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LAST UPDATE | 11 Sep 2024
DONALD TRUMP AND Kamala Harris have faced off in what could be their only debate of the 2024 US presidential campaign.
It was a fiery confrontation with some colourful claims and live factchecking from the moderators as Trump and Harris set out their contrasting visions for presidency.
Follow along here for The Journal’s coverage of the debate with Political Correspondent Jane Matthews bringing you the key moments and the early reaction as it came in.
We’ll be assessing the impact of the debate after things wrap, and our columnist Larry Donnelly will be giving his take on what it means for the campaign going forward.
Hello, Good morning/Happy witching hour.
It’s Jane Matthews here for the night to bring you the latest from the debate itself and all of the buzz, reaction and analysis surrounding it over the next few hours.
If, like me, you are staying up to watch live, RTÉ News and Channel 4 are both streaming the debate on television from 2am Irish time. Or if you are already cosied up in bed and would prefer to watch from the small, bright, addictive screen that you keep in your pocket, ABC News has a YouTube livestream here.
With Trump and Harris neck-and-neck in the polls, the stakes could not be higher going into this and tonight may well be a pivotal moment in the 2024 US Presidential election, and indeed in US and world history.
Buckle up.
A flavour of what’s happening on the ground in Philadelphia while we wait for things to kick off…
Trump flew into the state of Pennsylvania just barely two hours before the debate is set to start, shortly before midnight Irish time. His rival Kamala Harris arrived yesterday.
Despite former President Trump having the advantage of seven presidential election debates under his belt, sources close to Harris are reporting that the vice president is feeling “cool, calm and collected”.
Over 1,000 reporters are in the vicinity of the National Constitution Center, where the debate is being hosted – a fitting location for this important moment in US democracy which commemorates the signing of the US Declaration of Independence some 250 ago.
Pennsylvania is of course also one of the key battleground states, with some analysts saying it could decide the entire election.
Tonight’s debate is being moderated by ABC News’ David Muir and Linsey Davis, who will be tasked with introducing the two candidates, asking the questions and generally ensuring things run smoothly and stay civilised.
Both have previously moderated presidential primary debates and between them have interviewed Harris and Trump as well as president Biden and former vice president Mike Pence.
Davis (46), has worked at ABC News since 2007 and is the anchor of “ABC News Live Prime” and “World News Tonight” on Sundays.
Muir (50) has worked at the network since 2003. He is the anchor and managing editor of ABC News’ “World News Tonight”.
Rules of engagement: Tonight’s debate is 90 minutes long. There will be no opening statements and both Trump and Harris will be allotted two-minutes to answer moderator questions, two-minutes for rebuttals, and one extra minute for follow-ups, clarifications, or responses. Mics will be muted when a candidate is not speaking.
“Nice to see you finally,” Trump says to Harris as they shake hands for the very first time (ever).
And we are straight into it – the first question is on the economy and is put to Harris first – are Americans better off now than they were four years ago?
Harris smoothly talks through her plans, which include a $50,000 tax break for new businesses, before targeting Trump’s policies.
It’s all started very civilised as Trump begins his turn – he pivots his answer to immigration and says “many of the people coming in are criminals”.
Harris rebuts him by talking about the impact Trump’s presidency had on the US economy.
A good line from her in the midst of it: “Donald Trump left us the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”
She adds, in an effort to set the scene for the debate: “You’re going to hear from the same old tired playbook, a bunch of lies and name calling.”
She also references Project 2025 (a wishlist for a Trump presidency made by a think-thank with ties to the former-president), and dubs it dangerous.
Trump says he has nothing to do with Project 2025 and that he hasn’t read it and has no plans to.
A lot of head shaking from Harris, but so far both candidates are keeping their cool.
The next question is on abortion – Trump is asked why women in American should trust him when it comes to reproductive rights?
Trump takes the opportunity to take a pop at Harris’s running mate Tim Walz, claiming that he said “abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine” and that he is also in favour of “execution” after birth.
Even though the mics are turned off Harris can be heard disputing this.
Davis fact-checks Trump (the first of the night) before giving Harris her turn to speak – she clarifies that it is not legal in any state to kill a baby after it is born.
When it is her turn to speak she says she told viewers they would hear “a bunch of lies”.
Trump is adamant and says that under Harris there would be abortion in the seventh, eighth and ninth month of pregnancy “and probably after birth”.
Now onto border control.
Harris uses her two minutes here as a chance to invite people to go to a Trump rally and see how people leave them early because of “exhaustion and boredom”, she also notes how he has been referencing the fictional character Hannibal Lector.
“You deserve a president that will put you first and I pledge to you I will,” Harris says.
In response, Trump claims people don’t go to Harris’s rallies and that she has to “bus them in”.
Back on to immigration, Trump claims that illegal immigrants are “destroying the fabric of our country”.
He then claims immigrants are eating people’s pets.
Trump claims that in Springfield “they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets that live there”.
Muir interjects here and clarifies that Springfield’s city manager says there is no evidence of that.
Harris’s response (with a laugh): “Talk about extreme”.
Harris uses Trump’s claims about migrant crime as an opportunity to attack his own criminal history.
“I think this is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference,” she says.
Trump hits back by saying the cases against him were “fake” and that the justice system was weaponised by the Democrats.
He then goes on to refer to the assassination attack on him:
“I probably took a bullet in the head because of the things they say about me.”
Turning to Israel’s war in Gaza, Harris is asked about how she would work to achieve a ceasefire if president.
In response, she says Israel has a right to defend itself but too many Palestinians have been killed.
“We need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out. We will continue to work around the clock for that,” Harris says.
She adds that there must be a two-state solution where Palestinians can have the dignity they “rightly deserved”.
When Trump is asked how he would achieve a ceasefire, he responds by saying it “never would have happened” if he was president before beginning to talk about Russia and Ukraine.
He then goes back to the Middle-East and claims Harris hates Israel and hates the Arab population “in her own way”.
Harris hits back and says she has supported Israel her entire life and says Trump is attempting to divide and distract.
She then accuses Trump of wanting to be a dictator and says the other dictators of the world are rooting for him to win the election because he can be “manipulated with flattery and favours”.
“That’s why so many millitary leaders who you have worked with have told me you are a disgrace,” Harris adds.
Okay, the ad break is over and at this point I would say Harris is winning.
She’s keeping her cool and allowing the moderators to pull Trump up on mistruths where needed. There has been a lot of clarifications by the moderators based on what Trump is saying tonight, in a way we haven’t really seen in some of the other debates Trump has participated in since 2016.
It’s clear Harris’s gameplan for this debate has been to not engage with some of the wackier things Trump says (at one point he claimed she wants to “do transgender operations on illegal aliens in prisons”) and instead call them out and deliver her own message that has been focused on the future and on being a president that “actually cares” about the American people.
She’s driving home a message that democracy is at stake and has been pretty polished in her delivery, often looking amused at what Trump says. Trump on the other hand, started off calm but as the debate has gone on he has gone off on tangents, veering away from the topics at hand.
At one point he claimed President Biden “hates” Harris.
He hates her, he can’t stand her,” he said.
The Journal columnist Larry Donnelly is tweeting some analysis:
Trump is ranting and rambling. Keeps bringing it back to immigration no matter what. He mightn’t know it, but he’s having a bad night. #Debate2024
— Larry Donnelly (@LarryPDonnelly) September 11, 2024
Worth noting that on Russia’s war in Ukraine, Trump was asked directly if he wants Ukraine to win the war.
His response was: “It’s the US best interest to get this war finished and just get it done, all right, negotiate a deal, because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed.”
In her answer, Harris claimed that if Trump were president “Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now”.
She added that he would have his eyes on the rest of Europe, “starting with Poland”.
Closing statements now. Trump won a coin flip so he gets to close out the debate with his.
Harris begins hers by saying: “You’ve heard very different visions for our country, one focused on the future and one focused on the past.
“But we’re not going back.”
She talks about sustaining America’s standing in the world and ensuring it has the “most lethal fighting force in the world”. She talks about reproductive rights, her time as a prosecutor. She says she intends to be a president for all Americans and “build back up the country by investing in the American people”.
Trump opens his by asking why hasn’t Harris done “all the great things” she mentioned in the three years she has been in power as vice president.
He hits out at her for her stance on fracking in particular and asks again why she hasn’t done what she has set out to do tonight.
He claims the US is being “laughed at all over the world”.
“We’re not a leader…We have wars going on in the Middle East. We have wars going on with Russia and Ukraine. We’re going to end up in a third world war, and it will be a war like no other ,” Trump says.
He claims he rebuilt the US military while president and again hits out at immigrants coming into the country, claiming “many of them are criminals”.
A memorable moment from earlier when Trump used one of Harris’s prior debate successes against her.
When he accused her of being in favour of defunding the police, Harris interjected to deny it.
Trump responds: “Wait a minute, I’m talking now if you don’t mind, please. Does that sound familiar?”
This came as a reference to Harris’s viral “I’m speaking” moment during her 2020 vice presidential debate with Mike Pence.
While Trump was trying to claim Harris supports defunding the police, she could be seen with her mic muted saying his statement was "not true."
— ABC News (@ABC) September 11, 2024
“Wait a minute. I'm talking now. If you don't mind, please. Does that sound familiar?” Trump said. https://t.co/eSOiWyTGja#ABCDebate pic.twitter.com/AiWhnlNgZQ
I’m going to close down the liveblog now to finish a round up of what has been a fiery debate, but two things before I go:
1. Trump’s campaign has claimed a victory in the debate (before it was even over).
2. Taylor Swift has endorsed Kamala Harris after the debate
Okay I lied, one final thing:
In a surprise move, Trump just showed up in what’s known as the “spin room” at the debate centre. Answering questions from reporters Trump claimed he won the debate and was very happy with how it went.
“I thought it was my best debate ever,” he said.
Harris’s team have come out and said they want another debate. Trump was asked about this while in the spin room and his response was that he “doesn’t know” if they will do another.
And with that I am away. We will have lots more coverage of the debate and it’s fallout on The Journal over the next few hours.
Thanks for joining us for the night, I hope you have time to catch up on some sleep. Goodnight!
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Watch her make mince meat of him. Watch him do nothing but name call. Bring it on.
@Anne Collins: yeah, no.
@Paul W: What do you expect?
@Diarmuid Hunt: he will pound her and Biden and her record over the last 3 .5 years. She said she would fix the problems they caused.
@Anne Collins: Hillary made mince meat of him before and how did that end. She won the popular vote but not the electoral. So what. I hate whinging over the popular vote, you know the rules, then make it work for you. Anyways, I’m no fan of Trump but as entertaining as these debates are, they won’t designate the president, not with Trump anyways, he already showed that in 2016. And I would say on 2020 too as I thought in 2020 he did better than Biden….
@Diarmuid Hunt: KFC and watermelon for everyone
Stay to listen to a guy closer to the animal Kingdom than humanity and nearly 50% of the thickest voters will vote for the animal
@Tim Brennan: She identifies as a woman. No need for the racism calling her an animal.
@IzwvqAph: level of wit of typical trump supporter there.
@Alan: I don’t care about American politics.
@IzwvqAph: Why would you intentionally misunderstand the first comment and reply to it if you don’t care? Next time you don’t care about something try not showing how much you care about it regardless of how trivial you find it.
@Diarmuid Hunt: Well I’m watching the Ireland match and I’m a bit bored so I’d thought I’d comment. I won’t be staying up to watch the debate. I’ll be staying up to talk to your aul one on the Ouija Board. She said keep working and pay your taxes.
@IzwvqAph: Explains a lot, I’d recommend continuing to watch the match and finding some other way to make a fool of yourself but each to their own.
@Diarmuid Hunt: The planchette says T R U P 2 4. She’s a gas woman. Match over. Enjoy your night of American politics. Stay angry. A big if iron is what you need. Bye Hun xox
@Diarmuid Hunt: his comment was even more boring than the match. Is there any escape from the boredom that is Irish soccer and commentators like him on the Journal
@IzwvqAph: You probably should’ve taken my advice.
@IzwvqAph: Your aul one is still fellating away in hell.
@IzwvqAph:
He said guy, but thing is probably closer.
No props pr notes. Harris is in for a long night. Even for a kitten soft interview with CNN (who are basically her pr firm) she had Walz (the prop) sat beside here. She clearly used notes too. Wouldn’t at all be surprised if she used an ear piece too. This is her only real chance to tell the voter what she’ll do and she’s not able to do that
@Mick O’K:
If you think that an experienced prosecutor cannot debate, then you’re WRONG. I’m retired from that job; VP Harris will eviscerate the moronic inarticulate Trump.
Watch & learn.
@Pat Kennedy: I don’t think she can’t debate Pat, I know she can’t debate. Did you see the primary debate for 2020? Prosecutor or not she shat the bed
@Mick O’K: I’ve seen you on twitter. You’re clearly unhinged
@John Doe: thanks Dr. John
@John Doe: please stay away from woman and children. Wouldn’t trust you as far as I could throw ya
@John Doe: You’re literally talking to yourself. Do ya fancy a scrap?
@Brian O’Brendan: oops! My bad! That should’ve been for Mick O’Keefe(looney toons on twitter; top of this comment thread). I’m actually grand for scrap thanks! Had my fill in secondary school.
@Mick O’K: Harris clearly won in the end.
@James T.Kirk: maybe so. But James there is a but! The “fact checking” was one sided, the voters still don’t know her, this was her chance to tell them what a vote for her will get them. She losing male voters more than she’s gaining female voters. Then the moderators played right into Trumps playbook.
@Pat Kennedy: Hi Pat, exactly what prosecutor role have you retired from?
@John Doe: just an FYI, I’m not that guy
Is she African American or Indian
Is she from the south,mid west or California
Is she for the border or not
Is she for fracking or not
Is she for raising taxes or not
Just some of the things she has flip flopped on the last few weeks???
@Brian O’Brendan: sorry fella keep your racist comments to yourself
@Shane Jordan: Apology accepted.
@Shane Jordan: she’s a Californian with Indian and Jamaican descent. What is so difficult about Google that you’re unable to use it?
@John Doe: why has she been speaking in a southern accent and claims to be a proud black woman ???
@Shane Jordan: to appeal the local voters????? You’d swear that was worse than having 34 felonies the way you’re going on
@Shane Jordan: wow. You’ve really shown how little you know just there.
Not surprising.
@Fergus O’Donnell: please enlighten me
@Shane Jordan: you’re a weirdo
@John Doe: always resort to name calling. People do that when they have no argument to make.
Fair play to her she played him at his own game and took him down.
@Phillip Smyth:
I agree……but the MAGA heads will keep on bobbling unfortunately
Trump has the opportunity to question what she stands for and what her voters are getting. But he’ll just resort to name calling and baseless lies I imagine.
@M To The B: He’d have to then explain what he stands for and what his voters would get, name-calling and baseless lies are safer for him.
@Diarmuid Hunt: he has Project 2025…oh its not his… But he seems all for it. I think this is a fair shout by the op though, we know what Trump is about but not as much about Harris. She’s hoping to get that across to the republican fence, so yeah this is more about Harris getting her mesage out there.
The fat orange pig is gonna get skewered tonight.
@FoxyBoiiYT: So you’ve a problem with overweight people and a dislike of certain skin colours. How very fascist.
@Mick Joe: I see you guys always trying that line out,it doesn’t have the effect that you think it does,only makes you look a f0Ol. You weirdos just just copy n paste from others with not an ounce of individual thought.
@HisMastersAlibi: just like you did. Not an original thought either.
@Anthony Hilton: Your frotting friend has come to save you Mick. You are lucky you’ve got such close and great friends.
@HisMastersAlibi: great deflection , I applaud you
The story so far.. Economy- he waffles on about immigration.. out of the blocks, all he’s short is going on about his wall again..
Abortion – waffling on about student loans .. whilst claiming children can be executed after birth.
Immigration- The immigrants are eating people’s cats and dogs.. he’s playing a blinder LOL.
Christ, he’s demented. He is doing her job for her. lol
Wonder what accent she will bring out tonight – This is national geographic stuff – an Orange fighting a Chameleon
@Kush OMeara: gonna put my money on her Californian accent
@John Doe: a fool and his money
@Mick O’K: you should stay on X. You’re attitude is more suited to there.
He loves the poorly-educated and that love is certainly reciprocated.
Oh look, it’s clever Jack, the lord of education and virtue.
@Jack Hayes:
His own education was a disaster even though his father poured buckets of money into it.
He was just too dim to absorb any knowledge.,and it’s been said by people who tried to teach him that he was a lost cause.
I’m sure this will be a very civil and engaging discussion between two brilliant minds.
@qffaffaf affrafrfraf: It would be great if our media can give honest reports on it to save us having to stay up. Unfortunately they probably have their reports written.
What’s your healthcare Plan Mr Trump… we’re working on it .if we come up with something.. we’ll do it.. i have concepts.. lol. And all the clamering from his fans about her addressing policy .. couldn’t make it up lol
@Brian: I was genuinely surprised Trump didn’t revert to his health plan coming in 2 weeks time. He started claiming that in autumn of 2018 and kept claiming it was always only 2 weeks away. How many two week periods have there been since autumn 2018?
what ever you say about Trump and his immigration policies, more illegals were removed from the US under the biden and Obama administrations than Trump ever did.
@Niall English: Indeed.. He just said the President doesn’t need any bills to close the border.. Said the President just needs to ring border control and order it.. he just challenged Harris to ring Joe and order it shut.. Why didn’t he do it if that is actually the case.. why the wall nonsense.. why didn’t he shut it himself..
Trump has lost it, can’t believe this.
Trump sounding progressively more unhinged as debate goes on…..
This is the real trial of Trump he should go to jail after this.
@Phillip Smyth: Citing Viktor Orbán as a character reference now LOL..
@Phillip Smyth: Trump wishing Joe Biden was to his left and not this pesky woman making him look like the immature tool he is.
Poor start from Harris, waffling and halting speech.
Ignoring the question she was asked.
@Garry Coll:
Project 2025 already?
@Garry Coll:
Talking about focusing, focusing, focusing.
She had three and a half years to change things but did nothing.
@Garry Coll: agree, bad start. Now I think she’s hammering him. He is awfully bad though.
I am impressed with her.
@Garry Coll:
On each issue Harris is saying she’ll fix everything that she has let fall into garbage over the last three and a half years.
Nobody’s going to swallow that rubbish.
@Garry Coll:
VP Harris discuss immigration,
Trump is a convicted felon.
Avoid the issue.
She’s losing the plot.
@Garry Coll:
40 minutes in she gets a question.
Inflation Reduction Act, Biden said just the other day that title was a lie, it was a climate bill.
@Garry Coll:
Charlottesville?
Come on, this is off the wall now.
@Garry Coll:
It will be interesting to see who spoke most during this debate, President Trump, VP Harris or the moderators.
This seems more a debate between ABC and President Trump.
@Garry Coll:
Is Harris losing her voice?
@Garry Coll:
They’re both drying up, just hoping it will be over soon.
@Garry Coll:
Strong finish from both of them, President Trump got the edge in the closing exchanges because he finished the debate.
It will be interesting to see tomorrow who had the most soundbites and particularly what the bookies say following the debate.
@Garry Coll: forget the bookies keep an eye on DJT stock…its value is basically a proxy for Trump’s election chances..it jumped after he won the debate against Biden in June …let’s see what direction it goes in after this debate
@Stephen O’Sullivan:
Valid point.
@Stephen O’Sullivan: snakeoil salesman lost the debate and his mind.
But we live in mad times, anything can happen.
@offside again:
Time will tell.
Trump is on the ropes, he needs a lifeline
I have the ‘flu and can’t sleep for long. Ended up watching the bleedin’ debate after all. I’d like to express my appreciation to Trump for the waves of nausea I experienced watching his performance. That distracted me from the sheer demoralising monotony of having ‘flu for a short while. The two debate moderators are wildly uneven in doing their job. Asking Harris about the statement Trump just made about her “hating” Isreal, instead of asking Harris what her position was is really shockingly bad moderation. You don’t let a candidate dictate the phrasing of your questions to either candidate. Also, if this comment doesn’t get the largest number of up votes in the Journal’s history then it’s FRAUD!!!
@Numinous20111:
I just gave you 1 up vote……..Trump is Trump….he lives on scare mongering, belittling fraudulent statements……turn a new page…..it’s more a new book America needs
@Numinous20111: Stephen McGrath. Thanks for your upvote, but I just need 11,800 upvotes….which is one more than I already have….c’mon, give me a break here.
@ 1am am wide awake on me couch @ home in dublin with hot coffee in hand waiting 4 the debate on abc looking forward to trump winning
@liam ward: sorry for your loss
Throw in the towel Dumbo it’s over
Omg he’s insane, anyone could beat him
@Phillip Smyth: you would think so. I knew he was awful but he has still amazed me. He is insane.
Now …
Are Americans insane ?
@Phillip Smyth: The Journal’s reply function keeps selecting the wrong commenter when I try to reply….what gives, The Journal? This is for offside again. I honestly thought by Trump’s own standards he didn’t make the monumental mis-step Harris hoped for and tried to provoke him into. Of course I don’t mean Trump looked in any way fit or able to be president during the debate. But this guy got the 2nd largest vote in 2020 after 4 years of near mayhem. That’s btw the largest vote for a sitting US president!!!!!!!!! It’s one thing to look unfit in a debate and another to look unfit for 4 years actually occupying the job. America looks like it’s in the final stage of decline. The fact it has the most advanced military in history and has consistent domestic corrosion of every standard….that’s truly terrifying.
Good grief ! It’s awful.
@offside again: I cannot believe Trump is so bad. She just needs to give him rope !
Don’t want to see the psycho foaming at the mouth,and spitting his venom.
He would give anyone nightmares.
@Mary.E.: he’s not used to a strong woman standing up against him. She’s gone crush him.
People who annoy you. I know it but I don’t think I should say it.
Any sign of Mick or Buster this morning ?
Their candidate managed to match Joe Bidens debate performance.
He sent the Taliban leader a picture of his house lol
@Phillip Smyth: pretty sure it wouldn’t have been his idea….but he’ll take credit….
Comedy gold from Springfield again. I predict a Simpsons episode.
That man repels me. My god. What an distructive repulsive person he is. God help America and the world if that convicted felon becomes president.
It’s gone so ugly , Obama v McCain or Bush v Kerry debates seem so civilised . US politics in a very bad place
Hardcore trump fans will vote for trump no matter what he’s says or does as he is their great white hope. People who don’t like trump will vote for whoever is the opposition no matter what they say because they don’t like the man. People with logic will listen to both sides and decide who they think is best going on policies and not emotion.
Did Jane Matthews get permission off her parents to stay up late to report 4 the journal she has the face of a baby bless her
@liam ward: creepy comment. Trump supporter?
@liam ward: I’m guessing the Gardai have your name on a list, right?
@liam ward: That’s one of the creepiest things Iv ever read in here and this is The Journal. Get help!
Don’t like either one of them, is this the best the US can produce for a president
@Ned: shocking, isn’t it? She is a better candidate, but how low is that bar when her opponent is a compulsive, self obsessed lying felon?
It’s said that the electorate get the government they deserve. America deserves these two. It remains to be seen which one is victorious.
In heartened by the fact that Cats and Dogs are now united in their defense against a common enemy, the Venezuelan immigrant.
If Cats and Dogs can do this then there is hope for Israel Palestine / Russia Ukraine.
Catholics and Protestants in the north have no chance though.
have your say