Eight weeks before the vote in the United States, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris will now face each other in the presidential debate. At the beginning of the debate, Harris and Trump shook hands after being introduced on stage. This ends an eight-year streak without handshakes on the presidential debate stage.

Interestingly, this is also the first time the two leaders have met, and Ms Harris pointedly introduced herself to Mr Trump.

Asked to respond to a question about the economy and the cost of living, a topic high on voters’ agendas, Ms. Harris spoke of her middle-class background and her plans to support families and small businesses if elected to the top job. She took aim at Mr. Trump, saying he would provide tax cuts to “billionaires and big corporations” and also reminded viewers of the state he left the economy in when Joe Biden took over. At one point, Ms. Harris said: “Donald Trump has no plan for you.

As the debate heated up, Trump began criticizing Harris for the Biden administration’s immigration record. She responded, “You’re going to hear the same old, tired playbook: a lot of lies and grievances and name-calling.”

“Let’s talk about what Donald Trump left us. Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression. Donald Trump left us the worst public health epidemic in a century. Donald Trump left us the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War. And what we’ve done is cleaned up Donald Trump’s mess,” she said.

At one point, Trump went on a personal attack. “She’s a Marxist. Her father was a Marxist.” Harris was seen laughing throughout. The former president complained that he wasn’t getting enough credit for the “great job” he’s done during the Covid pandemic. “We’ve done a phenomenal job with the pandemic,” he said.

Moving on to the main topic of abortion, Harris warned that Donald Trump would ban abortions if he were to return as president. “She’s lying,” he responded. Trump seemed baffled by the question of whether he would veto a national abortion ban. He said such a bill would not pass Congress.

When the focus shifted to immigration, Harris said that Trump would talk a lot about the topic. She invited people to attend Trump’s rallies because “it’s really interesting to watch.” She said that at the former president’s rallies, he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter and that people are starting to leave his rallies because they’re bored. An irate Trump responded that no one goes to Harris’ rallies. Trump then began talking about a conspiracy theory on social media about Haitian immigrants eating dogs in Ohio, which prompted a laugh from Harris as she shook her head.