U.S. election: Harris and Trump to clash in tonight’s U.S. presidential debate
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump clash Tuesday evening in their only scheduled debate ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, when each will aim to break open a tied race.
The Democratic Vice-President spent five days holed up in a downtown Pittsburgh hotel running through intensive preparation sessions. The Republican former president, meanwhile, was lowering expectations by calling debate host ABC “nasty and unfair,” and baselessly suggesting Ms. Harris would receive the questions in advance.
Both were underscoring, in their different ways, the heightened stakes. It may be the largest audience either receives in the next two months and, even if it moves just a small number of votes, could determine the election’s outcome.
The tilt in Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center, starting at 9 p.m. EDT and running for 90 minutes, unfolds in the shadow of Mr. Trump’s hugely consequential June debate with President Joe Biden. That encounter, in which Mr. Biden had trouble forming sentences and sometimes stared with his mouth agape, raised age-related questions about the President’s mental acuity and ultimately forced him out of the race.
Mr. Trump will be looking to replicate his relatively disciplined performance of that night when he debates Ms. Harris. But any one of a litany of difficult topics could trip him up.
The former president is almost certain to be pressed, either by Ms. Harris or moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, on his criminal convictions, civil fraud judgments, efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and accusations he would allow Russia to annex Ukraine.
Ms. Harris, a former prosecutor, signalled plans to bait Mr. Trump into intemperate responses – or perhaps interject to fact-check his answers – with a failed pre-debate demand that their microphones not be muted while the other person is speaking.
Mr. Trump has already shown himself easily rattled by Ms. Harris – questioning her race, attacking her social-media follower count and mocking her first name – in recent weeks. Whether he repeats such attacks in front of a broader audience could mark the debate’s tenor.
For the Democrat, who has cultivated a happy-warrior persona through supporter-created social-media posts, the debate will be a rare test of her ability to get a message across in an unscripted forum.
While she will undoubtedly push hard on several major policy areas, including abortion, gun control and support for U.S. allies, she will also face a handful of thornier subjects. Ms. Harris will have to defend against attacks on inflation and the economy and walk a fine line on Israel and Gaza, a topic that deeply divides her party.
Mr. Trump’s central issue, immigration, is certain to be a major part of the evening, along with trade. For Canadians, this may yield the most immediately relevant information: The former president has pledged tariffs of between 10 and 20 per cent on all goods imported to the United States, a policy that would spell disaster in Ottawa.
Also a wildcard is whether the moderators will offer any fact-checking during the debate. The CNN forum in June did not, apparently in a bid to avoid getting bogged down in fights between the hosts and Mr. Trump, to the ire of the Democratic campaign.
This article was first reported by The Globe and Mail
