Republican nominee Donald Trump was visibly uncomfortable in the first debate with the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. He just wasn’t in his element. In fact, he looked as if he was sulking because he wasn’t facing Joe Biden.
When compared with his first debate in New York with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in September 2016, it’s clear he isn’t happy seeing women as adversaries. Especially not on the same stage. So, he ridicules them and resorts to attacking their experience and expertise.
It’s Trump’s second debate, he easily won the first one against Biden. But after he pulled out of the race in July, Trump is stuck in a battle he wasn’t prepared for.
Also read: Kamala Harris seems to have won the US presidential debate. Does it really matter?
Reds and blues
First, some optics. In the 2016 debate, he wore a blue tie, and Clinton wore a red pantsuit—a surprising reversal of the red-state-blue-state divide. In 2024, he chose a red tie.
Trump and Clinton walked toward each other and shook hands, and she addressed him as ‘Donald’. This time, Trump made zero effort to walk toward Harris. And Harris introduced herself using her full name as they shook hands. Both times, the women were more audible than Trump.
He made no eye contact with Harris during the 105-minute debate at the ABC studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In contrast, he looked Clinton’s way quite a few times eight years ago. He even addressed her as Secretary Clinton and asked her if it was okay to do so.
“I want you to be happy. That’s very very important,” he had said. He had a lot of making up to do with women voters. A sexually offensive audio clip featuring him had dropped just two days before that debate.
On Tuesday, he didn’t address Harris as Vice-President.
But his trademark name-calling and nastiness have remained constant. He said Clinton didn’t have “the look” or “the stamina” to be the president. He called Harris a Marxist and the “worst vice president in history”.
Of course, Clinton won the debate in 2016—she was 34 points higher in public perception—but lost the election.
Not an outsider anymore
After eight years, Donald Trump is still positioning himself as an outsider in American politics. It was his winning strategy in 2016 as he called for a draining of the swamp—a metaphor for cleaning up Washington DC’s incestuous gravy train and elitism.
He went so far as to turn Clinton’s experience into a disadvantage. He was the quintessential new person bursting with ideas and energy. She was the tired old system.
He went for her track record, and her husband’s too. He attacked her on the Iran nuclear deal, ISIS and the 2005 Trans-Pacific Partnership. He called Bill Clinton’s 1994 NAFTA trade deal the worst deal in history.
He also said that ISIS was formed in the vacuum created by Barack Obama and Hillary: “You have been fighting ISIS your entire adult life.”
“I agree she has got experience. But it’s bad experience,” Trump said.
With Kamala Harris, he tried it again. He accused her of mismanaging the border situation with migrants.
“She was the border czar. She doesn’t want to be called the border czar because she’s embarrassed by the border. That’s because she knows what a bad job they’ve done,” Trump said.
The only difference this time is Trump isn’t the same newbie outsider accusing the world of not letting him in. You can only play that card once in politics.
Also read: Hinduphobia makes Kamala Harris’ identity a liability. So she is ‘Black’ in US media
Immigration, another constant
Immigration from Mexico, and China were familiar issues in both debates.
“Let me just tell you, they lost 10,000 manufacturing jobs this last month. It’s going—they’re all leaving. They’re building big auto plants in Mexico. In many cases owned by China…What they have given to China is unbelievable,” Trump said in the debate with Harris.
It was the same rhetoric with Clinton. “Our jobs are fleeing the country. They’re going to Mexico…You look at what China is doing to our country in terms of making our product,” Trump said in 2016.
Trump attacked Clinton relentlessly for trade deals, Iran negotiations and ISIS. With Harris, it was about immigrants and border issues.
“Why are we allowing these millions of people to come through the border? They allowed criminals terrorists drug dealers. All over the world, crime is down except here. There’s a new kind of crime: migrant crime,” Trump said. And then went on to say that migrants in the US are now eating “dogs, cats and the pets”.
It wasn’t very different from what he said to Clinton. “We have gangs roaming the street. And in many cases, they’re illegally here, illegal immigrants. And they have guns. And they shoot people.”
If it was Iran and ISIS in 2016, it was Israel this time.
“She hates Israel. She refused to meet Netanyahu when he visited,” he said. If she is elected, he said “Israel wouldn’t exist in two years.”
Where is Biden?
It did appear as if Trump was missing his favourite foe, US President Joe Biden. He would have been easier to tackle.
“Where is he? They threw him out of the campaign like a dog. Is he even alive?” he asked.
Just like he invoked Bill Clinton to attack Hillary, Trump kept trying to bring Biden into the debate—“She is Biden” and “Biden hates her”. So much so that Kamala Harris had to say at one point “Clearly, I am not Biden”.
Harris also said: “It is important to remind you that you are running against me, not Biden.”
Putin’s lunch
Russian President Vladimir Putin featured in both debates. Both Clinton and Harris took Trump on for being cosy with him.
“Putin would rather have a puppet as US president,” Clinton had smirked.
Harris said Putin was a dictator who would “eat you [Trump] for lunch” if the Republican returned to the White House.
Harris said Trump admires dictators and lets them manipulate him with flattery and favour.
Trump said had he been in power in 2022, the war “would have never started. I know Putin very well.”
He quoted the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who said China and North Korea are “afraid” of Trump.
Also read: Beijing was all for Trump. Tim Walz’s old China connect has shifted the scales
Identity politics
The issue of race cropped up in both debates. The way Trump responded to Harris showed he learned his lesson with Clinton.
When Clinton spoke of how race still determines everything in the US, Trump retorted with a term that has been widely regarded as his code for racial stereotyping of African Americans: “She doesn’t want to use two words. Law and order.”
With Harris, he was cautious and didn’t want to trip on her identity.
“I don’t care what she is. Whatever she wants to be it’s ok with me,” Trump said in response to his earlier remark about how he didn’t know if she was Black or South Asian. “Either one was okay with me. That’s up to her.”
Harris focussed on how Trump had refused to rent property to Black families and spread falsehoods about Barack Obama’s birthplace.
Silver platter
Both Harris and Clinton emphasised their middle-class background from the word go.
They spoke of their hardworking parents and modest upbringings. Contrasting it with Trump, who was born into wealth, inherited millions from his father and yet filed for business bankruptcy six times.
Harris said he got “handed $400 million on a silver platter” from his father. She said he plans to “provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations, which will result in $5 trillion to America’s deficit.”
Clinton had even said he didn’t pay federal tax to which Trump said “That makes me smart”.
Rama Lakshmi is Editor, Opinion and Ground Reports at ThePrint. She tweets @RamaNewDelhi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)
Who are you kidding Ms. Rama Lakshmi? Let us be honest here. For once at least.
Anyone who watched the debate live would say that Trump outclassed Harris. Yes, it was a tough debate unlike the one with Biden which was a walkover for Trump. Nevertheless, Trump came across as the more convincing and clear headed candidate. Also, one with a clear agenda and to-do list if elected to the post.