Sevan Sinton
Associate News Editor
Tuesday, Sept. 10 marked the second presidential debate of the 2024 election. Former President Donald Trump faced Vice President Kamala Harris, in what Trump deemed to be the final debate of the year.
“… We’ve done two debates and because they were successful, there will be no third debate… the voting’s already begun,” shared Trump.
A large difference between the previous debate between President Biden and Trump was the addition of live fact-checking conducted by moderators David Muir and Lindsay Davis. Most notably, was the online rumor spread by Trump at the debate alleging that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were “…Eating the pets of the people that live there.”
Trump was subsequently fact-checked by Muir, saying “[there have been] no credible reports of pets or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused in the immigrant community.”
The former president also spread the notion that it is legal to kill babies after birth, which was fact-checked by Davis.
Trump shared “Her (Harris) vice president pick (Tim Walz) says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine, he also says execution after birth is OK… and that’s not OK for me.”
Davis responded, “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it is born.”
Trump did mention he supports exceptions for abortion in cases of rape, incest, or life of the mother, however, this highlights Trump’s rocky history with the topic of abortion and going against previous claims where he said he would “be the most pro-life president ever.”
Many right-wing pundits and commentators took to X to voice their opinion on their alleged bias of the live fact-checking.
“David Muir is criticizing and attacking Trump more than Kamala is. Kamala can relax because the ABC ‘moderators’ are handling the debate for her,” said Glenn Greenwald, journalist and host of the “System Update” podcast.
As for Harris’ combative statements, she went after Trump’s and the supreme courts’ decision to overrule Roe v. Wade, and his “weak and wrong foreign policy and national security.”
However, Kamala also found herself in trouble when she claimed that “there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone or any war zone around the world.”
Currently, there are thousands of U.S. troops stationed in active combat zones in Libya, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq, according to KSDK news.
A poll conducted by ABC News showed that 58% of Americans believe that Harris won the debate, compared to 36% of Americans who backed Trump.