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’
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.
