Harris, Trump spar over abortion, immigration, economy

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump met Tuesday (Sept. 10) for the first – and likely only – debate just 56 days before the general election, and just a few days before early voting begins in many states.

The debate included several headline statements, including Trump saying he would not sign a national abortion ban, and Trump repeating a debunked claim that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating cats and dogs. Also, Harris confirmed that she will not support or seek bans on fracking in the energy industry.

In her opening comments, Harris said her goal is to create an “opportunity economy” for all Americans and not just for billionaires. She referred to reports from Goldman Sachs and other economists who say that Trump’s economic plans “would invite a recession.” She also called Trump’s plan to enact deep tariffs on products out of China and other nations a “Trump sales tax.”

“Donald Trump has no plan for you,” she said, adding several times during the debate that Trump’s campaign depends on the “same old tired playbook of grievances and name calling.”

Trump responded by saying the Biden-Harris Administration has been a “disaster” for all income groups, and they’ve weakened the country on the international front.

“We’ve had a terrible economy. … We have inflation like very few people have ever seen before. … They’ve destroyed the economy,” Trump said.

Trump said the economy was going strong during his first term and only entered a downturn in the final few months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said his administration “did a phenomenal job with the pandemic.”

ABORTION, STOLEN ELECTION
On abortion, Trump alleged that Democrats want to “execute a baby” after birth, and that his purpose in appointing U.S. Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade was to send the issue back to the states. In responding to a question from a moderator, Trump surprisingly said he would not sign a national abortion ban.

Harris said because of the “Trump abortion bans,” women in more than 20 states do not have access to abortion and many other forms of maternal health care. She said in most of those states, there is no exception for rape or incest, “and that is immoral.” She also said it is “insulting” to allege that Democrats want to execute babies after they are born.

In responding to several questions, Trump returned to his continued claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. He said there is “so much proof” and “we have so many facts and statistics” that the election was rigged and stolen.

“We have to have borders and we have to have good elections. Our elections are bad,” Trump said.

When challenged by a debate moderator that more than 60 court reviews found no evidence of election fraud, Trump said those courts ruled only on technicalities and not the merits of his allegations.

Harris said said the 2020 election was fair and Trump is unable to accept it.

“Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people. .. Clearly he’s having a very difficult time processing that,” Harris said.

IMMIGRATION
Trump also used responses to many questions to address immigration, alleging that the Biden-Harris Administration has allowed millions of criminals from other countries to enter the country. He also stood by his promise that if elected he would authorize a national deportation plan with authorities going door-to-door around the country to track down illegal immigrants.

“They’re destroying the fabric of our country by what they’ve done,” he said, and returning to the refuted claim that crime “is through the roof” because of illegal immigration.

Harris said Trump can’t be taken seriously about the border because he killed a comprehensive bipartisan border bill that was on track to being approved by a majority of Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Trump has taken credit for stopping the bill that was sponsored by U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla.

Harris said Trump killed the bill “because he preferred to run on the problem instead of fixing a problem.”

CLOSING STATEMENTS
Each candidate had a closing statement. Following are the complete closing statements.

Harris: “So I think you’ve heard tonight two very different visions for our country – one that is focused on the future and the other that is focused on the past, and an attempt to take us backwards. But we’re not going back. And I do believe that the American people know that we have so much more in common than what separates us, and we can chart a new way forward. And a vision of that includes having a plan, understanding the aspiration, the dreams, the hopes, the ambition of the American people, which is why I intend to create an opportunity economy, investing in small business, in new families, and what we can do around protecting seniors, what we can do that is about giving hard working folks a break and bringing down the cost of living. I believe in what we can do together that is about sustaining America’s standing in the world, and ensuring that we have the respect we so rightfully deserve, including respecting our military and ensuring we have the most lethal fighting force in the world. I will be a president that will protect our fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do. I’ll tell you, I started my career as a prosecutor. I was a DA, I was an attorney general, a United States senator, and now vice president. I’ve only had one client – the people. And I’ll tell you, as a prosecutor, I never asked a victim or a witness, ‘Are you a Republican or a Democrat?’ The only thing I ever asked them, ‘Are you okay?’ And that’s the kind of president we need right now, someone who cares about you and is not putting themselves first. I intend to be a president for all Americans, and focus on what we can do over the next 10 and 20 years to build back up our country by investing in you the American people.”

Trump: “So she just started by saying she’s going to do this, she’s going to do that, she’s going to do all these wonderful things. Why hasn’t she done it? She’s been there for three-and-a-half years. They’ve had three-and-a-half years to fix the border. They’ve had three-and-a-half years to create jobs, and all the things we talked about. Why hasn’t she done it? She should leave right now, go down to that beautiful White House, go to the Capitol, get everyone together and do the things you want to do. But you haven’t done it, and you won’t do it. Because you believe in things that the American people don’t believe in. You believe in things like, we’re not going to frack, we’re not going to take fossil fuels – things that are going to make this country strong whether you like it or not. Germany tried that, and within one year they were back to building normal energy plants. We’re not ready for it. We can’t sacrifice our country for the sake of bad vision. But I just ask one simple question, ‘Why didn’t she do it?’ We’re a failing nation. We’re a nation in serious decline. We’re being laughed at all over the world. All over the world they’re laughing. I know the leaders very well. They are coming to see me. They call me. We’re laughed at all over the world. They don’t understand what happened to us as a nation. We’re not a leader. We don’t have any idea what’s going on. We have wars going on in the Middle East. We have wars going on with Russia and Ukraine. We’re going to end up in a third world war, and it will be a war like no other because of nuclear weapons, the power of weaponry. I rebuilt our entire military. She gave a lot of it away to the Taliban. She gave it to Afghanistan. What these people have done to our country, and maybe toughest of all is allowing millions of people to come into our country, many of them are criminals, And they are destroying our country. The worst president and the worst vice president in the history of our country.”