Trump and Harris met in person for the first time Tuesday for the much-anticipated debate, which began with Harris walking over to him to shake his hand and introduce herself. They then engaged in debate that lasted more than 90 minutes and covered a wide range of topics, including inflation, immigration, abortion and foreign policy.
Throughout the night, Harris seemed to successfully knock Trump off focus, baiting him with attacks on his refusal to admit his defeat in the 2020 election and questioning the crowd sizes at his rallies.
“She said people start leaving. People don’t go to her rallies,” he said in response to the latter jab, obviously fired up. “So she can’t talk about that. People don’t leave my rallies.”
Harris’s performance meanwhile has received praise from pundits, and multiple post-debate polls showed viewers believed she won. A flash poll from CNN showed 63 percent said Harris won, compared to 37 percent for Trump, while another from YouGov found 43 percent declaring Harris the winner, 28 percent Trump and 30 percent neither.
Conservatives and Trump allies were quick to slam the moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, for stepping in to fact-check Trump on a few occasions for some of his more outlandish false claims, like that Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz supports abortion “execution after birth.”
The CNN moderators from the June debate between Trump and President Biden had received criticism for not issuing any fact checks during the event.
Conservative media personality Ben Shapiro said Muir and Davis were a “disgrace to their profession,” while Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said they “might as well be on the DNC payroll.”
But conservative radio talk show host Erick Erickson said the moderators’ choices still does not excuse Trump losing the debate.
“Trump lost the debate and whining about the moderators doesn’t change it. He didn’t lose because of their behavior. He lost because of his own performance while his lips were moving, not theirs,” he posted on X.
And a few House Republicans bemoaned Trump’s performance, with one saying many were disappointed, as The Hill’s Mychael Schnell reports.
Now a question remains as to whether Trump and Harris will have another debate before Election Day. Harris’s campaign immediately called for a second meeting just after the debate ended.
But Trump was noncommittal about the possibility, arguing that Harris wants to do another debate because she lost the one on Tuesday, saying he’s “less inclined” to do another. Fox News has renewed its invitation for Trump and Harris to debate in October.
