Donald Trump and Kamala Harris meet tonight for the first — and perhaps only — debate of their closely fought presidential contest.
The stakes are exceedingly high.
The June face-off between Trump and President Biden resulted in the incumbent’s withdrawal from the race following his disastrous performance. Vice President Harris was nominated as his replacement.
Tuesday’s debate will be the first time she and former President Trump have ever met face to face.
Los Angeles Times columnists Lorraine Ali, Mark Z. Barabak, Anita Chabria and Doyle McManus are chatting as the debate unfolds. Keep it here for live updates.
How to watch the debate| Debate moderators| What to expect
5:59 p.m.: And we are almost ready to go. Mark, you are spot on that most of us are looking for the fireworks and flare-ups, not the hard facts (which may be really good for truth-challenged Trump).
Will they shake hands? Scowl or smile? What will the first questions be? The tension is building.
We are hearing that the onsite spinners (including RFK Jr.) are already hard at work trying to set the narrative. But the first few minutes are likely to do that for themselves.
–Chabria
5:50 p.m.: While I’m as interested as the next guy, and gal, in the candidates’ issue positions, I really do think what matters most is their performance onstage and how they personally interact.
Most viewers (and voters) reacted to Trump stalking Hillary Clinton and Al Gore’s sighing and eye rolling much more than any of their specific positions on policy matters.
That’s one reason debate coaches review these face-offs with the sound muted—because what is said is often less important than how a candidate behaves.
–Barabak
5:40 p.m.: I’m sure I’ll regret saying this by the end of the evening, but I’m looking forward to tonight’s debate. This is the first meeting between Harris and Trump, ever, and “the most consequential debate of our lifetime” — at least since the last do-or-die debate in 2020. Or was it 2016?
But Tuesday’s showdown is truly a first in an election season full of them, from President Biden stepping out of the race to Harris’ historic candidacy. The only same-old, same-old on stage in Philly will be the former president, and that’s a difficult position for a guy whose prowess has been shocking folks with his unprecedented behavior. Can Trump, at 78, still suck up all the energy in the room while controlling his bully impulses, and deliver semi-cogent responses that don’t involve Hannibal Lecter?
Harris, 59, is a relatively fresh face to many Americans. How will her straightforward approach as a former prosecutor shape this debate? Will the vice president manage to get under her rival’s skin long enough to knock him off balance? Can she push her own messaging and policy ideas to the fore when her sparring partner is renowned for quashing substantive discourse in a barrage of insults, lies and red herrings? Unlike Biden in the last round, Harris may not prove so easily distracted.
It’d be great if the forum allowed for substantive answers on child care, reproductive rights, the economy and more, but I’m not betting on it. It’ll hinge on fireworks, zingers, knockdowns and callouts. Harris has everything to prove. Trump just has to maintain.
—Lorraine Ali
5:30 p.m.: Donald Trump has dominated American politics and our political discourse for the better part of a decade. There’s no reason why tonight should be any different.
The big question for me, to echo Doyle, is: Which Donald Trump shows up onstage in Philadelphia? Will it be the uninhibited, unleashed, unexpurgated Trump, leveling attacks and throwing out wild accusations faster than it’s possible for most people to process (or Harris can manage to fully rebut)?
Or will it be a tamer Trump — we’re grading on a curve here — who may not be a model of sober statesmanship, but isn’t totally unhinged?
Harris must be ready for either one, and the way the vice president responds could go a long way toward determining her chances of winning the White House.
—Mark Z. Barabak
5:20 p.m.: Both candidates spent much of Monday setting up talking points for the debate. Harris took a more standard route, announcing policy positions on issues including Social Security, housing and child care. I’ll be watching for her to lay out those plans for a broad audience — and introduce her idea about ending sub-minimum wages for service workers, which steals thunder from Trump’s no-tax-on-tips proposal. Although the sub-minimum wage is banned in California, it’s prevalent in the South and other states, where some workers can earn as little as $2.13 an hour, with the rest supposedly made up by tips.
But the real crazy I’ll be watching for comes courtesy of the Trump team. Right-wing media was ablaze Monday with accusations that undocumented Haitian immigrants have taken over Springfield, Ohio, and, wait for it, are stealing and eating people’s pets. Though this has been debunked, I guarantee Trump will bring it up as a terror-inducing example of the decline of America due to immigration. Watch out, Fluffy!
I will also be watching for Trump to continue to lay the groundwork to challenge election results. In recent days, he has frequently been posting on social media about unfounded claims that undocumented people are voting. This performance should alarm us all — that he is already working to undermine a free and fair election just in case he loses.
—Anita Chabria
5:10 p.m.: Tuesday’s 90-minute debate will be the most important job interview of Kamala Harris’ life.
Polls show a close race, but many voters say they have not chosen whom to vote for (or whether to vote at all) because they don’t know enough about the vice president.
So Harris’ most important mission is to define herself in the eyes of those voters: Is she commanding enough to look presidential? Does she have credible answers to voters’ top concerns, including high prices and border security? And can she parry Trump’s relentless charges that she is a radical leftist?
Trump’s mission is to do the opposite: to “disqualify” Harris, as campaign strategists put it. He’ll undoubtedly do his best to cast her as an underqualified candidate who, if elected, would continue all the aspects of Biden’s presidency that voters haven’t liked.
Which Harris shows up? The prosecutor on the attack, or the optimist promising “a new way forward”? The progressive Harris who ran for president in 2019, or the increasingly moderate, center-left Harris who has softened many of her earlier positions?
Which Trump will show up? Will it be the uncaged Trump of his mass rallies, promising to deport millions of undocumented immigrants in a process he promises will be “bloody,” and charging that Harris and the Democrats are “communists and fascists”? Or will he temper his message to try to win back some of the independent and moderate voters who have drifted away from him since 2016?
—Doyle McManus
