USA 2024: Key takeaways from the Harris-Trump debate

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00:00More on that ABC presidential debate we can go over to Philadelphia to our

00:04correspondent Fraser Jackson. Fraser, what was the big takeaway of this debate?

00:12I think that soundbite is hard to get out of your head. There was an audible gasp in the room

00:16when Donald Trump said that he'd spent the day sharing AI pictures of himself surrounded by cats

00:22on Trump Force One in a nod to that story which has of course been debunked and he was fact

00:30checked live when that happened but that was certainly a moment that definitely raised a lot

00:35of eyebrows but policy-wise it was a wide-ranging debate. The overarching theme which most people

00:42care about as most polls say is of course the economy. Kamala Harris put forward her plan

00:49that she said would help first-time homebuyers, she wants to help people who are starting up

00:54new businesses by giving them a $50,000 tax break ultimately and then building around 3

01:00million houses with tax breaks for companies that help build those houses as well. She also

01:06railed against Donald Trump's proposal which is to impose taxes on imported goods up to about 20%,

01:13up to about 60% however on goods coming from China. Kamala Harris said that that would raise

01:18the cost of everyday items for Americans. Donald Trump said that it wouldn't and that his tariffs

01:23on China had been so successful that the Biden administration was still maintaining them to this

01:29day. Abortion arguably was where Kamala Harris had her strongest section. That's something that

01:34Donald Trump has flip-flopped on quite a lot in the last couple of weeks and Kamala Harris has

01:39been speaking about this ever since Roe versus Wade was overturned in 2022 and it's become quite

01:45a significant part of her stump speech even before she became the Democratic nominee. There was of

01:50course the border that was brought up as well. Donald Trump trying to tie the high levels of

01:55mass migration that we've seen into the United States at the feet of Kamala Harris, once again

02:00calling her the border czar. But there was one moment where Kamala Harris in that section

02:06definitely baited Donald Trump and mentioned his crowd size and really it was all downhill

02:10from Donald Trump from there. We moved in to the section on January 6th where she was talking about

02:16how Donald Trump was a threat to democracy and Trump then pivoted back to the border when it

02:21was his turn to talk about that and when it came to the 2020 election there was a moment a couple

02:27about two weeks ago where Donald Trump said that he lost the election by a whisker. Well when that

02:31was brought up tonight he said that that comment was actually sarcasm. Now he still believed that

02:36he didn't lose the 2020 election. There was some personal barbs thrown in there from both sides

02:42really but definitely more so from the Donald Trump side. There was a very light foreign party

02:47section where Donald Trump argued that the war in Gaza and the war in Ukraine would not be going on

02:51if he was in charge and Kamala Harris put forward her position on those that have been well

02:56documented in the past as well and a quick section about climate change and Kamala Harris's race

03:01before we then got into the closing arguments where Kamala Harris put forward her vision for

03:06an America that works for the everyday man and for the hopes and dreams of Americans

03:10and Donald Trump put forward his closing arguments by starting by attacking Harris

03:16saying that she's done nothing in three and a half years and then start to talk about Germany's

03:20energy needs at one point before then saying that we're a failing nation that people all over the

03:25world were laughing at the United States and that it was all the fault of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

03:29and that she was more of the same. So a wide-ranging debate but the feeling in the room

03:35is that Kamala Harris came out on top when all said and done at the end of the day here.

03:40And the debate was barely over and it was already being overshadowed by news that music superstar

03:45Taylor Swift announced that she would be voting for Kamala Harris. How big is this in the context

03:51of the election? Yeah I think this is something that we've been waiting for really for quite some

03:58time. Taylor Swift has come out in the past in favor of democratic candidates. Now she's normally

04:04relatively apolitical but she did come out in 2018 in the midterms to encourage her fans to vote

04:12and when that happened there was a spike of 169,000 voter registrations within two days

04:20of that post in 2018. To put that in context in the 30 days before that post it was just

04:2559,000 so over 110,000 more people signing up in the wake of Taylor Swift's post. She then

04:32had another impact during the 2020 election where she endorsed Joe Biden and all eyes really are on

04:38how much of an impact she will have now in this election. We've been speaking to a couple of

04:42people about what impact she could have including Anthony Scaramucci who was the former White House

04:48Communications Director under Donald Trump and is now turned into a Trump critic. Take a listen

04:53to what he said. I think it will have an impact. I think that if you look at the vice president's

04:59base of voters they're young people and I think young people are energized by her. I can speak

05:05about my 28 year old daughter who loves the vice president and is going to be out there voting for

05:10the the the Taylor Swift thing on the margin is beneficial because it creates momentum

05:16and one thing that Taylor Swift is very good at is bringing out the registrations.

05:20Remember she gets the registrations in her category of people that want her to win the

05:24presidency. There's a such a close election that on the margin that'll take her over the top.

05:32Well there again you hear from about those registrations coming from Anthony Scaramucci

05:36that also something being backed up by the governor of California Gavin Newsom who said to us that

05:41she was a musical icon and that Donald Trump would underestimate her at his peril. Of course

05:47Donald Trump has railed against Taylor Swift in the past for what he perceived as her being a

05:52democrat that now then coming to fruition. She has 260 million followers on Instagram. That is way

05:59more than the roughly 25 million that Donald Trump has for example. So it could be an influential

06:04impact on the election and we'll be dissecting no doubt over the next couple of days why she

06:08chose to do it now rather than later down the road as she has done in the past. Well it certainly

06:13seemed like inopportune timing for Donald Trump. Thank you very much for that Fraser Jackson in

06:18Philadelphia.

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