User:Yeagvr/sandbox

Trump attempted to avoid a handshake by immediately moving behind the lectern, but Harris approached him and extended her hand, surprising many who did not expect such an interaction between the two. It was the first handshake in a presidential debate in eight years.

Harris spent most of the debate facing her opponent directly, frequently smirking, laughing openly, or shaking her head in disbelief as he responded to questions. Meanwhile, the split screen revealed Trump mostly gazing straight ahead when she spoke, occasionally shaking his head.

She also accused her opponent of repeatedly exploiting the issue of race to "divide the American people." The remark came after a question from the moderators about a recent attack in which he said Harris had "become a black person."

Trump argued that the Biden administration had "destroyed" the country, and labelled her a "Marxist", which is false. Harris poked fun at crowd sizes at his rallies. "People start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom," she said.

In the hours leading up to the debate, social media was flooded with reports of baseless allegations—echoed by JD Vance, Trump’s running mate—that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing pets and eating them. Despite city officials stating there were no credible reports to substantiate these claims, Trump raised the issue during the debate. "They're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats, they're eating the pets of the people that live there. This is a shame," he said. Harris laughed and shook her head.

Some of Harris's sharpest criticisms of Trump occurred during their clash over abortion, a key issue for Democrats since the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to the procedure in 2022. “One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government - and Donald Trump, certainly - should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,” Harris said.

At one point, Trump remarked, "Remember this, she is Biden." Harris responded: "Clearly, I am not Joe Biden."

When asked about his current plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, Trump, who had previously attempted to overturn Obamacare, mentioned that he had "concepts of a plan."

Trump tried to portray his opponent as a radical liberal who opposes gun ownership. He claimed, "She has a plan to defund the police. She has a plan to confiscate everyone's guns." Harris refuted these claims, stating, "Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We're not taking anybody's guns away."

When moderators questioned him about any regrets regarding the January 6 Capitol attack, he denied responsibility and redirected the conversation to Black Lives Matter protests, placing blame on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not sending the National Guard. Actually, only the President of the United States (which Trump was on that day) has such power. The Speaker of the House does not direct the National Guard. He initially used "we" when referring to the insurrectionists and then pivoted, saying: “This group of people that has been treated so bad.”

Trump was repeatedly asked if he wanted Ukraine to win the war or if it was in the U.S.' best interests for Kyiv to achieve victory. He did not address the question directly, stating instead that he wants the war to end to save lives. Harris told Trump, "[Putin] would eat you for lunch" and warned that if he was president when Russia invaded Ukraine, "Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now." She suggested that Trump's claim that the war would be over in 24 hours was based on the idea that he would simply concede to Putin. "And that's not who we are as Americans," she said.

Fact-checking

The moderators did fact check the candidates. Numerous news outlets also fact-checked the candidates.

When Trump repeated the debunked allegation that immigrants in Springfield were eating pets, the moderator responded that there had been no credible reports of pets being harmed. Trump countered by claiming he had seen TV interviews where people said their dogs had been taken and eaten.

Trump claimed that there was no inflation during his presidency. However, inflation was actually at 6% during his first 42 months in office.

At one point, Trump claimed that some babies were being subjected to “executions” after birth. An ABC moderator intervened to fact-check him, stating: “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.” Trump also said that "A lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, [Democrats] are trying to get them to vote"; however, it is illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.