Harris, Trump lock horns over foreign policy, immigration, abortion and other topics in high-stakes debate

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her Republican rival Donald Trump have clashed over foreign policy, immigration, abortion, Russia’s war in Ukraine and other hot-button issues during their first high-stakes televised debate in Philadelphia.

Vice President Harris, 59, and former President Trump, 78, engaged in a searing exchange of barbs during Tuesday’s debate in the battleground state of Pennsylvania amid expectations that the showdown could affect their final sprint to the Nov. 5 general election with polls showing them in a neck-and-neck race.

The two candidates remained poles apart on those tricky election-season issues during the high-profile matchup — in a reflection of the race involving the two starkly different candidates in terms of gender, race, age and policy orientation.

On national security, Harris cast Trump as “weak” and “wrong,” claiming that Trump “admires” dictators who are “rooting for” him.

“It is well known that he said when Russia went into Ukraine, it was brilliant. It is well known that he exchanged love letters with (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un,” she said.

“And it is absolutely well known that these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again because they are so clear they can manipulate you with flattery and favors, and that is why so many military leaders who you have worked with have told me that you are a disgrace,” she added.

Trump hit back, accusing Harris of being “incompetent.”

“The leaders of other countries think that they are weak and incompetent, and they are,” he said.

Harris also said that having traveled around the world in her capacity as vice president, she saw world leaders “laughing at” Trump, as she was trying to depict how the former president has been viewed by foreign countries.

Trump swiftly brushed that charge aside, citing what he said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told him.

“‘China was afraid (of Trump).’ And I don’t like to use the word afraid, but I’m just quoting (Orban),” he said. “‘North Korea was afraid of him.’ Look at what’s going on with North Korea, by the way. … He said, ‘Russia was afraid of him.’”

The two sparred over Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Trump said that if he had been president, the war would have never happened, and that if reelected, he would try to get it settled even before he becomes president.

“I think it’s in the U.S.’ best interest to get this war finished, just get it done and negotiate a deal because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed,” he said.

Harris warned that Trump would just “give it up.”

“If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now,” she said, arguing that the Russian president’s agenda would go beyond Ukraine with “his eye on the rest of Europe.”

Throughout the debate, Harris has been trying to drive home the message that the 2024 election is a choice between the future and the past as she highlighted her leitmotif of a “New Way Forward.”

But Trump was trying to tie her to unpopular aspects of President Joe Biden’s policy efforts, including those related to inflation and immigration.

“Remember this. She is Biden. She is trying to get away from Biden,” Trump said. “The worst inflation we’ve ever had, a horrible economy … because inflation has made it so bad that you can’t get away with it.”

Harris retorted with a laugh, “Clearly, I am not Joe Biden.

“What I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country, one who believes in what is possible, one who brings a sense of optimism about what we can do instead of always disparaging the American people,” she said.

She also underscored that American voters heard two different visions, portraying Trump’s vision as an “attempt to take us backward.”

“We are not going back, and I do believe that the American people know we all have so much more in common than what separates us, and we can chart a new way forward,” she said.

On the topic of immigration and border security, Trump lambasted the Joe Biden administration’s policy, arguing that “millions of people” are pouring into the United States from prisons, mental institutions and insane asylums.

“They are coming in, and they are taking jobs that are occupied right now by African Americans and Hispanics and also unions,” he said. “Unions are going to be affected very soon.”

Harris accused Trump of having “killed” a bipartisan border security bill.

“You know why? Because he’d prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem,” she said. “And understand this comes at a time where the people of our country actually need a leader who engages in solutions, who actually addresses the problems at hand.”

Trump mounted a series of attacks on Harris, calling her a “Marxist” and “the worst vice president in the history of our country.”

Harris parried Trump’s attacks, decrying them as part of the “same old tired playbook, a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling.”

“It is important that we move forward, that we turn the page on this same old tired rhetoric and address the needs of the American people,” she said. “Frankly, the American people are exhausted with the same old tired playbook.”

The debate followed the June matchup between Biden and Trump, where the president performed poorly, aggravating concerns about his old age and leading the octogenarian to step aside and endorse Harris as his replacement for the Democratic ticket — a saga that showed how high the stakes of a televised debate are.

No other presidential debate has been scheduled as of now.