PHILADELPHIA  –  Donald Trump and Kamala Harris met for the first time on the presidential debate stage in Philadelphia  last Tuesday night. They may have shaken hands, but they did not hit it off.

In a fiery 90 minutes, Harris frequently rattled the former president with personal attacks that threw him off message and raised the temperature of this highly-anticipated contest. Her pointed digs on the size of his rally crowds, his conduct during the Capitol riot, and on the officials who served in his administration who have since become outspoken critics of his campaign repeatedly left Trump on the back foot. The pattern for much of this debate was Harris goading her Republican rival into making extended defenses of his past conduct and comments. He gladly obliged, raising his voice at times and shaking his head. Americans should go to a Trump rally, Harris said during an early question about immigration, because they were illuminating. “People start leaving the rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom,” she said.

That barb clearly rattled the former president, as he then spent most of his answer – on a topic that should have been one of his main areas of strength – defending his rally sizes and belittling hers. Trump went from there to an extended riff on a debunked report that Haitian immigrants in the town of Springfield, Ohio, were abducting and eating their neighbour’s pets. If debates are won and lost on which candidate best takes advantage of issues where they are strong – and defends or deflects on areas of weakness – last Tuesday night tilted in favour of the vice-president. A snap CNN poll of voters watching said that Harris performed better and betting markets said the same.

On abortion, Trump defended his handling of the issue, saying that Americans across the spectrum wanted Roe v Wade abortion protections overturned by the Supreme Court – a statement that polling does not support. He struggled to make his position clear and his answer was at times rambling. Harris, meanwhile, took the opportunity to make an impassioned, personal appeal to families who have faced severe pregnancy complications and have been unable to receive abortion care in states that have banned the procedure – states with “Trump abortion bans”, as she called them. “It’s insulting to the women of America,” she concluded. Time and time again as the evening progressed, Harris put Trump on the defensive with jabs and barbs that he could have ignored but seemingly felt compelled to address. (BBC)

Photo: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris shake hands at the debate. (CNN) …[+]