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Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will finally square up in their first televised debate of the 2024 election cycle on Tuesday evening in what promises to be a defining moment in the race for the White House.
The Republican presidential nominee will seek to associate his Democratic rival with the perceived policy failings of Joe Biden’s administration, hoping to blame her for illegal immigration at America’s southern border and for the high cost of living as the US economy continues its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
For her part, Vice President Harris, a veteran prosecutor and former California attorney general, will hope to draw attention to Trump’s disastrous record in office, culpability for inspiring the Capitol riot of January 6 2021 and long history of lawlessness, dishonesty and dysfunction.
After much back and forth, the two candidates have agreed to the same set of rules for tonight’s encounter on ABC News that Trump and President Biden used during the first debate back on June 27, which ultimately spelled the end for the commander-in-chief’s pursuit of a second term.
That means muted microphones, no pre-written notes, no live audience, no sitting and no speaking with campaign staff during commercial breaks.
What we can expect from Harris and Trump in tonight’s debate
Here’s John Bowden with a major preview of what we can expect from the two candidates in Philadelphia this evening, who are both likely to attempt to tie each other to their less popular allies and policies.
Ex-Trump officials to join Kamala Harris campaign at tonight’s debate
The Democratic entourage in Philadelphia tonight will include two faces all-too-familiar to Donald Trump: Anthony Scaramucci and Olivia Troye.
“The Mooch”, now a political commentator and podcaster, was Trump’s short-lived White House communications director in 2017 (as you will no doubt recall) while Troye was Mike Pence’s homeland security adviser and recently spoke out against the Republican ticket in person at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The two surrogates will again trash Trump before tonight’s big showdown.
Announcing their appearance, the Harris-Walz campaign’s communications director Michael Tyler said: “Listen, don’t take it from us: Take it from the ones who know Donald Trump the best and who are telling the American people exactly how unfit Trump is to serve as president.
“They saw firsthand the abject failure of Donald Trump’s presidency.”
Angry JD Vance doubles down on immigrant smear: ‘Keep the cat memes flowing’
“It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false,” Trump’s cross-sounding running mate concedes in an extended rant on X about his Haitian-immigrants-eating-pets nonsense being met with ridicule by the media.
Getting sweary and less-than-presidential, Vance continues: “If you’re a reporter, or an activist, who didn’t give a s*** about these suffering Americans until yesterday, I have some advice: Spare your outrage for your fellow citizens suffering under Kamala Harris’s policies. Be outraged at yourself for letting this happen.”
Here’s Rhian Lubin on local police in Springfield, Ohio, debunking their senator’s garbage.
Trump and Harris dead level in latest national poll
A New York Times/Siena College poll released over the weekend placed Donald Trump one point ahead of Kamala Harris on 48 percentage points to 47.
But, according to a newer Pew Research survey, that gap has already been closed, with both the Republican and Democratic candidates on 49 per cent each.
A dead heat!
Harris’s support consists of 29 per cent of voters who say they would “strongly” support her candidacy and 20 per cent who only “moderately” lean towards her.
Trump, meanwhile, has a seemingly more loyal base, with 31 per cent “strongly” supporting him plus another 18 per cent “moderately” in favor, according to Pew.
Here’s Alicja Hagopian with all the latest on the polls.
CNN host tears apart MAGA 2020 election conspiracy with ‘flat Earthers’ comparison
Anderson Cooper not holding back here.
Trump claims Zuckerberg told him ‘there’s no way I can vote for a Democrat’ after assassination attempt
Donald Trump has claimed that Mark Zuckerberg told him in a phone call shortly after the assassination attempt on the former president that there’s “no way I can vote for a Democrat”.
Trump told New York Magazine that the Meta CEO called him after he was shot in the ear at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“Mark Zuckerberg called up and said, ‘I’ve never supported a Republican before, but there’s no way I can vote for a Democrat in this election,’” Trump told the magazine.
“He’s a guy that, his parents, everybody was always Democrat. He said, ‘I will never vote for the people running against you after watching what you did.’”
Zuckerberg has previously spoken about the attempted assassination of Trump.
“Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life,” the tech entreprenuer told Bloomberg a week after the Butler rally.
Katie Hawkinson reports.
Only Harris has power to ‘move the needle’ with debate performance, pundit argues
Mark McKinnon, former adviser to George W Bush and John McCain, urges Kamala Harris to “kick some ass” tonight and impress her personality on the American people, an option not open to Trump who is far too well known to surprise anyone.
On CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront last night, Van Jones said of Harris: “This is a job interview for her.
“She‘s got the class clown sitting next to her – doing raspberries, throwing spitballs – but at the end of the day, the audience is not Donald Trump, and the audience is not the two interviewers from ABC.
“The audience is the American people who are ‘Kamala curious’.
“They’re open, but they don’t know enough yet for her to close a deal.”
Back on Morning Joe, ex-Missouri senator Claire McCaskill urges Harris to be “the leading character” in tonight’s showdown, not a supporting player.
Speaking of pundits, here’s James Liddell on the legendary James Carville’s warning for Trump.
Project 2025 mastermind says he has visited Mar-a-Lago ‘several’ times
Paul Dans’s admission here in conversation with Kaitlan Collins on CNN last night does not do Donald Trump any favours, as the Republican presidential nominee continues to insist he knows nothing about conservative plans to rejig the federal government to their liking, despite their being plotted with help from a number of officials formerly part of his administration.
Melania demands ‘truth’ behind husband’s assassination attempt
In the latest odd promotional video for her expensive new book, the former first lady (now looking almost AI-generated) hints vaguely at a conspiracy theory surrounding her husband’s shooting in Butler two months ago.
Joe Scarborough mocks JD Vance for cat ‘obsession’ over Haitian immigrant smear
Trump’s running mate joined his fellow online conservatives yesterday in spreading a racist and already-debunked rumor that illegal immigrants from Haiti are abducting and eating pets in an Ohio town.
Ridiculing the story on MSNBC’s Morning Joe earlier, Scarborough asked of Vance: “What is this guy’s obsession about cats? First he hates them, then he likes them, then he’s trying to save them. I don’t get it.”
Here’s Mike Bedigan’s report on the original furore.
Source: independent.co.uk
