This combination of photos shows L-R, US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and former US President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. | Photo credit: AFP
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will compete In their first and possibly final televised debate on Tuesday (September 10, 2024), there will be a potentially game-changing moment for the blockbuster US presidential election of 2024.
The stakes couldn’t be higher for the Democratic vice president and the Republican former president, with hundreds of millions of American voters excited to see them finally face off.
A minor mistake or omission could shift the balance of one of the most dramatic White House races in American political history, with the two rivals neck-and-neck in the polls less than two months before election day.
For Vice President Harris, 59, it will be a crucial chance to win over voters who still know little about her as the honeymoon fades after she abruptly replaced President Joe Biden in July.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump, 78, will seek to corner Ms Harris on issues such as the economy and immigration, but he may also use racist and sexist slurs he hurled at her during the campaign.
The two candidates will meet in person for the first time. ABC News During the debate in Pennsylvania, the possibility of a fierce confrontation has increased.
“This debate could go down in the history books. Get the popcorn out,” said Andrew Koneschusky, former press secretary for U.S. Senate leader Chuck Schumer.
Read this also | Trump continues personal attacks against Harris, claims she ‘looks better’ than him
‘No destination’
Ms Harris, the first female, Black and South Asian vice president of the United States, arrived in Philadelphia on the eve of the presidential race. ABC News After five days of intense practice sessions at a hotel, the debate was over.
Even one of his aides reportedly dressed up in a Trump-style boxy suit and long tie to put his best foot forward on his rival.
Trump’s team said they had taken a more relaxed approach ahead of their seventh presidential debate, deciding to arrive in Philadelphia a few hours before the debate and keep their preparations limited.
This debate may lack the loud noise of previous years because, at the request of the Trump team, the microphones of both candidates will be turned off when they are not speaking.
But it would still be a potential twist – as well as a contrast in genres.
In one corner sits a former prosecutor who has in the past harshly disparaged his opponents in debates, including Biden himself and Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence.
“There’s no limit to how low they’ll stoop,” Harris said in a radio interview that aired Monday. “They’ll probably tell a lot of lies.”
‘Like a boxer’
In the other corner is Donald Trump, the most ruthless knifeman in American politics, convicted of falsifying business records to cover up a porn star scandal and accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election.
“You can’t prepare for President Trump,” said his spokesman, Jason Miller. “Imagine a boxer trying to prepare for Floyd Mayweather or Muhammad Ali.”
In many ways, Ms. Harris has a lot to prove in this debate.
His campaign suffered a setback over the weekend, when a major New York Times/Siena poll showed Trump leading 48 to 47%, with the two candidates effectively tied in a half-dozen key battleground states.
He will be under pressure to clarify his so far vague policy manifesto to voters, who according to a NYT survey say they need to know more about him.
Former reality TV star Trump is by far the most experienced presidential debater, having debated six times, but swing voters could be upset if he insults a candidate seeking to become America’s first female president.
Trump is still upset that his opponent, 81-year-old Biden, performed so poorly in the last debate that he was forced to withdraw from the race.
Published – September 10, 2024 08:12 am IST