Kamala Harris puts Donald Trump on the defensive in 90-minute debate

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris faced each other on the debate stage Tuesday night for the firstmdashand possibly the lastmdashtimeThe Democratic vice president opened the faceoff with a power move marching across the stage to Trumprsquos lectern to shake his hand ldquoKamala Harrisrdquo she said introducing herself as the pair met for the first time ever ldquoLetrsquos have a good debaterdquoldquoNice to see you Have funrdquo the former Republican president respondedThe exchange set the tone for the 90minute debate to come Harris controlled the conversation at times baiting Trump with jabs at his economic policy his refusal to concede his 2020 election loss and even his performance at his ralliesTrump grew more annoyed as the night went on And one significant moment played out after the two candidates left the stage when megastar Taylor Swift said shersquoll vote for HarrisHarris lists Trumprsquos racial controversiesSupporters of Kamala Harris react as they attend a watch partyABC moderator David Muir asked Trump about his allegation last month that Harris had belatedly ldquoturned Blackrdquo Trump replied saying ldquoI donrsquot care what she is you make a big deal out of something I couldnrsquot care lessrdquoHarris rattled off a long list of Trumprsquos racial controversies his legal settlement for discrimination against prospective Black tenants at his New York buildings his ad calling for the execution of Black and Latino teens and his false claims that former President Barack Obama was not born in the USlsquoShe is BidenrsquoPeople at a bar attend a watch party for the Presidential DebateTrump was often on defense but he did drive the core message of his campaign Inflation and immigration are hammering Americans Immigrants Trump said have ldquodestroyed the fabric of our countryrdquo He repeatedly tied Harris to Biden ldquoShe is Bidenrdquo he saidldquoThe worst inflation wersquove ever hadrdquo Trump added ldquoA horrible economy because inflation has made it so bad And she canrsquot get away with thatrdquoHarris responded ldquoClearly I am not Joe Biden and I am certainly not Donald Trump And what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our countryrdquoAbortion rightsHarris came out swinging in defense of abortion rights a strong issue for Democrats after a Supreme Court majority to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion ldquoThe government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her bodyrdquo Harris said Trump replied saying he returned the issue to the states an outcome he said many Americans wantedIsraelGaza warTrump accused Harris of ldquohatingrdquo Israel and said if she became president the Jewish state would not exist ldquowithin two years from nowrdquo He asserted that the IsraelHamas war would have never started if he had been president ldquoShe didnrsquot even meet Netanyahu when he went to Congress as she was at a sorority party of hersrdquoRussiaUkraine warTrump spoke heatedly about wanting Russiarsquos war in Ukraine to be over but twice refused to directly answer a question about whether he wanted US ally Ukraine to win He also falsely claimed that the war had killed ldquomillionsrdquo since Russia invaded Ukraine 2 12 years ago while the UN says 11700 civilian deaths have been verified And he claimed without evidence that Harris had bungled a diplomatic mission just days before Russia launched the invasionTaylor Swift endorses HarrisTaylor Swift one of the music industryrsquos biggest stars endorsed Kamala Harris for president shortly after the debate ended on Tuesday night ldquoI think she is a steadyhanded gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaosrdquo Swift wrote in an Instagram post which included a link to a voter registration website Swift has a dedicated following among young women a key demographic in the November electionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever