Joe Biden has said Kamala Harris “proved she’s the best choice” for America following her first televised debate with Donald Trump on ABC News Tuesday.
President Biden wrote on X, formerly Twitter, early Wednesday, that: “America got to see tonight the leader I’ve been proud to work alongside for three and a half years. Wasn’t even close. VP Harris proved she’s the best choice to lead our nation forward. We’re not going back.”
Biden, 81, quit the presidential race days after his disastrous June 28 TV debate against Trump, 78, which raised concerns about his age and cognitive ability.
Following Biden’s decision, his vice president became the nominee.
VP Harris, 59, joined Trump on the stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday for their first, and perhaps only, debate of the election cycle.
America got to see tonight the leader I’ve been proud to work alongside for three and a half years. Wasn’t even close. VP Harris proved she’s the best choice to lead our nation forward. We’re not going back.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 11, 2024
The debate began with a handshake between the two candidates before they clashed over issues including the economy, abortion, foreign policy and immigration.
Harris and Trump also clashed over crowd sizes at the former president’s rallies after Harris used a question about immigration—an issue that is among her weakest, according to polls—to bait her opponent.
The exchange began when Harris slammed Trump’s stance on the bipartisan border bill negotiated by the Biden administration. The bill, which received initial support from both Democrats and Republicans, lost GOP support after Trump voiced his disapproval of it. Critics accused him of opposing it to prevent Biden and Harris from receiving a political win ahead of the election.
“That bill would have put 1,500 more border agents on the border to help those folks who are working there right now, overtime, trying to do their job. It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl coming into the United States… That bill would have put more resources to allow us to prosecute transnational criminal organizations for trafficking guns, drugs and human beings,” Harris said.
“But you know what happened to that bill? Donald Trump got on the phone, called up some folks in Congress and said, ‘Kill the bill.’ And you know why? Because he’d prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem,” she added.
She then shifted the discussion to the crowd sizes at Trump’s rallies.
“He’s going to talk about immigration all night, even when it’s not the subject being raised. And I’m actually going to do something very unusual and I’m going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump’s rallies, because it’s a really interesting to watch,” she said.
“You will see during the course of his rallies, he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills cause cancer, and what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.”
In response, Trump did not address his stance on the bipartisan border bill. Instead, he picked up on the crowd sizes comment.
“Let me respond to this, to the rallies. She said people start leaving, people don’t go to her rallies. There’s no reason to go. And the people that do go, she’s busing them in and paying them to be there, and then showing them in a different light. So she can’t talk about that. People don’t leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics,” he said.
Both candidates declared victory following the debate, but a snap poll by CNN found 63 percent of viewers thought Harris won the debate, while 37 percent said Trump won. Prior to the debate, the same voters were split 50/50 on which candidate would perform more strongly.
Meanwhile, Harris’ chances of winning the presidential election in November improved with 20 leading bookmakers after the debate.
However, the vice president was not immune from criticism.
After the debate, Trump and his supporters took to social media to criticize Harris as well as moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis for fact-checking Trump but not Harris. Trump was fact-checked or corrected four times and Harris not once, The Associated Press reported.
Nonetheless, Harris’ approval ratings following the debate were in contrast to Biden’s in June when a CNN flash poll found 67 percent thought Trump had outperformed him.
CNN did not fact-check the debate in June, which was moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. The decision prompted a wave of criticism on social media.
President Joe Biden, pictured at the White House on September 10, 2024) has praised Kamala Harris following her debate (inset) performance against Donald Trump on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden, pictured at the White House on September 10, 2024) has praised Kamala Harris following her debate (inset) performance against Donald Trump on Tuesday.
Andrew Harnik/ Alex Brandon/Getty Images/AP
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Publish date : 2024-09-10 21:49:00
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