Kamala Harris corners Donald Trump in tense debate

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris starred this Tuesday in Philadelphia in a heated debate in which they clashed head-on on the main issues of the campaign: the economy, immigration, abortion, crime, and respect for democracy, among others. It was a lively, exciting and very tense debate, in which the battle lasted from the first question to the last and in which the Democrat was more capable of questioning Trump’s suitability for office than the latter. Harris called for “turning the page” on Trump and managed to corner the former president at times, whom she attacked for his record, his character, and his court cases. She managed to put Trump on the defensive, making him take the bait with her provocations. The former president took refuge in his most hyperbolic and extreme speech, to the point of being corrected several times by the moderators for his senselessness. As a cherry on top, Harris received the express endorsement of Taylor Swift at the end of the debate.

The first surprise was that the two candidates shook hands, something Harris deliberately sought by approaching the former president’s lectern area: “Let’s have a good debate,” she told him. “Good to see you,” he replied. It was the first time they had met in person. After that, the vice president went on the attack from the first question, which she combined with messages of optimism toward constituents. Harris, like a prosecutor trying to convince the jury, had the debate well-prepared and performed it to perfection against an increasingly vociferous Trump, who resorted to bringing up immigration over and over again, even if they were talking about any other topic.

The debate was supposed to be an examination of Harris’ fitness for the office of president, but what she did was question Trump’s over and over again. She tried to provoke him repeatedly with personal attacks. At one point, Harris turned to Trump and told him that, as vice president, she had spoken to foreign leaders: “They say you’re an embarrassment.” Trump, surprisingly — or perhaps not so much — retorted with referencing the flattery thrown at him by Viktor Orbán, president of Hungary with clear authoritarian leanings.

When Trump again harped on the lie that he didn’t lose the 2020 election, Kamala blasted back: “Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people. So let’s be clear about that. He’s clearly having a hard time coming to grips with it.”

Trump did not find an effective way to attack Harris, but above all, he did not appear to present policy proposals. His vision of America is so apocalyptic that it loses credibility. It is effective for him among his faithful, but he has not seemed to take advantage of the debate to broaden his electoral base. The moderators corrected him on some of his more outlandish claims, such as that there are states where it is allowed not only to abort until after pregnancy, but also to kill children after birth, or that immigrants are eating cats and other pets in Ohio: “Those who have come in are eating the dogs, they are eating the cats. They’re eating the pets that live there. This is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a disgrace,” he said. (Taylor Swift endorsed Harris with a picture of her holding a cat, by the way.)

Harris attacked Trump on abortion, an election-driving issue on which the former president does not have a clear position. “You don’t have to abandon your faith or your deeply held beliefs to agree that the government, and Donald Trump certainly shouldn’t be telling a woman what to do with her body,” the Democrat said, although the former president denied that he intended to sign a nationwide ban on abortion.

Not even on the economy, a terrain favorable to him, did Trump manage to impose his message. Harris attacked him on the grounds that the former president is only looking out for his own interests. She was able to provoke him and put him on the defensive again and again: “At his rallies, he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He’ll talk about windmills causing cancer. And what you will also notice is that people start to leave his rallies early because they are tired and bored. The one thing you will not hear him talk about is you. You won’t hear him talk about your needs, your dreams and your desires. And I will tell you that I think you deserve a president who really puts you first, and I promise you that I will,” the vice president said during the debate, insisting in her closing remarks on a message she already proclaimed at the Democratic convention: that her “only client is the people.”

Trump took the bait: “People don’t leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics,” replied the former president, again on the defensive, snapping every time Harris provoked him and raising his voice each time with increasingly evident gestures of anger. In terms of nonverbal language, Harris also won by a landslide, even if at times she seemed to be overacting. When Trump spoke, she looked at her rival and reacted with gestures to his words, while the Republican invariably looked straight ahead with a visibly tense face.

The vice president called Trump a racist to his face, recalling that his real estate company marginalized African-Americans when it came to renting housing. The former president called Harris a “Marxist.” In the exchange of blows, she accused him of favoring billionaires, and he accused her of being a radical.

In the closing remarks, however, Harris sought to launch a message of hope and optimism, of “turning the page,” reiterating her slogan and appealing to the moderate and undecided voter. Trump, who was given the last turn by lottery, devoted it to attacking his rival. “She’s going to do this, she’s going to do that, why hasn’t she done that in three and a half years?” he questioned before saying that Biden and she are “the worst president and the worst vice president in the history of the United States.”

Shortly after the debate ended, Trump appeared next to the press room by surprise: “I think it was the best debate of my life,” he said, while complaining, “The moderators were very unfair.” “Obviously, it was three against one,” he argued. Non-verbal language betrayed him again. When he won the debate against Biden by a landslide in Atlanta, he did not make an appearance. It seemed that this time he came to complain about the referee or, even worse, about re-refereeing the game.

Meanwhile, Harris addressed his fans on the dock along the Delaware River. Taylor Swift’s song The Man was playing in the background.