It’s Wednesday. After an intense debate night, Trump and Harris met again this morning at a much more somber event, marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They even shook hands 📹. It was a brief but nice pause in all the election chaos. Here’s what else is happening today:

• The post debate chatter has been pretty positive toward Harris. Not so much about Trump…
• Taylor Swift endorsed Harris. Keep reading to see Walz’s real-time reaction.
• The world is marking the 23rd anniversary of 9/11.
• Johnson just pulled the partisan funding plan.

I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send tips, commentary, feedback and cookie recipes to cmartel@digital-staging.thehill.com. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here.  

Vice President Harris came out swinging in her first faceoff with former President Trump. She repeatedly baited Trump, kept her cool and drew a sharp contrast as a new generation of leadership with a positive message.

Meanwhile, Trump had a rough night: His line amplifying an unfounded conspiracy theory about migrants “eating the dogs,” drew wide mockery online. “They’re eating the pets,” he yelled while Harris looked over with a judgmental laugh. (More on those conspiracy theories). He also stumbled when asked about an alternative health care plan. “I have concepts of a plan,” he said. 

Harris knew how to hit Trump where it hurt: Namely, crowd sizes. Harris invited Americans to attend a Trump rally and watch people leave early due to “exhaustion and boredom.” This hit a major nerve with Trump, who became angry and stayed angry for most of the rest of the debate.

Conservatives went after the moderators: ABC News’s moderators fact-checked Trump and Harris’s claims in real time during the debate, a notable shift from June’s match-up. Conservatives slammed moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis for stepping in and claimed the were unfairly targeting Trump and not Harris.

Trump said this was his “best debate ever” in a post-debate interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity and claimed it was a “THREE TO ONE” debate in a post on Truth Social. And during an interview Tuesday morning on Fox News, Trump suggested ABC News treated him unfairly and “they ought to take away their license for the way they did that.”

Harris accomplished what she needed to accomplish: The stakes were high for Harris heading into her first ­— and possibly only — debate with Trump. Polling showed that a number of Americans wanted to hear more of her before settling on their vote. However, some people were dissatisfied with how she addressed her policy changes.

And the cherry on top of Harris’s night: Taylor Swift entered her endorsement era. Right after the debate ended, the megastar endorsed Harris, signing her Instagram post as a “Childless Cat Lady.” Trump shrugged off Swift’s endorsement, predicting that she will “pay a price for it in the marketplace.”

📱 See Swift’s endorsement post

💻 Watch Walz react to Swift’s endorsement in real time

What now?: Harris immediately challenged Trump to a second debate, but he has been noncommittal, so we shall see.

Chris Wallace equated Trump’s performance to Biden in June: CNN anchor Chris Wallace, who spent nearly two decades at “Fox News Sunday,” called Trump’s debate performance “devastating” — and compared his night to Biden’s June performance. His full quote is eye-catching.  💻Watch the clip

A House Republican texted The Hill’s Mychael Schnell middebate: “I’m just sad … She knew exactly where to cut to get under his skin. Just overall disappointing that he isn’t being more composed like the first debate. The road just got very narrow.” This is a Republican who backs Trump, by the way.

^ Other House Republicans agree

The Wall Street Journal deemed Harris the winner: The Journal’s editorial board argued that Trump “let her rattle him, as he failed to make her defend her policies.” Read the op-ed: ‘Trump Lets Harris Off the Debate Hook’

A former Reagan speechwriter says Trump ‘cleaned his own clock’: “He cleaned his own clock, and when he didn’t clean his own clock, she cleaned his clock, and when she didn’t, Muir and David cleaned his clock,” John Podhoretz posted on X.

Eating = good: Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) posted partway through the debate: “My kid just said ‘Kamala is eating’ which I presume is good.”

CNN’s Abby Phillip weighed in on the live fact-checking: “Just fyi: when there is asymmetrical lying, there will be asymmetrical fact checking,” she posted. This X post has more than 1.8 million views.

Five takeaways, via The Hill’s Julia Mueller and Julia Manchester

Harris and Trump’s best and worst debate moments, via The Hill’s Niall Stanage

📸 Trump made a rare spin room appearance: “It’s generally not considered a sign of a candidate thinking he had a good night,” CNN’s Jake Tapper commented.

©  AP

Harris and Trump shook hands: Harris walked over to Trump and first put out her hand. Harris initially tried to meet him in the middle of the stage, but he walked to his podium, so she met him there and extended her hand, essentially forcing the handshake. 💻 Watch the handshake

Axios’s Alex Thompson pointed out this was the first handshake in a presidential debate since the first Clinton-Trump debate in 2016.

What you couldn’t see on TV: CBS News’s Sara Cook was the pool reporter in the room during the debate. Here’s Cook’s description of how Trump and Harris spent their second commercial break:

Trump’s commercial break: “The second the stage hand said they were clear for a 4-minute break, Trump turned towards the exit, gave a big sigh through closed lips, and walked off stage without looking at Harris.”

Harris’s commercial break: “From the time the moderators announced they were going to break, Harris began writing on her notepad. She wrote continuously for the entire first two minutes of the break, occasionally bringing one hand to her chin or brushing hair behind her ear.” Read the full pool report

There was a notable difference in body language:

• When Harris spoke, Trump mostly remained stone-faced.
• But when Trump spoke, Harris reacted with various facial expressions. Laughing, judgmental looks, etc.
• Aside from the handshake at the beginning, Trump didn’t look at Harris throughout the debate and didn’t refer to her by name, instead saying “she” and “her.”
• Harris, meanwhile, looked directly at Trump, even when he refused to meet her eye.
  

^ Some examples

The debate boiled down to 55 seconds: From The Washington Post’s Dave Jorgenson

Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. President Biden and Vice President Harris are visiting New York City, Shanksville, Pa., and Arlington, Va., all sites where attacks took place that day.

Watch today’s ceremonies:

💻 The New York ceremony

💻 The Pentagon ceremony

💻 The Pennsylvania ceremony

This was a nice moment: Biden, Harris, Michael Bloomberg, Trump and Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) stood next to each other at the New York ceremony. 📹 Watch them interact

©  AP

The one piece I suggest you read every year: Writer Garrett M. Graff published a minute-by-minute account of the events of 9/11, told by the advisers and staff aboard Air Force One. Graff’s book is worth reading.

Read the excerpt: ‘We’re the Only Plane in the Sky’: “Where was the president in the eight hours after the Sept. 11 attacks? The strange, harrowing journey of Air Force One, as told by the people who were on board.”

💻 Watch the large American flag unfurled at the Pentagon

🕰️ The times to remember today

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) just scrapped plans for today’s vote on Republicans’ partisan plan to keep the government funded past Sept. 30.

Keep in mind: The chances of this bill becoming law were exceptionally low. It already had more GOP opposition than leadership could afford. (The Hill)

🍞 Celebrate: Today is National Hot Cross Bun Day!

🏈 Spotted in the Capitol: Former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow 📸 Photo

🤔 This is an intriguing headline: The Washington Post’s Andrew Jeong writes, “How a dropped bag of Cheetos had ‘world changing’ impact on life in a cave.” Read the reporting

The House and Senate are in. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in New York, Pennsylvania and Arlington, Va., today. (all times Eastern)

• 12:45 p.m.: Biden and Harris participate in a Flight 93 wreath-laying ceremony in Shanksville, Pa.
• 2:15 p.m.: A Senate cloture vote. More votes are expected around 5 p.m. 📆 Today’s agenda
• 4:40 p.m.: First and last House votes. 📆 Today’s agenda
• 5 p.m.: Biden and Harris participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Pentagon. 💻 Livestream
• 1: Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) face off in the VP debate.

To leave this on a lighter, though slightly ominous note, watch this pet react to last night’s debate.