Recap of the Second US Presidential Debate of 2024

Mihir Gupta
Sep 15, 2024
4 min read

Warning: This article contains information that may be sensitive to young viewers.

On Tuesday, 9:00 pm EDT, the second and last presidential debate of 2024 took place in Philadelphia, PA. The candidates facing off in the ABC-hosted event were Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and the moderators were David Muir and Lindsey Davis. Over the course of the debate, the two candidates fought over issues such as abortion and foreign policy. Today, we will explore how it went down.

Contents:

Economy
Abortion
Immigration and Border Security
Jan. 6th Attack/Smooth Power Transitions
Israel-Hamas War
Russia-Ukraine War/NATO
US Withdrawal From Afghanistan
Climate Change

The first topic was the economy.

Harris stated that Trump wanted to implement a greater sales tax, which Trump vehemently denied.
Trump said that he implemented tariffs which were good for the country.
He also said inflation was very low during his presidency (which is true). He also said it was Biden's and Harris' fault that inflation skyrocketed. (This is false because the inflation was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war.)
Harris blamed Trump for the unemployment and the long COVID period in the US in 2020.
She claimed Trump was responsible for the creation of Project 2025. (This is false according to both Trump and the Project 2025 website. However, he has made some statements in the past that implied he was involved).

The second topic was abortion.

Trump stated that Tim Walz, Harris' running mate, is okay with "executing" babies after they are born. (This is false because Democrats do not support that ideology. Also, only 1% of abortions are performed during the second half of pregnancy, and killing a baby is illegal in all states of the US.)
Trump said he would provide exceptions in his ban for cases like "[r*pe], incest, and the life of the mother."
Harris claimed Trump would sign a federal ban on abortion if he was elected, which Trump denied.
She also said she wanted to reinstate Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision in 1973 which said that abortion was a right protected by the Constitution.
Trump supports IVF. (IVF, which stands for in vitro fertilization, is a process in which a mother can get pregnant without having to wait for it naturally.)

The third topic of the evening was immigration and border security.

Trump claimed that in Springfield, Ohio, illegal immigrants were eating residents' pets. (The Springfield government released a statement earlier this week saying this claim is false.)

The next topic was the Jan. 6th attack on the US Capitol building and smooth power transitions in 2025.

Trump said he was not responsible for the incident, which Harris refused to believe.
He claimed former House speaker Nancy Pelosi was responsible for it instead, due to her not accepting his offer of 10,000 National Guard soldiers.
Harris claimed Trump intends to have a "bloodbath" if he does not get elected. (She was referring to a statement he had made during a rally in Vandalia, Ohio: “Now if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s gonna be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars. They’re building massive factories.”)
Trump still claims he won the 2020 election. (This claim was created because some states got really close. However, during recounts, it was shown that Biden did win. In fact, during an investigation, it was revealed that Biden had won by a bigger margin than what was reported.)

The next topic was the Israel-Hamas war.

Harris has taken a different stance on the war than her current superior. During the debate, she said that Israel had "a right to defend itself," but many innocent Palestinians were killed afterward.
Harris said she wants a two-state solution.
Trump claimed Harris "hates Israel," which Harris vehemently denied.

The next topic of the debate was the Russia-Ukraine war and NATO.

Trump said the US provides much more to NATO than European countries.
He also said he has good relations with both Zelenskyy and Putin and could negotiate with them to stop the war, just like former President Carter helped negotiate the end of the Israel-Egypt conflict.
Harris claimed Trump would just surrender to Russia, similar to how the US handled the Vietnamese War.

The next topic was the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, which resulted in 13 US soldiers being killed.

Harris said she supported the withdrawal and explained the benefits for taxpayers.
Harris brought up Trump's invitation to the Taliban to go to Camp David, an important presidential retreat place where important negotiations have taken place.
- Harris blamed Trump for that, saying it was wrong of him to invite terrorists to "[a] place of storied significance for us as Americans".
- Trump said he did that because they were the ones "doing the killing".
Trump claimed that the poor withdrawal from Afghanistan led Russia to invade Ukraine.