President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris took the debate stage for the first time on Sept. 10. Trump is the Republican Party’s nominee and hopes to return to office after his loss against President Joe Biden in 2020, while Harris is the endorsed nominee of the Democratic Party, following Biden’s resignation from the presidential race. Both candidates were given two minutes to respond to questions and one minute to respond to each other.

ECONOMY

ABC moderator David Muir opened the night with a question to Vice President Harris inquiring if America is better off now than it was four years ago.

Vice President Harris said that she believes in the dreams and aspirations of the American people, along with the fact that she was raised in a middle-class home, so she knows what the middle class needs from the president. Harris said that she plans to build what she calls an ‘opportunity economy’, which includes attempting to help young families by giving them a tax cut of $6,000 for their young children. Vice President Harris also claimed she would plan to give a $50,000 tax deduction to help start small businesses, as she believes that small businesses are part of the backbone of America’s economy.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump said that he would better the economy by enforcing tariffs on foreign countries. A tariff is a tax placed on the sold goods going out of the country that the importing country would need to pay. Trump said that the economy is currently poor, partially because the Biden administration lifted tariffs and decreased the amount of money that would otherwise be going to the American people.

Trump also mentions the immigration that has been increasing during the Biden administration, claiming that they are taking jobs from the American people, specifically African Americans and Hispanics. Trump’s final claim on this matter is that he created the best economy in the history of the United States, and he will strive to bring back the economy that he created during his first term.

ABORTION

The next topic of debate is a major point of contention in the U.S. for years: abortion and the overruling of Roe v. Wade.

Trump has changed his position on abortion and said that he would increase the amount of weeks that a woman could get an abortion from the now-standing six-week ban in Florida. This means that a woman can get an abortion up to six-weeks in Florida.

His new stance however, is that the six-week ban should remain in place. Furthermore, he said that Democrats want to allow abortions during the ninth month and even after birth, which he believes is too late for the procedure to take place. Trump also said that he believes that abortion should be permitted on the condition that the reason is due to rape, incest, or the health of the mother, which he claims has been his stance since 2016.

The former president is a strong believer in leaving the vote out of the federal level and leaving it entirely up to the states.

Vice President Harris claimed that Trump purposely selected members of the Supreme Court that he knew would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and that those justices have done exactly what Trump wanted them to. Harris said that because of this, 20 states now have abortion bans that were the direct effect of Trump. Harris claimed that the federal bans implemented by the Trump-elected Supreme Court do not make any exceptions for rape or incest.

Harris pledges to the American people that if she is elected into the highest office, She wants to put back the protections of Roe v. Wade and that she will “proudly” sign it into law if passed through legislation. The vice president also said that if Trump were to be reelected, Trump would sign a national abortion ban and that his Project 2025 plan would monitor mothers and their pregnancies. Her closing statement on the issue is that the American people believe that certain freedoms should be unalienable, and she believes that the decision to have an abortion should be a freedom uncontrolled by the government.

Project 2025 is a plan drafted by right-leaning writers that is a plan to bring back a more traditional style of government. Project 2025’s main goals include an abortion ban and ultra-wealthy tax cuts, the writers of this plan are not officially elected politicians.

However, during the debate, Trump said that he has nothing to do with Project 2025 and hasn’t even read it.

IMMIGRATION

The next topic was immigration, specifically immigration from the Central American region. During the Biden administration, Vice President Harris was tasked with getting to the root cause of illegal border crossings into the U.S.. Illegal border crossing reached a record high in the final year of Biden’s term, and in response, Biden imposed new asylum restrictions, which have caused numbers to drop significantly.

The question proposed to Harris was: why did the Biden administration wait six months to act on rising immigration, and if Harris had been president, would she have done anything differently than Biden?

Harris responded, claiming that she was the only person in a position of power, including conservatives, to support a bill aimed at decreasing the number of illegal border crossings. The bill would have added 1500 more border patrol agents, stemmed the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., as well as given more resources towards preventing illegal trafficking into the U.S.. She claimed that Trump sabotaged the bill by calling members of Congress and telling them to kill the bill, so it wasn’t able to be passed.

Trump responded claiming that the towns being most affected by illegal immigration are not being truthful about how serious the issue really is. He claimed that they are trying to save their reputation as a town and are embarrassed at the fact that they have this issue to begin with.

Trump also claimed that the reason that immigration has spiked is because Vice President Harris allowed “criminals” into the country. He said that crime is lower around the world because she allowed immigrants to move to the U.S.. Former President Trump affirmed that he would propose the largest deportation act in the history of the United States by using the National Guard, local police, and if necessary, the military.

Exactly how this would be done was not divulged during the debate.

Trump’s final statement on this matter is that if Vice President Harris is elected, our nation will be “Venezuela on steroids” (referring to the nation of Venezuela’s past economic hyperinflation).

Harris brought up the fact that she believed it was ironic for Trump to speak on the crimes of immigrants due to the fact that he himself was prosecuted for multiple crimes as well as having a court hearing in Nov. Trump responded by saying each crime he was convicted of was a false crime accusation started by “them” while pointing at Harris. Trump claimed that all of his convictions will be won on appeal.

FRACKING

Hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking” is an easier and more accessible way to retrieve oil from underground. This method has revolutionized the oil industry in the U.S. but, if done incorrectly, can pollute the underground water sources, which can cause many health problems for citizens. This topic has been another point of contention, whether or not it’s worth the risk to use this method of oil retrieval.

Kamala Harris said she has no intentions of banning fracking anywhere in the U.S., nor has she made any attempts to ban this method during her vice presidential term. She stated that she was the tie-breaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, which gave way to new leases for fracking. Her stance is that the nation needs to invest in diverse sources of energy so that the U.S. is able to rely less on foreign oil.

Harris also claimed that during her term, the overall oil production has increased by historic amounts. However, Trump claimed that Harris is and has been against fracking for 12 years, along with a variety of other things such as defunding the police and gun ownership. Trump also claimed that Harris wants to perform transgender operations on illegal immigrants.

Former President Trump’s final claim on the matter is that if Harris were to be elected, fracking in Pennsylvania would end on day one of her presidency.

JAN6

A question was presented to Trump about the way that the transition of power played out on Jan. 6, 2021, asking if Trump regretted anything that he had done during that day.

Trump responded, saying that the media never shows him saying that the transition is supposed to be done “peacefully and patriotically.” He claimed that the police officers were out of control and the people there had been treated poorly. He then referenced the American citizens who had been killed by the immigrants that he claimed Harris let into the country.

He then asked about when the immigrants are going to be prosecuted like his supporters were. Trump mentioned a few cities, including Seattle, and that the people who took over a large part of Seattle should be prosecuted just as the insurrectionists were for the Jan. 6 riot.

Trump then claimed that he had nothing to do with what his supporters did, other than being asked to make a speech. The former president claimed that he offered Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington, D.C., 10,000 National Guard soldiers for the rally and claimed that both the mayor and Pelosi declined his offer.

Harris, who was in the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, said that the President of the United States incited a “violent mob” to attack the nation’s Capitol, along with the fact that Trump was impeached for that reason. Harris claimed that January 6 is not far from the former president’s habits, referencing that Trump also did not take a side during the 2017 Charlottesville protest, which was a violent white supremacist rally. She then continued asking, “Where was the president then?” while claiming that Trump showed support for the Proud Boys, an alt-right extremist group, by saying their slogan, “Stand back and stand by.”

Harris said that if citizens believe that the Jan. 6 riot was too far, then there is a place for them in her campaign and that they should join her to stand for the rule of law and democracy.

CLOSING STATEMENTS

Harris started first with her closing statement, saying that the people have heard two different visions for America, one that is focused on the future and the other focused on the past. She said that the American people have so much more in common than what separates the people. Harris said she will create an economy that helps and protects new families along with small businesses by bringing down the cost of living along with taxes.

Harris closes by saying that she is a president who will also focus on the rights of a woman and what she wants to do with her own body. She also said that her only client is the American people, regardless of their politics.

Trump closed by asking the people why Harris has not acted on her promises if she has been in office as Vice President for three and a half years. Trump said that Harris should go to the White House, gather the right people, and do the things that she claimed she wants to do. Trump also claimed that Harris doesn’t truly believe in the things that are going to make the nation as a whole stronger.

Trump’s final statement is that the U.S. is a failing nation that is in serious decline, and if Harris truly cared about the people, she would have done the things that she promised she would.

This debate is an extremely pivotal moment for not only the candidates but also the citizens of America. Voters will be able to cast their votes soon, and this debate will make or break voter decisions. The re-election of a wealthy businessman or the election of the first woman will all come down to the evening of Nov. 5.