During their initial presidential debate in Washington, Vice-President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump fiercely disagreed on various topics including the economy, abortion, immigration, foreign policy, healthcare, and more. Harris criticized Trump for the Supreme Court decision that revoked years of abortion rights, blaming him for the outcome. She also criticized him for his role in the January 6, 2020, insurrection and his handling of the economy. Her statement mentioned that Biden-Harris had the responsibility of cleaning up the mess that Trump had left behind. The vice-president compelled the ex-president to justify himself and his remarks, including the one regarding her ethnic background.
Trump targeted Harris for her immigration policies, alleging that she and the Biden-Harris administration were allowing large numbers of illegal immigrants to enter the US, resulting in job loss and increased crime rates. He stated that President Joe Biden and his administration's weakness were responsible for the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
Trump continuously attempted to make Harris accountable for the decisions of the Biden government.
During an initial discussion on the economy, Harris replied to Trump's accusation about him leaving the Biden administration with a strong economy by stating that Trump actually left them with the highest unemployment rates since the Great Depression. Donald Trump has left us with the most severe public health crisis in a hundred years. Donald Trump has given us the most serious attack on our democracy since the Civil War. "We cleaned up the mess made by Donald Trump."
Trump hit back at her saying, “She doesn't have a plan. She copied Biden's plan, and it's like four sentences like, Run Spot Run, four sentences that are just oh, we'll try and lower taxes. She doesn't have a plan; take a look at her plan. She doesn't have a plan.”
At one stage, Trump got a personal. “She's a Marxist. Everybody knows she's a Marxist. Her father is a Marxist Professor in Economics, and he taught her well.”
Harris was also rough on him, accusing him of lying repeatedly.
