Trump spars with Harris, moderators during heated presidential debate: ‘She doesn’t have a plan’

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris faced off in a heated debate Tuesday night, sparring about abortion, immigration, Israel, the economy and a range of other issues—but Trump also battled the ABC News moderators, who were quick to challenge and “fact check” the 45th president, while leaving Harris’ numerous distortions untouched.

Trump and Harris engaged in their first, and possibly only debate of the 2024 general election cycle at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pa. Tuesday night—a highly-anticipated ninety-minute showdown as they traded jabs, and repeatedly, accused each other of lying.

The two met for the first time Tuesday night on the debate stage, with the vice president introducing herself as “Kamala Harris” to the former president as they shook hands–before making it a top priority to attempt to get under his skin and bait him throughout the debate.

The debate got underway with questions from ABC News’ David Muir and Linsey Davis, who challenged Trump throughout the debate.

Shortly after it concluded, Trump told Fox News Digital that he thought it was his “best debate ever, especially because it was three on one.”

Moderators began with the economy—first questioning the vice president on whether Americans “are better off than they were four years ago?”

Harris did not directly respond to the question. The Biden-Harris administration has seen rising inflation.

Instead, Harris incorrectly claimed Trump wanted to introduce a “sales tax” on everyday goods, but Trump dismissed that claim as an “incorrect statement.”

Moderators chimed in, suggesting Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on other countries would pass on higher costs to consumers.

But Trump countered, pointing to the high inflation of the Biden-Harris administration, calling it the “worst in our nation’s history,” while touting the record-economy under his administration.

Trump went on to hit Harris on her lack of clear policies, saying her past record and “everything that she believed three years ago and four years ago is out the window.”

“She’s going to my philosophy now,” he said. “In fact, I was going to send her a MAGA hat.”

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Trump accused Harris of being a “Marxist,” and said if she is elected, her policies will “change” and “it will be the end of our country.”

Trump accused Harris of not having a plan for the economy—specifically to combat rising inflation.

“She copied Biden’s plan. And it’s like four sentences like ‘Run, Spot, Run’ for sentences that are just, oh, we’ll try and lower taxes,” Trump said. “She doesn’t have a plan.”

Harris fired back, saying Trump “has no plan for you,” and instead offered Americans an “opportunity economy.”

Trump pivoted to the issue of border security and illegal migration into the United States, saying policies of the Biden-Harris administration have been a “disaster” for the country with record-high illegal migration.

Trump suggested those policies have “destroyed our country,” and said they have policy “that you say ‘they have to hate our country.’”

Immigrants line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on December 07, 2023 in Lukeville, Arizona. Jesus Enrique Ramirez Cabrera, according to federal sources, came into the country illegally in December 2023 through Arizona, was apprehended and released into the U.S. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

 

Trump also blasted Harris for her role in the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. He blamed Harris and President Biden for the “13 people who were just viciously and violently killed.” Trump said he “got to know the parents and the family.”

Trump said the withdrawal, under Biden and Harris’ watch, “was one of the most incompetently handled situations anybody has ever seen.”

Harris later  jumped to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, claiming that Trump “intends on implementing” what she referred to as the “detailed and dangerous plan.”

Trump has repeatedly denied being involved in that plan, and maintained Tuesday that he has “nothing to do with Project 2025.”

Trump, though, shifted back to illegal immigration, fueling viral claims that migrants are eating pets in a town in Ohio.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said, and was met with pushback from moderators, who seemingly attempted to give the former president a live fact-check throughout the debate.

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But Trump stood by his remarks when challenged by the moderators, saying “people on television say ‘my dog was taken and used for food.’”

Meanwhile, as for abortion, Harris claimed Trump would install a national abortion ban that would allow for no exceptions—despite Trump saying moments before that he believes in exceptions for abortion including rape, incest, and life of the mother.

Trump has repeatedly said he would not sign a national abortion ban and praised the Supreme Court overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, bringing the issue back to the states.

Trump added in his rebuttal that he does not support a national abortion ban and that Harris’ comments were an “absolute lie.”

“As far as the abortion ban, no, I’m not in favor of an abortion ban, but it doesn’t matter, because this issue has now been taken over by the states,” Trump said.

Despite saying he would not support a national abortion ban, ABC moderators pressed Trump on whether he would veto a bill to do so.

And Harris, when questioned, refused to say if she supports any abortion restrictions up to birth

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