Former US President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris faced off in the second presidential debate prior to the November elections.
Vice President Harris substituted President Joe Biden as the latter dropped out of the presidential race following a dismal performance against President Trump in the first debate.
During last night’s debate, Harris and Trump clashed over the economy, abortion, immigration, foreign policy, and engaged in substantial personal attacks.
Harris drew first blood, alleging Trump’s economic policies would hurt America.
“My opponent, on the other hand, his plan is to do what he has done before, which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations, which will result in $5 trillion to America's deficit,” said Harris.
Trump quickly fired back, negating Harris’ sales tax accusation and attacking Harris for her administration’s inflation record.
“We have inflation like very few people have ever seen before. Probably the worst in our nation's history. We were at 21%,” said Trump. “But that's being generous because many things are 50, 60, 70, and 80% higher than they were just a few years ago.”
Harris’ progressive economic policies have raised eyebrows amongst many Americans.
Namely, Harris has received conservative criticism for claiming she would introduce ‘the first ever federal ban on Price gouging on food.’
Such a policy would entail the US national government imposing price caps on food vendors.
Harris doubled down on her price control initiative through a recent advertisement, where she promises to “crack down on price gouging.”
On immigration, Trump slammed Harris for her role in failing to prevent the ongoing southwest border migration crisis.
“What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country. And look at what's happening to the towns all over the United States,” said Trump.
Harris fought back, claiming she was blocked by Trump and conservatives from implementing border-security policies.
Harris focused on combatting the border fentanyl trafficking crisis and attempted to derail Trump's immigration narrative by belittling crowd sizes at Trump rallies.
Regarding abortion, Harris depicted Trump as a pro life president who would promote a national ban on abortion.
Trump denied such an idea, claiming it was unnecessary given the Supreme Court returned the abortion issue to the states.
“I'm not signing a ban. And there's no reason to sign a ban. Because we've gotten what everybody wanted. Democrats, Republicans and everybody else and every legal scholar wanted it to be brought back into the states,” said Trump.
Harris’ team immediately challenged Trump to a second debate. Trump, who unexpectedly entered the media area to answer questions following the debate, did not respond to the challenge.
Post-debate polls have generally maintained pre-debate figures, with Harris leading Trump by a slim margin that winnows in crucial swing-voter states.
