Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Tuesday (US local time) fought to sway the 2024 presidential election on the biggest stage in US politics. As Trump said that he could mediate a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine on behalf of the US, Harris accused the former of appreciating “dictators,” alluding to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
She said that Trump would be eaten alive by Putin for lunch and that the former US President was attempting to sow discord and divert attention from the truth. "You see what we have done for the ability of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the independence of his country, what you think is a friendship for a dictator, Putin will eat you up for lunch," Harris said, stating that if Trump were Putin, he would be sitting inside Ukraine.
According to Harris, if Trump were still in office, "Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe, starting with Poland." She emphasized the swiftness with which Trump would yield to Putin "for the sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch."
Top quotes from Kamala Harris
- Kamala Harris slammed her presidential rival Donald Trump for not protecting American interests against China, and criticized his public praise for Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the global pandemic. “Under Donald Trump’s presidency, he ended up selling American chips to China to help them improve and modernize their military,” Harris said during a televized debate on Tuesday evening.
- In her remarks, vice president Kamala Harris reminded the audience of her presence at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, the day when supporters of then-President Donald Trump violently stormed the building in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. "I was there, and on that day, the president of the United States incited a violent mob to attack our nation's capital, to desecrate our nation's capital," she said.
- Kamala Harris criticized Donald Trump's stance on abortion, calling it demeaning to American women. Harris said Trump's abortion policy is 'insulting to the women of America'. The Vice President cautioned the audience, saying, "You're going to hear a bunch of lies."
- Vice president Kamala Harris asserted that mainstream economists believe her economic plan would lead to economic growth, while Donald Trump's plan would result in a contraction of the economy.
- Harris declared, "I pledge to you when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v Wade, as President of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law."
- Harris continued by stressing the importance of reproductive rights, stating, "I think the American people believe that certain freedoms, in particular, the freedom to make decisions about one's own body should not be made by the government."
Top quotes from Donald Trump
- "She hates Israel. If she's president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now," Trump said during the presidential debate. "Israel will be gone."
- Trump said, "In Springfield, they're eating the dogs -- the people that came in -- they're eating the cats, they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country." However, these accusations were refuted by the Springfield city manager, who asserted that there was no factual basis for such claims.
- "The things that they say about me likely led to me taking a bullet to the head. They go on about democracy, claiming that 'I'm a threat to democracy.' In reality, they're the threat to democracy," the former president asserted.
- Donald Trump, the former US president, has expressed his views on the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion. According to Trump, the ruling correctly returned the authority to regulate abortion to individual states. "I am not signing a ban," Trump stated, emphasizing that he does not believe a nationwide prohibition on abortion is necessary.