11 totally batshit claims made at the Trump-Harris "debate"
Harris bragged about endorsements from Bush-Cheney Republicans. Trump said people in Ohio are eating dogs. These are our choices for president.
On the evening of September 10th, two war criminals — one named Donald Trump, one named Kamala Harris — met on a Pennsylvania stage before an audience of millions to “debate”. With both presidential candidates wearing American flag pins almost as identical as their policies, the event kicked off with a remarkably honest confession from Harris, who said, “in this debate tonight, you’re going to hear from the same old, tired playbook, a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling.”
While she was referring to Trump, her comment was nonetheless a perfect summation of the absolute shitshow which followed.
1. Harris bragged about her economic plan being endorsed by Goldman Sachs
“What Goldman Sachs has said is that Donald Trump’s plan would make the economy worse,” Harris said. “Mine would strengthen the economy.”
We’ve truly come a long way since the days of Occupy Wall Street, with presidential candidates now willing to openly brag about their endorsements from banking firms like Goldman Sachs. And while Goldman did put out a report suggesting Harris will be good for the economy, one might be left to wonder whether “good” for Goldman Sachs really translates into “good” for working class people.
Harris also has lots of other friends on Wall Street willing to endorse her — much like they did four years ago, when Biden and Harris raked in five times as much as Trump in donations from the securities and investment industry.
“Harris has a better relationship with Wall Street than even Joe Biden had,” Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, founder and president of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, told CNN. Sonnenfeld argues that Harris has a solid relationship with Wall Street because she toned down the “class warfare” rhetoric: “She went after abuses but didn’t see the scale of enterprise itself as misconduct. She knows that thriving businesses are good for the economy and the average American worker.”
And it’s worth pointing out that for his part, Trump unsurprisingly has his own share of endorsements from Wall Street.
2. Harris vowed to restore Roe V Wade — but with a catch
“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.”
While on the surface this might sound like Harris is vowing to restore Roe, what she is actually saying here is that she will sign Roe back into law when Congress passes a bill that reaches her desk.
But why wait? Harris doesn’t need to be president for this to happen. She doesn’t need to be in the White House to push Congress when she can push them right now, as Vice President, between September 2024 and January 2025. And then Biden — who has flip-flopped on his abortion position over the years but now claims to support Roe — can sign it into law before he leaves office.
3. Trump said “they’re eating dogs” in Ohio
“What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country. And look at what’s happening to the towns all over the United States. And a lot of towns don’t want to talk — not going to be Aurora or Springfield. A lot of towns don’t want to talk about it because they’re so embarrassed by it. 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.”
When moderators questioned Trump, he cited “television” as his source: “The people on television say my dog was taken and used for food.”
While anything is possible in a state like Ohio, claims of Haitian immigrants eating dogs has been debunked. The BBC, for example, looked at archive video of every major US broadcaster, including FOX, CNN, and CBS, but could not identify “any televised interview” of this nature. They also managed to pinpoint the source of the claim, which involved a woman who was arrested for killing and eating a cat:
“Many right-wing commentators have referred to the woman as Haitian and pointed to the report as evidence for the baseless claim that Haitian immigrants have been engaged in similar activity. However, the incident took place in Canton, Ohio, about 170 miles away from Springfield. Canton Police told the BBC that the suspect was born in 1997 and that she was a US citizen.”
4. Harris bragged about her endorsements from Republicans — and later called the “late great” John McCain “an American hero”
Harris said she has the endorsement of “200 Republicans who have formally worked with President Bush, Mitt Romney, and John McCain, including the endorsement of former Vice President Dick Cheney and Congressmember Liz Cheney.”
Showcasing endorsements from the Bush-Cheney team — aka the same guys who greenlit torture along with an invasion of Iraq which killed hundreds of thousands of people — is a really weird flex, but okay.
Later in the debate, Harris said of John McCain:
“I will never forget the early morning hours when it was up for a vote in the United States Senate and the late great John McCain, who you have disparaged as being, you don't like him, you said at the time because he got caught, he was an American hero. The late great John McCain, I will never forget that night.”
Since Harris has clearly opted to carry on the bipartisan tradition of whitewashing John McCain’s hawkish legacy, here’s a quick reminder of what McCain did while he was alive, some of which included supporting the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2002, the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the invasion of Libya in 2011, economic sanctions against Iran, sowing chaos in Syria, and supporting numerous bills which helped keep America’s defense spending the highest among any other nation on earth.
5. Harris supports fracking — but also cares about the environment
Harris was asked about her flip-flop on fracking, but dodged the question by saying she made her position "very clear" in 2020.
This does nothing to address her previous positions — like in 2019, when she said “there’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking” — and why her position has changed. And it also doesn’t explain how she can call climate change an “existential threat” while supporting something so environmentally destructive as fracking.
6. Harris said Israel is acting in Gaza because of October 7th
Regarding Israel’s year-long genocide against the people of Gaza, Harris said:
“Let's understand how we got here. On Oct. 7, Hamas, a terrorist organization, slaughtered 1,200 Israelis. Many of them young people who were simply attending a concert. Women were horribly raped. And so absolutely, I said then, I say now, Israel has a right to defend itself.”
But Israel was detaining, torturing, and killing Palestinians long before October 7th, and so to say “we got here” on October 7th seems a bit disingenuous. Republicans and Democrats have been arming Israel for decades. They’ve been turning a blind eye to Israel’s atrocities for decades. They’ve been going on about Israel’s “right to defend itself” against the open-air prison known as Gaza for decades. The big difference this time is the scale at which Israel has killed Palestinians over the last year, and how completely neutered the “international community” has been to stop it.
Harris also touched on the importance of a ceasefire, even as the Biden-Harris administration continues to give Israel weapons.
7. Ukraine would have been different under Trump? Probably not
“If I were president it would have never started,” Trump said. “If I were president Russia would have never. I know Putin very well. He would have never, and there was no threat of it either, by the way, for four years. Have gone into Ukraine and killed millions of people when you add it up.”
But to believe this requires ignoring Trump’s record in office, which consisted of sending missiles and other “defensive capabilities” to Ukraine, parading US troops along Russia’s borders, interfering with the construction of a major gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, and slapping Russia with crushing economic sanctions.
8. Trump warned about WW3 — which he could have easily started
“We're playing with World War 3,” Trump said. “Where is our president? We don't even know if he's a president.”
And yet as president, Trump’s own risks of starting a third world war included openly assassinating an Iranian general, boosting the US nuclear stockpile, placing the US military along Russia's borders, selling US weapons to Taiwan, sending missiles to Ukraine, positioning US Navy aircraft carriers near China, and militarizing space.
9. Harris claimed Ukraine is a “free” country
“Through the work that I and others did, we brought 50 countries together to support Ukraine in its righteous defense. And because of our support, because of the air defense, the ammunition, the artillery, the javelins, the Abrams tanks that we have provided, Ukraine stands as an independent and free country.”
Because dissolving opposition political parties, consolidating television outlets, banning news networks, postponing elections, arresting protesters, declaring martial law, and forcing military conscription are clearly signs of a thriving democracy, right?
Ukraine is far from a “free” country under comedian-turned-dictator Volodymyr Zelensky and his vast collection of undersized t-shirts.
10. Trump (again) promised a healthcare plan
“I have concepts of a plan,” Trump said. “I’m not president right now. But if we come up with something I would only change it if we come up with something better and less expensive. And there are concepts and options we have to do that. And you'll be hearing about it in the not-too-distant future.”
This might sound familiar.
In 2016 — before he was president — Trump promised a “beautiful” healthcare plan.
In 2017 — after becoming president — Trump said he has “a plan that I think is going to be fantastic. It’s going to be released fairly soon. I think it’s going to be something special ... I think you're going to like what you hear.”
In 2019, Trump told ABC News he would soon announce a “phenomenal” new healthcare plan “in about two months, maybe less.”
In 2020, while running for a second term, Trump said “we’re going to be doing a health care plan very strongly, and protect people with pre-existing conditions. I have it all ready, and it’s a much better plan for you.”
Trump has been promising a healthcare plan since he ran for president in 2016, so there is really no reason to believe he will deliver this time around.
11. Harris claimed there is “not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world”
“As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world, the first time this century.”
Maybe Harris forgot about the “hundreds” of US special forces deployed to Somalia.
Maybe Harris forgot about the “thousands” of US troops in Iraq and Syria, and how they have been repeatedly attacked over the years while occupying these countries.
Not to mention other US troop deployments by the Biden-Harris administration, which have included places like Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Taiwan, Poland, and even Ukraine, where “members of the Florida National Guard have been training forces in the western part of the country far from the front lines.”