DONALD Trump doubled down on his comments about Kamala Harris’ race insisting he “doesn’t care” if she is Black.
The former president locked horns with his rival Harris on Tuesday night as the pair met for the first time on the debate stage.
Trump was asked if he thought it was appropriate to weigh in on Harris’ racial identity after saying she “happened to turn Black.”
“I don’t, and I don’t care. I don’t care what she is,” the former president responded.
“You make a big deal out of something. I couldn’t care less. Whatever she wants to be is okay with me.
“All I can say is I read where she was not Black, and then I read that she was Black. Either one is okay with me—that’s up to her.”
“I think it’s a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president who has consistently, over the course of his career, attempted to use race to divide the American people,” Harris responded.
The next scheduled debate will be between vice president nominees JD Vance and Tim Walz on October 1.
Read our Trump vs Harris blog for the latest updates…
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JD Vance reacts to debate
Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance was also asked his thoughts on the presidential debate.
“President has been very clear he doesn’t want a national abortion ban, Vance said.
“I think there’s a deeper more important issue here – you had Kamala Harris effectively echoing platitude after platitude.
“Very little actual substance” behind what Harris was saying.”
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Tim Walz shares thoughts on debate
Kamala Harris’ running mate Tim Walz joined ABC after the debate to discuss what he thought.
Walz said “he’s feeling great.”
“I think the country can see what happened tonight” and will “keep pushing forward”
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Closing statements
Harris says Americans have seen two very different views tonight and slams Trumps for having views from the past.
She says as a prosecutor she only cared about the people she worked for and did not ask if they were Republican or Democrat.
Harris highlights how she cares about the American people and that’s the type of president the people need.
Trump says Harris keeps saying she will change things but questions “why she hasn’t done it.”
He says she had three and a half years to do something while being Vice President.
He ends it by calling Harris “The worst vice president in the history of the country.”
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Climate change gets addressed
What would you do to fight climate change each nominee is asked.
Harris says climate change is very real after claiming Trump has called it a “hoax.”
“Over the last four years we have invested $4 trillion into clean energy,” Harris said.
“They lost 10,000 manufacturing jobs,” Trump responds.
Trump goes off on a tangent about Biden and his son receiving money from China.
He calls the current administration “crooked,” and says they are selling America down the drain.
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Kamala Harris shares healthcare plans
Trump gets Harris heated as she responds and says she is not going to ban fracking and is “not taking away peoples guns,” after claiming she and her husband are gun owners.
“We have allowed Medicare to negotiate medical prices and have capped insulin at $35,” Harris says.
“Healthcare should be a right,” she continued.
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Trump is working on healthcare
Trump slams Obamacare and says he either could have let Obamacare saved it and make it as good as it could be during his presidency or let it rot.
He says he decided to make it as good as it could be.
“There are concepts and options we have to do that,” Trump says.
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Trump makes more promises
He says Harris and her administration is “destroying our economy.”
“The worst inflation we have ever had,” Trump said.
Harris says clearly she is not Joe Biden and she offers a generation of new leadership to our country.
“I have a plan to give start-up businesses $50,000 tax reductions,” Harris said.
Trump says Harris has a plan to “defund the police” and “ban fracking in Pennsylvania.”
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‘I don’t care’
Trump says he doesn’t care what Harris’ racial identity is and “it’s up to her,”
“I don’t care,” Trump said with his hands out on his sides.
“This is the same individual who took an ad out in The New York Times calling for the Central Park 5 to be executed,” Harris said about Trump.
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‘I want the war to stop’
Trump says he wants the war between Ukraine and Russia to stop and wants people to stop dying.
He says he has a good relationship with both leaders of Russia, Putin and Ukraine, Zelensky.
“I will get it settled before I am even president elect,” Trump says.
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‘Leaders think they are weak’
Donald Trump says other world leaders think Kamala Harris and Joe Biden are weak.
“Leaders think they are weak,” Trump says.
The statement comes after Harris repeated that world leaders that previously worked with him called him a “disgrace.”
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‘War must end’
Each nominee is asked how they would end the Israel–Hamas war.
Kamala Harris is looking for a cease fire deal and will look to get the hostages out.
Donald Trump says if he was ever president this would’ve never ever happened.
The former president slams Harris for not meeting with Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu.
“She was at her sorority party,” Trump says.
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Praised by Hungary
Donald Trump says the prime minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán praised him when he was president of the United States.
“He does not like her [Kamala Harris],” Trump says.
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‘Fired by 81 million people’
Kamala Harris jokes Trump has been fired by 81 million people after losing the 2020 election.
Harris says military leaders she has talked to that worked with Trump have called him a “disgrace.”
“The American people deserve better,” Harris adds.
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Donald Trump addresses 2020 election
Trump still does not acknowledge his loss to Joe Biden in 2020.
He claims American’s elections are bad.
“We need borders and we need good elections,” Trump says.
Trump tells David Muir when he said “We lost by a whisker,” he was being sarcastic.
Muir says after watching it back he did not detect any sarcasm.
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Harris describes scene at capitol
She says she was at the capitol building when it was stormed on January 6, 2021.
Harris mentions that multiple officers were injured and killed on that day.
“Let’s not go back, lets turn the page,” Harris says.
She says Trump has said the election “will be a bloodbath.”
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Trump goes on tirade
Donald Trump questions when certain people are gonna get prosecuted and uses examples as Minneapolis riots and riots in Seattle.
Trump claims says he has nothing to do with the storming of the capitol incident.
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Trump mentions attempt on his life
Trump goes close to blaming Harris for him “talking a bullet to the head” with Democrat’s “weaponization of the Justice Department.”
It’s the first mention of the assassination attempt.
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Harris mentions Trumps criminal charges
Harris goes hard on Trump’s criminal charges.
The former president looks uncomfortable, but responds saying he’s “winning most of them [the cases],” adding that Democrats have “weaponized the justice department.”
He handles it well.
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Debate viewers joke about Springfield statement
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Chaos at the podium
The debate shows the first sign of going off the rails. Trump claims, “in Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats.”
ABC moderator David Muir responds and says the city manager of Springfield has told the network there has been no evidence of those reports.
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Harris slams Trump rallies
Harris says if you attend a Donald Trump rally he talks about fictional creatures like Hannibal Lecter.
She says if you watch people attending his rallies leave early and get bored.
Kamala added that he never talks about the people and America needs a president who talks about the people.
Trump claps back and says his rallies are some of the biggest in political history.
“She busses people in for her rallies,” Trump fired back.
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Abortion issues continued
Trump responds and says he has been a leader in IVF and then questions Kamala if she would approve abortion in the 8th or 9th month of pregnancy.
Harris tells Trump to respond if he would veto a national abortion ban.
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Nominees address abortion
Trump slams Harris’ pick of Vice President Tim Walz.
The former president says he is leaving it up to the states to decide when an abortion can happen.
Harris says Trump selected three members of the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade which makes it criminal for doctors to complete an abortion.
Some of the states still would not allow an abortion under terms of incest or rape under Trump’s previous administration.
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‘China was paying us’
Trump says Americans won’t have to pay with tariffs and China was paying the United States hundreds of millions.
He calls Harris a “Marxist” and slams her father for being a Marxist professor.
Trump also says she has begun to copy his policies.
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Trump responds
Trump says Harris’ statement is false and says it has been a disaster for the middle class.
He complains about the borders being open and how immigrants are flooding into the country and taking African American and Hispanics jobs.
Harris says her administration has cleaned up Donald Trump’s mess.
