In the first presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, viewers watched both candidates throw insults and obfuscate when asked about their policies. This article gathers the statements on policy from both debaters.
On the issues of the economy, Kamala plans to “lift up the middle class and the working people of America,” by giving a six thousand dollar tax credit for young families to help with the increasingly high cost of living. She also plans to give a 50 thousand dollar tax incentive to entrepreneurs to start small businesses, believing they are “part of the backbone of America’s economy.”
Trump, on the other hand, plans to impose a 20 percent tariff on goods from other countries, especially China, to combat inflation. Through this tariff, he believes that he can cut taxes on the middle class with the increased revenue. He specifically has stated in the past that he wants to eliminate taxing tips and overtime pay.
In terms of abortion policy, Trump states he will not change the current precedent, keeping the decision to the states, and Kamala is vocally pro-choice and pushes for federal protections. The moderators asked Trump if he would sign a bill completely outlawing abortion, and in his response Trump emphasized his goal is to bring the vote to the states, without federal action. Kamala believes that women should be able to decide what to do with their own body, and says that she would sign a bill to reinstate the protections previously under Roe v. Wade.
On the issues of the border, Kamala believes in prosecuting all of the organizations trafficking guns, drugs, and people over the border. There was a bill proposed to do all of those things, but also to further staff the border. This would help “stem the flow of fentanyl coming into this country.” Trump successfully advocated to stop that bill from passing in Congress. After being asked why he lobbied against the bill, he did not respond, switching instead to the topic of rallies, and how Kamala, he believes, pays people to come to hers.
When asked how she would handle the Israel-Hamas conflict, Kamala emphasized a solution that included getting hostages back and peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. Kamala thinks this should happen through a two state solution to rebuild Gaza. Trump claims that it never would have started if he was president.
On the subject of global conflicts, they discussed Afghanistan and the military’s withdrawal from it in 2021. Kamala supports Biden’s decision to withdraw, seeing as the war was a large drain to the budget of the U.S. military. Trump believes the withdrawal was poorly done.
Trump, while President, unsuccessfully tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. During the debate, he was asked what he would do with it now if he became President. Trump explained that he had the decision to leave it be or try to save it, when he was President. He thinks that it’s best to just run with Obamacare to the best of his ability. He currently has a “concept of a plan” to try and do something about it. But, he needs this plan to be “better and less expensive.” Harris believes that it’s better to simply strengthen it.
Kamala believes that one of the ways to grow America is to invest in domestic manufacturing and American manufacturing jobs. Along with this, she believes in opening auto plants. Trump thinks that we should instead focus on the plants producing cars in Mexico that are being sold in the U.S.. In some cases, these plants are owned by China, and this would give China money. To prevent this, Trump would instate tariffs on those vehicles so they don’t bring down the manufacturing industry in the United States.
This election is going to be very important for the future of America. Both candidates have very different views on how this country should be led. These positions are often the polar opposites of each other. Trump has a very different idea for the economy than Harris. Trump wishes to impose more tariffs to bring money to the government. Harris wants to bring the middle class up by giving tax cuts to families and small businesses. These both have very different outcomes, both of which impact voters greatly. Voters need to cast their votes carefully, because they control the outcome of the election and of their future.
