The Trump-Harris debate ahead of the 2024 presidential election was filled with heated exchanges and bold claims from both sides. As the candidates tackled issues ranging from the January 6 Capitol riot to immigration, abortion, and economic policies, it became crucial to separate fact from fiction. This article examines the most significant statements made during the debate, providing a detailed fact-check on key points raised by both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
Contents
- Are Haitian Immigrants in Ohio ‘Eating Pets’?
- Trump’s Claim: “We Had No Inflation”
- Trump’s Claim About Harris’ Father Being a Marxist Professor
- The Opportunity Economy: Harris vs. Trump
- Border Security Bill
- The So-Called ‘Trump Abortion Bans’
- ‘Dictator on Day One’ Taken Out of Context
- Harris: No Women Are Getting Late-Term Abortions
- Allegations of ‘Weaponization’ of the DOJ and Prosecutions
- ‘Tax Cut for Billionaires and Big Corporations’
- Trump’s Thank You to Xi During COVID-19
- Presidential Immunity
- Harris: Trump Would ‘Terminate the Constitution’
- In Charlottesville, ‘Very Fine People’
- Trump: Harris Wants to ‘Defund the Police’
- ‘‘Violent Mob’
- Trump ‘Negotiated the Weakest Deal Ever with Afghanistan’
- Transgender Operations for Illegal Immigrant Prisoners
- Project 2025: ‘I Have Nothing to Do’ With It
- Trump: Overturning Dobbs Was ‘What Everybody Wanted’
Are Haitian Immigrants in Ohio ‘Eating Pets’?
During the debate, Trump made the controversial claim that Haitian immigrants who had recently settled in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets. This assertion has not been confirmed.
“They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” Trump said. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”
As of now, no official reports have substantiated these claims. Springfield police issued a statement saying, “There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.” However, a phone call recorded by local police revealed that a resident reported seeing a group of Haitian immigrants carrying four geese in Springfield two weeks prior. The caller described seeing “about four of them” holding the birds, according to a report by The Federalist.
@EndWokeness (End Wokeness) Twitter Sept 8, 2024 https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1832773191976014217
Further concerns were raised by local residents during a City Council meeting, where complaints were made about Haitian immigrants allegedly eating ducks, seagulls, and even roadkill. Under the Biden administration, an estimated 20,000 Haitian immigrants have been resettled in Springfield, a city with a population of about 58,000.
Trump’s Claim: “We Had No Inflation”
Former President Trump repeatedly asserted during the debate that there was “no inflation” during his presidency. While it’s true that inflation was lower during Trump’s time in office compared to the Biden-Harris administration, inflation did indeed rise while Trump was president.
According to Forbes, prices increased by 6% during Trump’s first 42 months in office, whereas under Biden, prices surged by 19% over a similar period. Inflation under Biden peaked at a four-decade high of 9% in 2022. While the increase under Biden was notably faster, Trump’s claim that there was no inflation at all during his term is inaccurate.
Trump’s Claim About Harris’ Father Being a Marxist Professor
During the debate, Trump brought up a claim about Kamala Harris’ father, stating that he was a Marxist professor. This claim has been fact-checked as “true” by Snopes following a viral post from political economist Maxine Fowé on the platform X (formerly Twitter).
@maxinefowe (Maxine Fowe) – Twitter Jul 21, 2024 https://x.com/maxinefowe/status/1815138861904703532
Donald Harris, Kamala’s father, is a retired professor of economics from Stanford University. He authored the 1978 book “Capital Accumulation and Income Distribution,” which explores ideas grounded in Karl Marx’s theory of capital. The Economist wrote about Harris’ work, highlighting his critique of capitalist systems and the risks of allowing profit-driven entities to dictate economic direction. The New Yorker also referenced Donald Harris as “a renowned Marxist economist from Jamaica who taught at Stanford University for decades.”
The Opportunity Economy: Harris vs. Trump
Vice President Harris stated during the debate that she was the only candidate advocating for an opportunity economy, focusing on lifting the middle class. She emphasized her middle-class upbringing and criticized Trump’s economic policies, which she claimed were aimed at providing tax cuts primarily for the wealthiest Americans. “I was raised in a middle-class home,” Harris said. “And I am actually the only person on the stage who has a plan to lift up the middle class and the working people, and when you look at his economic plan, it’s all about tax breaks for the richest people.”
However, Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), passed in 2017, benefited many middle-income earners. According to FactCheck.org, 82% of middle-income households received an average tax cut of $1,050. Additionally, job opportunities surged following the implementation of the TCJA. By the end of 2019, about 83,000 more Americans voluntarily left their jobs in pursuit of better opportunities, a notable improvement over previous trends.
Even the Biden-Harris administration’s own Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, acknowledged that the 2017 tax reform cut taxes for all income levels, including middle-class Americans.
Border Security Bill
With immigration and border security among the top concerns of voters in the 2024 election, it was expected that the debate moderators would bring up this issue early on. Moderator David Muir questioned Harris on why the Biden administration waited “until six months before the election” to take significant action on the border, alluding to Biden’s recent executive order intended to limit illegal crossings.
Harris responded by highlighting her record of prosecuting “transnational criminal organizations,” and directed criticism at Trump for his opposition to a controversial border bill that had twice failed in the Senate.
The vice president claimed that the bill “would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl” into the U.S. and would have provided “more resources to prosecute transnational criminal organizations.”
The proposed legislation, which failed twice, directed the Department of Homeland Security to close the southern border for seven consecutive days if there was an average of 5,000 or more illegal encounters daily.
Despite these measures, the bill would have still allowed more than 1.8 million illegal immigrants per year to enter the U.S. under its terms. Harris blamed Trump for its failure, asserting that he “got on the phone” and urged Republican lawmakers to block the bill.
Many Republicans, including Trump, opposed the bill, arguing that it would codify harmful border policies. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) characterized the bill as enshrining “Joe Biden’s open border.” Meanwhile, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) played a leading role in negotiating with Democrats on the terms of the bill. Although Lankford and a few other Republicans, such as Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Mitt Romney (R-Utah), voted to advance the bill, House Speaker Mike Johnson stated that it would have been “dead on arrival” in the House, even if the Senate had passed it.
The So-Called ‘Trump Abortion Bans’
Harris labeled state-level abortion restrictions as “Trump abortion bans,” attributing them to the three Supreme Court justices Trump appointed, who were instrumental in overturning Roe v. Wade in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
“Donald Trump hand-selected three justices of the Supreme Court with the intention that they would overturn Roe,” Harris said.
Trump stated that he supports exceptions to abortion bans in cases of rape, incest, or threats to the mother’s life. However, Harris countered that “in over 20 states, there are Trump abortion bans which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care,” referencing state laws restricting access to abortion. She also noted that many of these laws do not allow exceptions for rape or incest.
Trump emphasized that the decision on abortion now lies with individual states, following the Dobbs ruling. He argued that a federal abortion ban is unnecessary because “each individual state is voting. It’s the vote of the people now. It’s not tied up in the federal government.”
Although Trump appointed the justices responsible for overturning Roe, the specific abortion laws passed since then have been crafted and enacted by individual states, not by Trump himself. His judicial appointees simply made it possible for states to make their own determinations on the issue.
‘Dictator on Day One’ Taken Out of Context
During the debate, Harris accused Trump of admiring autocrats, claiming he had stated that he would be a dictator on “Day One” if elected president again. Harris was referencing a town hall event Trump participated in on December 5 with Fox News host Sean Hannity. During that event, Hannity jokingly asked Trump if he had any intentions of becoming a dictator if reelected.
Hannity asked, “To be clear, do you in any way have any plans whatsoever if reelected president to abuse power, to break the law, to use the government to go after people?”
Trump responded by deflecting the question toward the Biden-Harris administration, saying, “Like they’re doing right now? In the history of our country, what’s happened to us, again, has never happened before, over nonsense, over nothing, made up charges.”
In a lighthearted manner, Trump then referenced Hannity’s question: “I love this guy. He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I say, ‘No, no, no, other than Day One.’ We are closing the border and drilling, drilling, drilling. Other than that, I am not a dictator.” His response was intended as a joke, but the media has since highlighted the comment as a serious statement.
Trump later addressed the issue in a Fox News interview, clarifying that his comment had been taken out of context by the media, who misinterpreted it as a genuine declaration of intent.
Harris: No Women Are Getting Late-Term Abortions
Harris made a bold statement during the debate, asserting that no women are carrying their pregnancies to the ninth month and then choosing to have an abortion. This claim came in response to a question regarding her stance on abortion limitations, where she emphasized that her position was to restore Roe v. Wade.
In making this statement, Harris acknowledged that she supports the option for late-term abortions, but she denies that these procedures are actually taking place.
However, it is important to note that, as of June 28, six states and Washington, D.C., have no restrictions on abortion throughout all stages of pregnancy. Additionally, 11 states have ballot initiatives that would allow abortion up until birth, provided that a healthcare professional deems it necessary for the mother’s well-being.
In 2019, Harris voted against a bill that would have required medical care for infants born alive during botched abortion procedures. Her voting record and statements on abortion policy reflect her consistent support for reproductive rights without significant limitations.
Allegations of ‘Weaponization’ of the DOJ and Prosecutions
When the topic of criminal investigations against him was brought up, Trump responded by accusing the Biden-Harris administration of using the Justice Department to target him and other political opponents.
“Every one of those cases was started by them against their political opponents, and I’m winning most of them, and I’ll win the rest on appeal,” Trump claimed. He added: “Those cases, it’s called weaponization. They weaponized the Justice Department.”
Trump specifically pointed to the investigations being handled by the Department of Justice, ranging from the case involving classified documents to his challenges against the outcome of the 2020 election. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate Trump’s role in both cases.
While the federal prosecutions were under the DOJ’s purview, Trump alleged that state-level cases in Georgia and New York were also influenced by the Biden administration. For instance, Matthew Colangelo, a former senior official in Biden’s Justice Department, joined the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in December 2022 to work on the Trump case, according to The New York Times. Colangelo had previously worked with New York Attorney General Letitia James, leading the investigation that evolved into Trump’s civil fraud case.
In Georgia, the case against Trump over his attempts to challenge the 2020 election results was led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Wade’s billing records show he attended meetings at the White House before the indictments were handed down, further fueling allegations that the case was politically motivated.
‘Tax Cut for Billionaires and Big Corporations’
Harris criticized Trump’s tax policies during the debate, particularly his previous tax cuts while promoting her own tax plan, which includes a $6,000 child tax credit and a $50,000 tax deduction for startup small businesses. She accused Trump of focusing solely on tax cuts for billionaires and large corporations.
“My opponent on the other hand, his plan, is to do what he has done before, which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations, which will result in $5 trillion to America’s deficit,” Harris claimed.
She also referred to what she called a “Trump sales tax,” although Trump has not advocated for a direct sales tax. Instead, he has supported tariffs on foreign goods, which critics argue raise prices and function similarly to a tax on consumers.
Harris’s reference to Trump’s previous tax policies likely alludes to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which reduced corporate tax rates and provided substantial tax relief to individuals. Contrary to Harris’s claim that these cuts only benefited the wealthy, the TCJA also led to wage growth for middle-class workers, with average wages rising by approximately $1,400 in the years following the corporate tax reductions. Additionally, job openings increased in 2018, and by the end of 2019, about 83,000 more Americans voluntarily left their jobs for better opportunities compared to pre-reform trends.
Census Bureau data from 2019 showed real household income hit a record high, with an increase of $4,400 in one year, representing a 6.8% growth rate. IRS data also indicated that average effective tax rates dropped by 9.3% in 2018, with the largest tax cuts benefiting lower-income Americans, while the wealthiest 1% experienced smaller reductions.
Trump’s Thank You to Xi During COVID-19
During the debate, Harris brought up Trump’s comments on China’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, asserting that Trump had publicly thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for his efforts.
Harris said, “What Donald Trump did with COVID, he actually thanked President Xi for what he did during COVID. Look at his tweet, ‘Thank you, President Xi, exclamation point.’”
Harris was referring to a tweet Trump posted on January 24, 2020, in which he praised China’s early efforts to contain the virus: “China has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American people, I want to thank President Xi!”
At the time of Trump’s tweet, the first known COVID-19 cases had just emerged in the U.S., and the global impact of the virus was not yet fully understood. However, Trump later adopted a much more critical stance toward China’s handling of the pandemic.
By September 2020, Trump publicly condemned China during a speech at the United Nations, stating, “In the earliest days of the virus, China locked down travel domestically while allowing flights to leave China and infect the world. China condemned my travel ban on their country, even as they canceled domestic flights and locked citizens in their homes.” Trump’s later statements were aimed at emphasizing China’s role in spreading the virus globally while defending his administration’s early travel restrictions.
This shift in tone reflected Trump’s evolving approach to the pandemic, which he initially sought to manage diplomatically but later blamed heavily on China’s actions.
Presidential Immunity
Harris claimed during the debate, “The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that the former president would essentially be immune from any misconduct if he were to enter the White House again.”
This interpretation of the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States is inaccurate. The ruling did not provide blanket immunity for Trump or any president.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing the majority opinion in a 6-3 decision, stated, “The president enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official. The President is not above the law.” Roberts emphasized that while a president cannot be prosecuted for exercising core constitutional powers, immunity applies only to official acts, and every president is entitled to “presumptive immunity” in such cases. However, this protection is limited and extends to any occupant of the Oval Office, not exclusively to Trump.
Harris: Trump Would ‘Terminate the Constitution’
Harris asserted that Trump had “openly said he would terminate the Constitution of the United States.”
This claim likely stems from a 2022 post by Trump on Truth Social in which he addressed the 2020 election results. Trump wrote, “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
However, Trump later clarified his statement, saying, “The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to ‘terminate’ the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES.” His original post referred to rules and regulations in the context of the election but was widely misinterpreted as a call to terminate the entire Constitution, a claim he has since denied.
In Charlottesville, ‘Very Fine People’
Harris reiterated the often-cited claim that Trump referred to white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, as “very fine people” following the 2017 riots.
President Joe Biden similarly referenced this claim during a previous debate, despite it being debunked by fact-checkers, including Snopes. In his statement, Trump said, “There were very fine people on both sides,” referring to the protesters and counter-protesters at the event. However, Trump also explicitly stated in the same address that he was “not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists because they should be condemned totally.” This clarification has often been overlooked in discussions of the Charlottesville comments.
Trump: Harris Wants to ‘Defund the Police’
During the debate, Trump accused Harris of supporting the defunding of the police, referencing her involvement in raising funds to bail out individuals arrested during the 2020 protests following the death of George Floyd. Trump claimed that Harris “bailed out rioters who killed people” and “burned down Minneapolis.”
He referred to Harris’s efforts to promote the Minnesota Freedom Fund, encouraging followers to “help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.” This occurred after protests, some of which turned violent, erupted in the wake of Floyd’s death. However, fact-checkers have established that Harris did not personally donate to the fund, though her advocacy helped direct over $40 million to the organization.
In an interview with CNN in June 2020, Harris voiced support for the broader “defund the police” movement, stating, “This whole movement is about rightly saying, we need to take a look at these budgets and figure out whether it reflects the right priorities.” She also commended then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s decision to reduce the city’s police budget by $150 million, reallocating those funds to social services. This has been cited as evidence of her alignment with the movement’s goals to redirect funds from law enforcement to community-based programs.
‘‘Violent Mob’
Harris addressed the events of January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to prevent the certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory.
She said, “Donald Trump left us the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”
However, this statement is misleading. The U.S. Capitol had been attacked multiple times before January 6, including incidents after the Civil War. In 1814, British forces burned the Capitol during the War of 1812. The House chamber took five years to rebuild after that event. In 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists—Andres Figueroa Cordero, Lolita Lebrón, Irvin Flores Rodríguez, and Rafael Cancel Miranda—fired guns from the House Gallery, wounding five lawmakers. Unlike the rioters of January 6, these individuals were armed.
In 1971, the Weather Underground, a domestic terrorist group, bombed the Capitol, causing $300,000 worth of damage but no casualties. This same group returned in 1983 to set off another bomb in the Capitol’s North Wing, again without fatalities.
Harris continued by saying, “On that day, the president of the United States incited a violent mob to attack our nation’s Capitol, to desecrate our nation’s Capitol.” She referenced the approximately 140 law enforcement officers injured during the riots, some of whom later died indirectly due to the day’s events. While Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was initially thought to have died from an attack, he actually passed away from natural causes, though the day’s stress may have contributed to his strokes. Rioter Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by Capitol Police, and another rioter was reportedly trampled.
Despite these claims, Trump was not charged with inciting insurrection. Instead, Special Counsel Jack Smith secured an indictment against Trump on charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of an official proceeding.
Trump ‘Negotiated the Weakest Deal Ever with Afghanistan’
Harris criticized Trump for negotiating what she called “the weakest deal ever with Afghanistan,” referring to the U.S. agreement with the Taliban.
It is true that Trump’s administration negotiated with the Taliban and invited them to Camp David, but the deal was conditions-based. Trump made it clear that the Taliban would be held accountable for their actions under the agreement. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo emphasized that Trump warned Mullah Baradar, the senior Taliban negotiator, that any threat or harm to Americans would result in severe retaliation.
“We were very clear about the things we were prepared to do to protect American lives,” Pompeo said. “Since we began those negotiations in February 2020, there wasn’t a single American killed by the Taliban. We had established a deterrence model.”
Harris and Democrats have blamed Trump for the Taliban’s swift takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, which followed Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops. Thirteen American service members were killed during a bombing attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 26, 2021. Trump responded to Biden’s blame by stating that the issue wasn’t the withdrawal itself but “the grossly incompetent way we left.”
Transgender Operations for Illegal Immigrant Prisoners
During the debate, Trump accused Harris of supporting transgender operations for illegal immigrants in prison, stating, “Now she wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison.”
@Tyler2ONeil (Tyler O’Neil) https://x.com/Tyler2ONeil/status/1833686911535174001
Although Harris has not directly addressed this issue in the 2024 election, she did support it in 2019. While running for president, she told the American Civil Liberties Union that she would use her executive power to ensure transgender and non-binary individuals, including those in prison or immigration detention, had access to necessary medical and surgical care. As California’s attorney general, Harris advocated for transgender surgeries for inmates, calling transition treatment a “medical necessity.”
Under the Biden-Harris administration, the federal Bureau of Prisons reissued a Transgender Offender manual, originally introduced during the Obama administration. It provides guidelines for offering transgender surgeries to prisoners after at least one year of compliance with medical and mental health services. In January 2023, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke filed a statement supporting “gender-affirming care” for prisoners, including those in immigration detention, under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Project 2025: ‘I Have Nothing to Do’ With It
Harris warned of a plan called Project 2025, claiming Trump intends to implement it if elected again. However, Trump distanced himself from the project during the debate, saying, “No. 1, I have nothing to do … I have nothing to do with Project 2025. That’s out there. I haven’t read it. I don’t want to read it, purposely, I’m not going to read it.”
The Heritage Foundation launched Project 2025 in April 2023, long before Trump had become the 2024 Republican nominee. The project aims to restore constitutional governance by limiting the powers of the administrative state, but Trump has repeatedly denied involvement with its creation or implementation.
Trump: Overturning Dobbs Was ‘What Everybody Wanted’
During the debate, Trump asserted that “everybody wanted” the Supreme Court to return abortion laws to the states, a reference to the Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
While Trump’s statement emphasized states’ rights, polling data contradicts his claim that “everybody wanted” the decision. According to a July 2022 Pew Research Center poll, 62% of Americans disapproved of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe. A 2022 Marist poll found that 55% of Americans identify as “pro-choice.”
However, the Marist poll also revealed that most Americans favor some restrictions on abortion. Seventy-one percent supported legal limits, even though they may not have agreed with the Dobbs decision. Only 17% of respondents believed abortion should be available throughout the entirety of pregnancy, while others supported varying levels of restrictions, including first-trimester limits or exceptions only for cases of rape, incest, or life-threatening conditions for the mother.
State laws now reflect a diversity of views on abortion, allowing for different regulations based on local preferences. While Trump’s assertion wasn’t entirely accurate, the shift of abortion laws to state control may align more closely with the varying opinions across the country.
The Lasting Impact of the Harris-Trump Debate on the 2024 Election
The debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump has left a significant mark on the 2024 presidential race. With both candidates presenting sharply contrasting views on key issues, the event provided a platform for voters to see how each candidate envisions the future of the United States. Trump’s defense of his record on the economy, immigration, and taxation, paired with his claims of a “weaponized” Department of Justice, contrasted sharply with Harris’s focus on middle-class upliftment, border security, and abortion rights.
This debate highlighted the deep divisions within the American electorate, especially on matters such as immigration policy, the economy, and the role of government in personal freedoms. For undecided voters, the candidates’ performances may serve as a deciding factor in the upcoming November 5 election, while for party loyalists, it further solidified their candidate of choice.
As the final days of the campaign approach, the key points raised during this debate will continue to shape the narrative surrounding the 2024 election, especially as the candidates focus on rallying support in crucial battleground states. Whether this debate was enough to sway the election remains to be seen, but it has certainly provided a clearer picture of what is at stake for the nation.
