Harris rattles 'angry' Trump in debate as both candidates seek mantle of change

PHILADELPHIA — Former President Donald Trump found out Tuesday night that he's got a much tougher rival on his hands now.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who took the Democratic nomination when President Joe Biden stepped aside following a catastrophic June debate performance, delivered aggressive attacks and coherent rebuttals. And she baited Trump, who, in one particularly agitated moment, bristled at her attempt to interrupt him — with some allies saying after the debate that he had lost control at a key moment.

"Wait a minute," he scolded, his annoyance clear in his tone and expression. "I'm talking now. You don't mind? ... Does that sound familiar?"

On Fox News, Laura Ingraham said Harris "moved the points a little bit on betting markets." Three Republican sources — a political operative, a Trump ally and a donor — each described Trump as coming off as “angry” during the debate, as Harris pushed his buttons and got him going off on tangents during questions about some of his key policy areas.

Another Trump fundraiser said the former president’s frustration hurt his ability to execute on his own plans and the points he wanted to make — but hoped that voters would feel similar rage.

“Trump is so angry he can’t clearly get his message across,” the Trump fundraiser said. “She’s cool, calm and able to provoke him. I was stressing hearing it. On the other hand. Everyone watching are stressed and angry. Maybe they very well identify with Trump’s anger.”

Trump has made his supporters white-knuckle through bad debate nights before, when he narrowly won the 2016 election and when he narrowly lost the 2020 election. But the former president, who was heartened in the past week by some more favorable public polling than he’s seen recently, missed an opportunity to lock in his good vibes.

After Tuesday's matchup, he approached reporters to criticize the ABC News moderators and call the night a win. He declined to answer questions about committing to a second debate, which Harris' campaign challenged him to do in a statement earlier in the night.

"The polls are very good, I felt very good about it," Trump said.

In a debate that featured serious clashes on the economy, abortion and immigration — as well a rare Harris discourse on racism and Trump repeating an unfounded meme claim that immigrants are eating pets in Ohio — the former president tried to re-create the conditions of June's matchup with Biden.

He spoke about Biden almost as frequently as he addressed Harris, pursuing a strategy that his campaign previewed before Tuesday's clash: an effort to prevent Harris from getting separation from the administration she has served in and from voters' unhappiness with the direction of the country. Harris, eager to portray herself as different from both Trump and Biden, reminded him that the president won't be on the ballot.

“You’re not running against Joe Biden. You’re running against me," Harris said early on in the night. "Cleary I am not Joe Biden, and I am certainly not Donald Trump," she said later. "What I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country."

Harris pledged to ease pocketbook concerns for middle class voters, touting plans to expand subsidies for first-time home-buyers, parents and small businesses. But she dodged a question about whether the nation is better off economically than it was when Biden won the 2020 election.

Trump said Harris has had three-and-a-half years to make the changes she promises to make.

"Why hasn't she done it?" he asked.

He was at his most confident pointing to issues on which Harris has changed her position over the years, including on whether to ban fracking.

"She has no policy. Everything that she believed three years ago and four years ago is out the window," he said. "She’s going to my philosophy. ...  I was going to send her a MAGA hat.”

Harris found her comfort zone in blasting Trump for his positions on abortion. His Supreme Court appointees helped overturn federal protections for the procedure, and he has applauded states for using their newfound power to limit abortion. He said Tuesday that his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, did not consult him before vowing that Trump would veto a national abortion ban if Congress passed one.

"Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade. And they did exactly as he intended," Harris said.

Harris managed to get under Trump’s skin repeatedly — once by zeroing in on the crowds who show up at his rallies. Crowd size is a fixation of Trump, who prides himself on drawing thousands of people to hear his speeches. Harris cast his rallies as dull, confounding events in which Trump spends time talking about the movie character Hannibal Lecter. Bored audiences leave his rallies early, she said.

That raised Trump’s ire — and sent him off spending valuable debate time on an issue that doesn't register with the electorate.

“People don’t leave my rallies,” he said. “We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.”

Though supporters have packed arenas to hear Harris speak, Trump said, “People don’t go to her rallies.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who ran against Trump in the Republican primaries in 2016 and again this year, said the former president “chased every rabbit down every hole” and that Trump should fire his debate-prep team.”

Throughout the debate, Harris needled Trump in ways that undermined his self-image as a popular, strong leader who American’s adversaries fear.

A frequent Trump talking point is that other nations are laughing at America’s current Democratic leaders. Harris turned that argument back on him, saying that world leaders “are laughing at Donald Trump.”

She said that foreign leaders believe Trump is a “disgrace.”

In his defense, Trump cited praise he’s gotten from Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister and a figure who has moved his country in an illiberal direction.

“Let me just tell you about world leaders. Viktor Orban, one of the most respected men - they call him a strong man. He’s a tough person. Smart. Prime Minister of Hungary,” Trump said. He added, “He said the most respected, most feared person is Donald Trump.”