'Calm, confident' Harris' gets best of 'angry, confused' Trump, lands Swift post-debate endorsement
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00:00The US presidential debate took place overnight and it was feisty.
00:07Kamala Harris successfully goaded Donald Trump as the two sparred over foreign policy, the
00:11economy and abortion.
00:14The Vice President told Trump to his face that world leaders are laughing at him.
00:18She even went after Trump's rallies and took aim at his policies, which led to the
00:22overturning of federal abortion rights.
00:25The former president, meanwhile, repeated conspiracy theories, including that immigrants
00:29are eating pets.
00:33Before an acrimonious debate, a moment of civility.
00:37Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump shook hands as they met for the
00:41first time.
00:43Soon after, the candidates traded barbs on abortion, a strong topic for Harris.
00:48She lambasted Trump for appointing Supreme Court justices that overturned Roe v. Wade
00:53in 2022, removing federal protections for abortion.
00:58Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage, being
01:03denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might
01:08go to jail and she's bleeding out in a car in the parking lot.
01:12They don't want that.
01:14Trump's running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, has been saying that Trump would sign a nationwide
01:19ban on abortion, which Harris pounced on.
01:23Trump, however, denied that he would do so, not because he was against it, but because
01:28Congress wouldn't be able to approve it.
01:31As the debate wore on, Trump tried to turn questions on multiple topics into a discussion
01:37about immigration, including false claims about immigrants eating cats and dogs in Ohio.
01:43Nonetheless, the moderators managed to keep the conversation on track, moving on to foreign
01:49policy.
01:50Republicans said autocrats and dictators are rooting for Trump, criticizing Trump's
01:54assertion that he could end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, as meaning he would give Ukraine
02:00to Russia.
02:01Trump spun his closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a positive.
02:06I want to get the war settled.
02:08I know Zelensky very well, and I know Putin very well.
02:11I have a good relationship, and they respect your president, OK?
02:15They respect me.
02:16They don't respect Biden.
02:18After the program, both teams declared victory.
02:21The Harris campaign signaled that they wanted another debate, which the Trump campaign has
02:27not yet agreed to.
02:30We can now bring in Peter Trubowitz, professor of international relations and director of
02:34the Fieden U.S. Center at LSE and associate fellow at Chatham House.
02:38Good afternoon.
02:39Thank you so much for joining us on the program today.
02:41Back in June, when Donald Trump and Joe Biden went head to head, Trump could have essentially
02:45stayed silent and he would have won that debate.
02:48Last night, he was up against a 59-year-old vice president who was also a former prosecutor.
02:54Did Kamala Harris succeed in getting under Donald Trump's skin?
02:58Clearly.
02:59I think Democrats are breathing a sigh of relief today.
03:04She had a very good night, likely convinced many of those voters who are on the fence
03:11that we call persuadable voters in the U.S. to vote for her in November.
03:15She came across as calm, I thought, confident.
03:19Trump by contrast came across as angry and confused, and partly because it was Harris's
03:25strategy, it's pretty clear, was to try to get under his skin by raising doubts about
03:31crowd size at his rallies, his commitment to women's reproductive rights, and Trump's
03:38overall fitness to serve for another four years as president.
03:44And it basically seemed to work.
03:46I mean, if I'm Harris's campaign advisor, frankly, I'm feeling pretty good about last
03:51night's debate in Philadelphia.
03:54You mentioned about swaying people.
03:56Donald Trump last night repeated falsehoods, things like Democrats want abortions after
04:02a baby is born, which would not be an abortion, it would be murder, wouldn't it?
04:06And he also went on about saying how immigrants were eating cats and dogs.
04:10If this debate was really about swaying people sitting on the fence, would anyone sway to
04:14Donald Trump's side?
04:17You know, it's hard to say, because you don't know.
04:21If it were based on the substance, probably not.
04:25But there's emotional affect and one doesn't know how that registers.
04:30I mean, I think we're going to have to wait a few days to see whether the debate moved
04:37the proverbial needle, you know, when we see the polling numbers.
04:41But I think it's pretty clear that Harris's campaign will get a boost at this moment.
04:47I mean, this is a moment where the sugar high that the campaign was on from the convention
04:54basically seems to be wearing off or, you know, when you were looking at polls over
04:58the last week or two, they seem to start to kind of like she had hit the flat of the curve.
05:05And so I think many voters last night, these persuadable voters, were looking at the debate
05:12to get a better fix on who she actually is and whether she's up to the job.
05:19But it's worth saying here, I think, there's a lot of road left between now and the election,
05:24you know, Election Day on November 5th.
05:26And given the closeness of the race, I don't think anything is guaranteed.
05:30It's worth remembering that most Americans, if you go back and you look at it, most Americans
05:35thought Hillary Clinton won her debates against Donald Trump in 2016.
05:40And she went down to defeat.
05:42It's a highly polarized country.
05:45This is a very close race.
05:47I don't think anything can be taken for granted.
05:50Now, Peter, clearly the economy is a hot button issue.
05:55Voters will obviously be weighing.
05:58Inflation is a problem in America.
06:00And I want to ask, did Kamala Harris manage to do the difficult task of taking credit
06:07for Joe Biden's policies, but at the same time distancing herself from the current problems
06:13that people are facing, like the constant living crisis?
06:16It's a great question.
06:17And we don't know the answer to that, to be perfectly honest.
06:20You know, it would seem when you look at her poll, when you look at the comparison between
06:26her and Trump over, let's say, the last month or roughly month and a half, he was judged
06:34very early on to be much stronger on the economy.
06:38She has closed that by like some 25 points.
06:42She closed that before this debate to around give or take 10 points.
06:47So I think the question is whether last night she convinced enough people, more people,
06:54that she would be a good steward of the economy, that she put enough distance between herself
07:00and Joe Biden on this question.
07:03I think we're just going to have to wait until we see the polling numbers.
07:08But I think you're absolutely right to be focusing on the economy.
07:12The election, to the extent that there's an issue defining this election, it's the economy.
07:18Peter, I'm not sure if you're a fan of Taylor Swift or not, but you clearly know the importance
07:23this singer has over in the United States.
07:26After the debate last night, she weighed in and said she was behind Harris and Walz.
07:32What impact will that have, do you think?
07:35In general, in general, having celebrities endorse you does not make a huge difference.
07:43This one might be an exception.
07:45I think she has 280 million followers on Instagram.
07:51You know, I think it's it's worth noting here, Trump has worked very hard, has asked
07:56for her endorsement, that is Taylor Swift's endorsement, a number of times, and he's even
08:01claimed that he had her.
08:04So I think the candidates believe that this is valuable.
08:07The timing of it was really quite noticeable to come out immediately after the debate and
08:13also to sign off the way she did as a complete, you know, complete pushback against J.D. Vance.
08:20Indeed.
08:21Peter Trubowitz.
08:22We're going to have to leave you there.
08:23Thank you very much for joining us on the program today.
08:24Good to be with you.