Harris and Trump sharply criticise each other's political positions in their first debate

The first debate between the democratic candidate for president Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump was accompanied by combatary controversy over the economy, immigration, abortion, healthcare and foreign policy.

Vice President Harris, 59, criticised Trump's intention to impose high tariffs on foreign goods, a proposal she said would be a high-class tax, while speaking on her plan to provide tax benefits to American families and small businesses, broadcast.

“Donald Trump left us with the lowest level of employment since the Great Depression (great economic growth in the United States of 1930s)”, Harris said, referring to his years as president from 2017 to 2021. The unemployment rate peaked at 14.8% in April 2020 and dropped to 6.4% when he left office.

Trump, 78, criticised Harris for high inflation during the mandate of President Biden's administration, though he overestimated the price hikes. He also quickly addressed his main issue, immigration, again claiming without evidence that migrants from “the mad people's” are crossing the southern United States border with Mexico.

Inflation, he said, has been a disaster for people, for middle class and all. ”

The debate began with a handshake between the two rivals who had not met before.

Foreign Policy

Candidates also exchanged criticism for the war between Hamas and Israel at the Gaza Strip and Russian aggression in Ukraine, although neither offered specific plans for resolving these conflicts.

Democrat Harris accused the Republican Trump of being willing to withdraw the United States' support for Ukraine to win Russian President Vladimir Putin's favour, calling Trump a “turp”, while Trump claimed Harris “ang” Israel, a statement that she rejected.

Trump criticised President Biden and Vice President Harris for unorganised withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, saying they left the hands of Taliban US military equipment worth billions of dollars.

Personal Attacks

Trump, who has spent weeks making personal attacks on Harris, including racist and sexist insults, mainly avoided insults at the beginning of the debate, but became increasingly angry at Harris' criticism.

Trump was asked by fashioners for one of those attacks, when he said at a conference with African-American journalists in July that Mrs. Harris was recently “made a person with” color.

I'm not interested in this case at all”, he said. Whatever she wants to be is fine with me. ”

Harris, of black and Asian origin, replied: “

She criticised Trump for convicting by a jury of hiding payments for an actress of pornographic movies, as well as his other indictments and a civil trial for sexual assault. Trump dismissed these accusations and again accused Mrs. Harris and the Democrats of orchestrating all charges against him without proof.

Former President Trump also reiterated his false claim that the 2020 elections, which the Democrat Joe Biden won, were manipulated and called Mrs. Harris a <x0marksist”> and falsely claimed that migrants have caused a major rise in violent crime in the country.

This could be the only debate among them in the campaign for the November 5th presidential elections. The debate is held eight weeks before the official election day, but only days before the start of the early vote in some of the country's 50 states.

Presidential debates do not necessarily change the minds of voters, but they may be very important. Biden's poor performance in the Trump debate in June led to his withdrawal from the race for president 21 July.

The debate, organised by the ABC channel, was held at the National Centre of the Constitution in Philadelphia. As agreed by campaign leaders, there was no direct audience, and the candidates' microphones were off at moments when candidates were not next to speak.