Just like the first first presidential debate of 2024, the second first presidential debate of 2024 (now with a different Democratic candidate) was quite an experience. A very different kind of experience.
Confrontation was a clear theme that ran throughout the hour and 45 minutes. Vice President Kamala Harris baited former President Donald Trump over and over again, leaving him glowering, defensive and bitter.
Trump yelled through many of his answers as he sparred not just with Harris but with ABC’s moderators, who often put him on the spot for his extreme positions and fact checked his answers in a way that is atypical for this kind of event.
This debate, interestingly, was also the first time the two have ever been side by side; Trump refused to attend the Biden-Harris inauguration, where they would have met.
Here are some of the moments that stood out to us:
Abortion
Among Harris’ best answers was the set of responses she gave on abortion, pinning Trump down on the topic in a way he rarely is.
“One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree, the government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” Harris said in one of her responses.
Harris breaks down why exactly Trump is responsible for the extreme, archaic abortion bans that have passed in states across the country since the Dobbs ruling. pic.twitter.com/aDESToHOR2
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) September 11, 2024
Trump also continued to spread some by-now-familiar misinformation around abortion, claiming that all across the country babies are being aborted at nine months and are being “executed” after being born.
In a clear contrast from the last debate, moderator Lindsey Davis fact-checked the former president in the moment saying, “there is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.”
‘I Didn’t Discuss It With JD’
As the questioning around abortion continued, Trump was asked if he would veto a national abortion ban if it came to his desk.
He avoided answering the question, saying it wouldn’t get the votes to come to his desk anyway.
But he was pressed on it by Davis, who pointed out that Trump’s vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), recently said that Trump would veto the legislation if it was to come to his desk.
“Well I didn’t discuss it with JD, in all fairness,” Trump said, distancing himself from his own running mate. “I don’t mind if he has a certain view … but I really didn’t.”
Trump distances himself from his own vice presidential pick on abortion: “I didn’t discuss it with JD, in all fairness.” pic.twitter.com/9iHOqL4lEC
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) September 11, 2024
Immigration
Almost every single question the moderators asked saw the former president, often incoherently, trying to tie his answer back to immigration. Relying on his now-familiar but fictional claims that immigrants are pouring across the border from “insane asylums” and “mental institutions,” Trump demonized immigrants over and over again while trying to attack the Biden-Harris record.
Trump also managed to lean aggressively into the right-wing conspiracy theory being pushed by Republicans who claim Haitian immigrants in Ohio are kidnapping and eating American’s pets. The moderators quickly fact checked that myth.
OMG — Trump brings up debunked stories about migrants eating pets in Ohio, which prompts David Muir to fact-check him. Harris laughs it off and talks about her Republican endorsements. pic.twitter.com/LYVTOlR48j
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 11, 2024
Trump tried (very very hard) to dodge questions on Jan. 6
When asked if he regrets anything about the Jan. 6 riot, Trump dodged the question, saying “nobody on the other side was killed. Ashli Babbitt was shot by an out of control police officer” and then quickly switched to talking about immigration.
When pressed on the question, Trump said he had “nothing to do with that” — other than the speech he gave.
He also blamed former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the mayor of Washington D.C. for the deadly and violent events that took place that day — a false narrative he’s been pushing since the debate with Biden when he claimed Pelosi was actually the one behind the attack.
“I wasn’t responsible for security. Nancy Pelose was responsible. She didn’t do her job,” Trump said of his duties as the former commander-in-chief.
“Let’s turn the page on this” — After Trump sounds like a crazy person while trying to blame Nancy Pelosi for January 6, Harris calmly explains why Trump’s conduct on that day and after the Charlottesville rally should be disqualifying pic.twitter.com/DTZNqSEfq8
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 11, 2024
Trump dug a bigger hole for himself on race
As you might remember, earlier this summer, Trump went full on racist in front of a room full of Black journalists when he questioned Harris’ identity as a Black and South Asian woman.
“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said during an event at the National Association of Black Journalists conference back in July. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
Trump was asked about those remarks tonight and he not only incoherently doubled down on his apparent belief that people cannot be biracial, his answer was, as my colleague Kate Riga put it, a complete word salad.
“I couldn’t care less,” Trump said. “Whatever she wants to be is okay with me.”
“I don’t know. All I could say is I read where she was not Black — that she put out. And, I’ll say that. And then, I read that she was Black and that’s okay. Either one was okay with me,” he added.
Trump disavows his own comments about Harris’s racial identity as though someone else said it, but then doubles down on them. Harris responds by pointing out Trump’s long history of racism while Trump nods. pic.twitter.com/7XiYxKZZTt
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 11, 2024
It’s hard to believe he wasn’t prepared for this (let’s be honest, inevitable) question, especially as his party has had to actively encourage members to attack Harris on policy instead of her race after many far-right members of Congress responded to her candidacy earlier this summer by calling her a “DEI hire.” .
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