The primary candidates for the nation’s highest office offered little clarity on their policy plans as they met for the first time for a live, televised debate in Philadelphia yesterday night.
In an opening exchange on the economy representative of the rest of the debate, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump offered no additional details on their plans, misrepresented each other’s positions, and traded attacks on topics including Jan. 6, the pandemic, and the crisis on the U.S. southern border.
Former President Donald Trump (L) and Vice President Kamala Harris debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, 2024. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Although Harris reiterated a handful of policies she has recently introduced and pitched her vision for an “opportunity economy,” outlining her platform was not at the top of her agenda. Instead, Harris devoted significant time to introducing herself to the public in personal terms, talking about her record as a prosecutor, lawmaker, and vice president and describing her middle-class upbringing.
Trump also spoke less about his policy proposals, using the debate to define Harris as a far-left liberal and tie her to President Joe Biden and his administration’s crises, including inflation, the border, and the withdrawal from Afghanistan. In at least two exchanges and in his closing statement, the former president asked Harris why she hadn’t already accomplished the things she now proposes during her nearly four years as vice president.
Ahead of the debate, questions remained about both candidates’ stances on abortion. The former president twice avoided answering whether he would veto a national abortion ban. Harris, likewise, did not respond when Trump asked if she would allow abortions in the seventh, eighth, and ninth months of pregnancy.
“I thought that there was very little substantive policy discussion,” Matthew Wilson, a professor of political science at Southern Methodist University, told The Epoch Times.
“I think that is unfortunate for voters.”
The former president tried to define Harris by Biden’s policies, effectively identifying them as one and the same in political terms. “Remember this, she is Biden,” Trump said.
Trump said Harris must be held responsible for the inflation of the last three years. “She can’t get away with that.”
Pointing to incidents of violent crime by illegal immigrants, Trump said, “These are the people that she and Biden let into our country, and they’re destroying our country.”
Trump’s closing identification of Harris with the Biden legacy provided perhaps his strongest moment in the debate.
“She just started by saying she’s going to do this, she’s going to do that, she’s going to do all these wonderful things. Why hasn’t she done it?” Trump asked.
“She’s been there for three and a half years. They’ve had three and a half years to fix the border. They’ve had three and a half years to create jobs and all the things we talked about. Why hasn’t she done it?”
Each time Trump pinned the Biden legacy on Harris, she countered by distancing herself from the president.
“You’re not running against Joe Biden. You’re running against me,” Harris said. And, later, “Clearly, I am not Joe Biden. And I am certainly not Donald Trump.”
“What I do offer is new leadership for our country, one who believes in what is possible, one who brings a sense of optimism about what we can do,” Harris said. She then recounted her plan to give a $50,000 tax credit to business startups, a $6,000 credit for families with newborn children, and a $25,000 to first-time home buyers for their down payment.
Holding Biden at arm’s length appears to be a campaign strategy, given Biden’s low approval ratings and poor performance against Trump in the polls prior to leaving the race.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters before the debate, “She’s got to show the American people tonight that she’s not Joe Biden.”
Harris, facing the reality of running an abbreviated campaign after Biden’s exit from the race, released a handful of policy proposals on her website the day before the faceoff. She has so far conducted one television interview, a significant portion of which was spent defending her shifting positions.
The debate did little to clarify her stance on policy.
“I think the problem with the way the media has conducted this post-Harris version of the campaign is really to focus away from policy as much as possible,” former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told The Epoch Times.
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