Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris discussed various topics during their first debate Tuesday night, including the economy, abortion and immigration.
ABC reporters David Muir and Linsey Davis moderated the debate.
The first topic addressed was the economy and cost of living in the U.S. Harris said if elected, she has a plan to help young families and small businesses with tax deductions.
“We know that young families need support to raise their children, and I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of $6,000, which is the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time,” Harris said.
Trump responded and said the U.S. economy was better under his administration than under any other presidency in history. He said this economic difference was evident in Biden’s administration when keeping the foreign trade tariffs that Trump had put in place.
“They're taking in billions of dollars from China and other places, they've left the tariffs on,” Trump said. “When I had it, I had tariffs, and yet I had no inflation.”
In response, Harris mentioned Project 2025, which she said is a dangerous plan that Trump’s administration plans to implement if he is elected. However, Trump said he has nothing to do with Project 2025.
Moving on in the debate, the next topic discussed was abortion rights and why women should trust Trump after changing his position on the six-week abortion ban several times.
Trump said he is doing a vote in support of a ban on pregnancies over six weeks to stop late-term abortions and the execution of babies in states like West Virginia.
Davis responded to this statement by explaining it is illegal to kill a baby after it is born in every state.
The right for each state to decide on its own abortion legislation was enacted when Roe v. Wade was overturned during Trump’s presidency.
“What I did is something, for 52 years, they've been trying to get Roe v. Wade into the states, and through the genius and heart and strength of six Supreme Court justices, we were able to do that,” Trump said.
Harris responded to this comment of triumph with some of the negative impacts she said she has seen since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“Now, in over 20 states, there are Trump abortion bans, which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care in one state, it provides prison for life,” Harris said. “Trump abortion bans that make no exception, even for rape and incest.”
Harris said she has spoken with women around the country who have had to suffer from carrying pregnancies to term, and she said Trump and the government should not be telling women what to do with their bodies.
The next issues the candidates addressed were immigration policies and border security.
Harris began by mentioning a border security bill presented by the U.S. Senate that would have put 1,500 more border control agents, which would help decrease the trafficking of guns, drugs and human beings across the U.S. border.
“It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl coming into the United States,” Harris said. “Donald Trump got on the phone, called up some folks in Congress and said, ‘kill the bill’, and you know why? Because he'd prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.”
Trump’s response to this was looking at small towns around the country, such as Springfield, Ohio, and what has happened because of people who have immigrated there.
“A lot of towns don't want to talk about it because they're so embarrassed by it,” Trump said. “In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats…and this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame.”
In her closing statement, Harris said she hopes to move the country forward by investing in young families and small businesses while also sustaining America’s standing in the world by ensuring the U.S. has the most lethal fighting force in the world.
“I do believe that the American people know we all have so much more in common than what separates us, and we can chart a new way forward,” Harris said.
Trump’s closing statement challenged Harris to go to the White House and the Capitol and actually do the things she had talked about during the debate. He said she would not do it because she believes in things the American people don’t believe in.
“We're a failing nation … We're being laughed at all over the world,” Trump said. “I know the leaders very well. They're coming to see me. They call me … They don't understand what happened to us as a nation.”
