Morning Report — Harris turns up debate heat against defensive Trump 

Vice President Harris stuck to her debate strategy Tuesday with former President Trump by shaking his hand at the outset and then luring him into defensive outbursts that let her accuse him of being mired in the past while touting her own “plan” to bolster the finances of average Americans.

“Donald Trump has no plan for you,” she told debate viewers while summarizing her recent proposals for small businesses, families and affordable housing.

Harris used Trump’s past statements to criticize his temperament as ill suited to the presidency, accused him of divisive lies, pounced on his criminal convictions and claimed he’s so susceptible to flattery from autocratic world leaders that he’d sell out U.S. national security interests. At one point, she claimed the former president’s supporters leave his campaign rallies early because of boredom, which sparked a heated denial, as she knew it would.

The vice president gazed directly into an ABC News camera in Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center to intone, “It’s up to the American people to stop him.”   

Trump, intent on hopscotching through his counterpunches, dismissed Harris as “a Marxist” and noted that she and President Biden opted to maintain some of his tariffs, which they now criticize. He accused Harris of failed policies and predicted that on “day one,” if elected, she would “end fracking in Pennsylvania,” a reference to her recent about-face on an energy issue important to the swing state’s economy. 

During their 105 minutes of jousting, Harris conceded her views on fracking had changed since she ran for president in 2019 because of what she says are today’s many energy producing options. She said she would not ban fracking and repeated that her “values” are unchanged.

The New York Times: Harris largely deflected Trump’s attempts to tie her to the president. “You’re running against me,” she said.

“We’re a failing nation,” Trump added while criticizing the Biden-Harris government — and falsely claiming once again that he did not lose the 2020 election. 

“We’re a nation that’s in serious decline. We’re being laughed at all over the world. All over the world, they laugh, I know the leaders very well. They’re coming to see me. They call me,” he continued. “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.”

WILL THE DEBATE MATTER? In a contest that has effectively been deadlocked in battleground states, according to polls, it will take a week or so with new surveys to determine if Tuesday’s event moved the needle among the scant number of undecided and independent voters who plan to fill out ballots by Nov. 5. Harris’s campaign team envisioned a debate performance that could go viral among the vice president’s supporters as the campaign also commits $370 million for digital and television advertising. 

House Republicans were downbeat in their reviews of the party’s standard bearer.

“She talks to us like toddlers but is doing a good job provoking him. He [is] right on policy but can’t keep to a message,” one GOP lawmaker told The Hill. “Many are disappointed he couldn’t stay focused or land a punch. Not sure much changes but it wasn’t a good performance.”

Harris landed a much-anticipated endorsement from Taylor Swift, announced late Tuesday on Instagram. One Republican analyst predicted last month that the entertainer’s imprimatur could serve as “rocket fuel” among younger voters.

Biden, who was his party’s nominee until his disastrous debate with Trump, praised the vice president on social media: ​​“America got to see tonight the leader I’ve been proud to work alongside for three and a half years,” he wrote on X. “VP Harris proved she’s the best choice to lead our nation forward. We’re not going back.”

Harris’s campaign immediately called for a second debate with Trump, who bucked expectations and entered the “spin room” after the event to speak with the gathered throng of media. 

Running mates Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) will debate Oct. 1.

WHAT ABOUT POLICY? The ABC News moderators asked the candidates about reproductive rights, the economy, immigration, foreign policy, health care and race — although the answers leaned more toward generalities than detailed governing prescriptions.

Early in the debate when perhaps the largest audience was watching, Trump took credit for the end of Roe v. Wade, praising himself and the conservative Supreme Court justices he appointed who voted to end the national right to an abortion two years ago. He said he would not commit to signing a national abortion ban. Harris, who vows to restore Roe and believes reproductive rights will help Democratic candidates win in November, attacked the former president for a patchwork of restrictive state laws she described as “Trump abortion bans.” 

“The government, and Donald Trump certainly, should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” Harris said.

Although voters tell pollsters the economy and inflation are the most important issues in this election, Trump spent little time explaining policy prescriptions for 2025 and beyond, but boasted about the health of the economy during his term.

Trump was eager to blame the White House and the vice president for the border crisis. Harris, who responded by detailing provisions of an abandoned bipartisan Senate border bill, said Trump lobbied GOP lawmakers to block it. She said she would sign it as president if Congress put it on her desk.

The Hill: ABC News anchor David Muir fact-checked Trump’s false claim that immigrants are eating pets in Ohio.

Trump would not answer whether he wants to see Ukraine win against Russia’s invasion, instead saying, “I want the war to stop. I want to save lives.”  Instead, the former president said he would end the war before taking office by negotiating with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Harris reiterated her commitment to helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia with U.S. and allied aid and military assistance, and mentioned her visits as vice president to NATO’s eastern flank.

“Understand why the European allies and our NATO allies are so thankful that you are no longer president,” she told Trump, adding that Putin is a “dictator who would eat you for lunch.”

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LEADING THE DAY

POLITICS & CAMPAIGNS

PRIMARY RESULTS: Voters went to the polls Tuesday in New Hampshire, Delaware and Rhode Island.

In the Granite State, Democrat Maggie Goodlander, a former Department of Justice (DOJ) official in the Biden administration, won her party’s primary for retiring Rep. Annie Kuster’s (D-N.H.) seat in the House. Goodlander, who is married to national security adviser Jake Sullivan, defeated former state Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern (D), Kuster’s chosen successor.

In Delaware, state Sen. Sarah McBride won the Democratic primary for the state’s lone House seat. She is now one step closer to becoming the first openly transgender member of Congress. McBride is now the favorite to win the general election to replace Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D), who is running for Senate.

The Hill’s Jared Gans breaks down five key takeaways from primary night.

Why do some Democrats think their odds look better than expected in Florida? Polls show a tightening race in the state that has dramatically trended toward the Republican column in recent election cycles. On Monday, a Morning Consult poll showed Harris trailing Trump by only 2 points in the state at the presidential level. And last week, a poll from The Hill and Emerson College polling showed former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.) trailing Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) by just 1 point, while most other polls show a 4 to 5 point gap between the two candidates. The Hill’s Julia Manchester reports Democrats argue that with an abortion ballot measure and an improved party infrastructure, they are equipped to take on two formidable Republican opponents in the red state. 

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ZOOM IN

CONGRESS   

THE ALREADY ROCKY GAMBIT to avert a government shutdown is the last legislative trial for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) before the November election, and his handling of the matter could influence his political future, writes The Hill’s Emily Brooks. If he is successful in enacting any conservative priorities or in extending funding into next year with the hopes of avoiding an end-of-year omnibus, it will be a major win for the Speaker, who skyrocketed to the position. But if his plans crumble, it will fuel frustration and criticisms not only from fiscal hawks who say his handling of fiscal matters has not met their standards, but also from moderates who are skeptical of his willingness to pick fights that the right flank wants. The latter scenario is already looking more likely. 

Johnson announced Tuesday he is plowing forward with his spending plan, despite GOP opposition that is large enough to tank the effort, setting the stage for a potentially embarrassing vote on the House floor that will foil his funding strategy.

A wave of Republicans announced opposition to Johnson’s six-month stopgap play, and a scheduled vote on the measure appears likely to fail today. In a nod to that reality, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned against a showdown.

“A government shutdown is always a bad idea — at any time,” McConnell told reporters at the Capitol. 

House Democratic leaders, meanwhile, are actively whipping against the short-term spending bill, bashing the plan as a threat to military readiness while warning that GOP leaders are inching closer to a government shutdown (The Hill). 

POST-MCCONNELL PLANS: Meanwhile, the leadership race to replace McConnell is heating up, writes The Hill’s Alexander Bolton. Senate Republicans met at the National Republican Senatorial Headquarters Tuesday where Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) announced that he will transfer $4 million to the National Republican Senatorial Committee to overcome the Senate Democrats’ growing cash advantage.

Thune’s contribution is the largest by a senator to the Senate Republican campaign arm in history, breaking the previous record of $2 million, which he himself set back in 2016.

🔎 We’re fans of the Congressional Research Service, which will have a new director beginning Sept. 23. Kevin R. Kosar, a CRS veteran and now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, wished Karen Donfried, who landed the job, good luck in an opinion piece for The Hill. 

😽 Tonight on Capitol Hill from 5-7 p.m., it’s Pet Night, an annual event heralding the importance of pets and service animals in America with a reception in the Cannon Caucus Room hosted by the Human Animal Bond Research Institute, Pet Food Institute and the Pet Advocacy Network. Bonus: Expect puppies and therapy animals.

💍 Fine jewelry and other items owned by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who died last year, will be auctioned in October. 

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ELSEWHERE

INTERNATIONAL 

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES slammed into a humanitarian area Tuesday in southern Gaza, leaving large craters where Palestinians had crowded for shelter. The Israeli military said the strikes had targeted three senior Hamas militants who had been involved in the Oct. 7 attacks. The local health ministry said at least 19 people were confirmed dead and more than 60 others injured. Tor Wennesland, the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, condemned the strike. “The killing of civilians must stop, and this horrific war must end,” he said.

Almost the entire population of Gaza, 2 million people, has been displaced multiple times, as Israel has ordered frequent evacuations and shrunk the size of the humanitarian zone (The New York Times).

The Israeli military admitted it was “highly likely” it had “unintentionally” killed Aysenur Eygi, an American Turkish citizen, last week during a protest in the occupied West Bank. Biden told reporters Tuesday that Eygi’s death “apparently was an accident,” adding the bullet “ricocheted off the ground” and hit her. “I’m working that out now,” he added (Axios). Secretary of State Antony Blinken, traveling Tuesday in London, called on Israeli security forces to make “fundamental changes” in the way they operate in the West Bank (The Washington Post).

“No one, no one should be shot and killed for attending a protest,” Blinken said. “No one should have to put their life at risk just to purely express their views.”

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THE CLOSER 

And finally … ☄️ Was it a meteor streaking past Washington, D.C.; Virginia; Pennsylvania; and elsewhere before dawn Tuesday? Turns out it was the SpaceX Falcon 9 Polaris Dawn launch from Florida, visible from afar because of the angle of the rays of the sun illuminating the rocket’s plume. (Here’s how you can view some of those photos.) 

The Polaris Dawn’s four-person commercial crew will attempt to perform a spacewalk, a first for SpaceX, scheduled Thursday during the first of three missions that billionaire and Shift4 founder Jared Isaacman purchased from SpaceX. The passengers want to reach an altitude of 870 miles to surpass the Earth-lapping record set during NASA’s Project Gemini in 1966. Only Apollo astronauts who flew to the moon have ventured farther.

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