When Vice President Kamala Harris stepped onto the debate stage on Tuesday night to shake hands with former President Donald Trump, it was the first time the two had met in person. It was a brief and rare moment of cordiality in a confrontation marked by false and sometimes bizarre statements from the former president.
ABC hosted the debate, moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, who occasionally fact-checked Trump’s claims. The morning after, on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” program, Trump said it had been a “three against one debate”.
The two presidential candidates addressed a wide range of topics, from employment figures and inflation to abortion and immigration, in exchanges marked by personal attacks.
As noted by PolitiFact, Harris often addressed Trump directly while responding to the moderators’ questions. Trump mostly looked straight ahead. In response to Trump’s claims about the Biden administration’s crime record, Harris mentioned Trump’s criminal conviction in New York, among other accusations.
The moderators asked Trump if he would try to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare), the medical insurance program he promised to repeal and replace during his administration, something he failed to do.
He said that if he were re-elected, “I would only change it if we found something better and less expensive.” He added, “There are concepts and options to do so, and you will hear about them in the not too distant future.”
Trump has been promising to replace Obamacare since his 2015 campaign. During the debate, he claimed he “saved” the ACA by issuing regulations aimed at reducing insurance premiums.
Harris’s previous support for “Medicare for All,” a proposal to replace private health insurance with a government-run healthcare system, prompted questions from the moderators and attacks from Trump.
Abortion was a clear point of contention. Harris referred to state restrictions on the procedure enacted since 2022 as “Trump’s abortion bans,” and said it was immoral to take away a woman’s ability to make decisions about her own body. She also promised to sign any law that restored the protections described in Roe vs. Wade, which the Supreme Court overturned in 2022.
Trump said that as president, he would never face the question of signing a national ban on abortion because the issue was now being settled in the states. “I will not sign a ban,” he said. “There is no reason to sign a ban.”
Trump also once again brought up claims, repeatedly deemed false by PolitiFact and other fact-checking organizations, that Democrats support abortions up to the moment of birth and the “execution” of babies after birth.
Moments after the debate ended, pop superstar Taylor Swift posted on Instagram that she would vote for Harris “because she fights for the rights and causes that I believe need a warrior to defend them.” Swift’s post included a photo of her with her cat and was signed as “Childless Cat Lady,” a reference to comments made by JD Vance, the Republican candidate for vice president.
PolitiFact fact-checked the debate in real-time on a live blog, while Harris and Trump clashed over the economy, immigration, and abortion.
Below are excerpts detailing specific health-related claims:
Trump: “But the governor before said, ‘The baby will be born, and we will decide what to do with the baby’.”
Trump initially mentioned “a governor from West Virginia.” He was referring to Virginia and corrected himself later in the debate.
Former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat and doctor, never said he would sanction the execution of newborns. What he said in a 2019 radio interview is that in rare cases of late-term pregnancy when fetuses are not viable, doctors deliver the baby, keep it comfortable, resuscitate it if the family wishes, and then have a “discussion” with the mother.
The issue is that Northam refused to say what that discussion would entail. Trump puts words in the then-governor’s mouth, saying that doctors would urge the mother to allow the baby to be killed, which is a serious crime in Virginia (and all other states) punishable by a lengthy prison sentence or the death penalty.
Trump: “All legal scholars, all Democrats, all Republicans, liberals, conservatives, wanted [abortion] to go back to the states where people could vote.”
The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision inspired legions of supporters and opponents. Before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it in 2022, numerous legal scholars wrote reports urging the court to uphold the ruling.
Some academics who support abortion rights have criticized the legal foundation of the 1973 decision, saying that other constitutional arguments, based on equal protection, would have provided a stronger case. But legal experts, including some who held this view, said those academics would never have advocated for overturning Roe on this basis.
Trump: Regarding the Affordable Care Act, “I saved it.”
False.
During 2016, Trump campaigned to repeal and replace the ACA. While president, he attempted to repeal it and failed.
But his administration pushed several policies that hindered its reach and effectiveness, including cutting millions of dollars in advertising and outreach funding. He cut subsidies to insurance companies offering coverage on the exchanges. He also took regulatory actions to allow for cheaper and less comprehensive health plans, such as short-term health plans that did not meet ACA requirements.
During the Trump administration, ACA enrollment declined and the number of Americans without insurance increased by 2.3 million from 2016 to 2019, including 726,000 children, according to the Census Bureau.
Trump: Harris “wants everyone to be in a government health insurance” for healthcare.
This is misleading.
Harris once co-sponsored a bill to expand Medicare to Americans of all ages, but she currently does not support this proposal.
In April 2019, Harris became one of the 14 original co-sponsors of the Medicare for All Act of 2019 sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders (independent from Vermont). The legislation would have established a national healthcare insurance program administered by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The bill would have created an automatic federal healthcare insurance program for all Americans, resembling socialized medicine systems in countries like the UK.
Harris supported the bill as she prepared to run in the 2020 presidential primaries when many candidates believed that Democratic base voters wanted the most liberal positions possible.
However, Medicare for All failed to advance to a Senate vote. After her 2020 candidacy ended, Harris focused on strengthening the ACA instead of pushing for Medicare for All.
