Our Planet Climate and Geopolitics
“You’re not running against Joe Biden, you’re running against me,” Kamala Harris reminded Donald Trump last night in Philadelphia.
The two presidential candidates shook hands (they had never met before) at the start of their first – and possibly last – presidential debate, and spent the next 90 minutes debating the economy, abortion, immigration, foreign policy – and, inevitably, crowd sizes.
Harris, looking directly into the camera, invited viewers to watch Trump’s rallies, claiming that people were leaving early “out of exhaustion and boredom”. Trump couldn’t help grabbing the bait. “People don’t leave my rallies,” he said.
Harris had other good lines: Trump was “fired by 81 million people”; military leaders who served with him say he’s a “disgrace”.
On abortion, Harris said: “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.”
Trump repeatedly returned to immigration, blaming Harris for the increase in migrants across the US-Mexico border. He said he wanted the war in Ukraine to stop, but didn't directly answer when asked if he wanted Ukraine to win.
In the moment most likely to go viral from his performance, he raised a debunked internet conspiracy that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating pets.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in . . . They’re eating the cats,” he said. ABC News host David Muir told Trump that the reports were untrue. Trump replied that he had heard it on television.
Betting markets said Harris won the night, while a post-debate CNN poll found 45 per cent of registered voters viewed Harris favourably, up from 39 per cent before the debate. Notably, Trump’s numbers stayed about the same – he is more of a known quantity than Harris.
The most talked-about post-debate verdict came from singer Taylor Swift, who endorsed Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, in a social media post.
“I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice,” Swift told her 283 million Instagram followers. “Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make.”
It was signed: “childless cat lady”.
