so. However, Trump said he "didn’t discuss it with JD, in all fairness" and he doesn't believe Vance was speaking for him.

Mocking Trump's rallies

Harris managed to get under the skin of Trump by mocking his rallies, where she said he would say bizarre things such as windmills cause cancer. She said the attendees would leave out of exhaustion and boredom. Trump retorted by stating that his rallies were "the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics." Trump also accused Harris of busing in attendees to her rallies.

'Immigrants eating cats, dogs'

Most notable of Trump's claims in the debate was how he falsely claimed that immigrants in the country illegally were killing and eating people's pets in the city of Springfield, Ohio. This was a conspiracy theory that did rounds on social media. "In Springfield, they're eating the dogs! The people that came in, they're eating the cats!" Trump said.

However, to his dismay, ABC's moderators quickly pointed out that the Springfield city officials said those reports were untrue.

Assassination attempt

Trump made another bizarre claim as he suggested that the series of criminal prosecutions of him led to the assassination attempt against him in July. His claim comes as the FBI still works on what led the shooter to open fire at the former President. "I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things they say about me," he said.

Bashing Biden

Donald Trump tried to link her to the president’s policies, bashing President Joe Biden, stating that he doesn't know he is alive. Slamming Biden for his handling of classified documents and for opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, Trump said: "Where is our president? We don’t even know if he’s the president. They threw him out of a campaign like a dog. We don’t even know. Is he our president? We have a president that doesn’t know he’s alive."

Harris retorted by stating that Trump was running against her and not Biden. "It is important to remind the former president: You’re not running against Joe Biden, you are running against me."

Trump later said, "She is Biden," to which Harris responded: “Clearly, I am not Joe Biden. And I am certainly not Donald Trump."

Ukraine-Russia war

Trump argued that he could get Russia’s war in Ukraine "settled" within 24 hours if he’s elected back into office. He, however, dodged the question of whether he wanted to see Ukraine win the war against Russia. "I want the war to stop. I want to save lives," Trump said.

Harris retorted stating Trump wanted Ukraine's quick and unconditional capitulation. "If Donald Trump were president, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now," Harris said.

"Why don’t you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favour and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator, who would eat you for lunch," she said.

2020 elections

Harris called out Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, stating that he did not have the "temperament or the ability to not be confused about fact."

Trump went on a defensive mode when Harris brought up the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol. He insisted he had nothing to do with that, other than "they asked me to make a speech."

Harris replied: "Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people, so let's be

clear about that, and clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that, but we cannot afford to have a president of the United States who attempts as he did in the past to upend the will of the voters in a free and fair election.

A few minutes later, Trump erupted, claiming Harris had received no votes in claiming the Democratic nomination and suggested that she replaced Biden as part of some sort of coup. "He hates her," Trump said, referring to Biden.