• Economic issues take centre stage during the debate
• Republican candidate repeats claim about immigrants eating cats and dogs

WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Repu­blican rival Donald Trump went head-to-head in Philadelphia on Tuesday at a high-stakes debate hosted by ABC News.

Harris, the US vice president and Democratic Party candidate, and Trump, the Republican nominee, traded claims about each other’s record in office, as well as their plans if they emerge victorious after Nov 5’s election.

Accuracy of what both contenders said on key issues:

The economy

Asked if Americans were better off than four years ago, Harris did not give a direct answer. She accused Trump of leaving Democrats “the worst unemployment since the Great Depression.” This is misleading. Joblessness spiked to 14.8 per cent in April 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic shut down the US. By the time Trump left office unemployment was 6.4pc.

Harris said she would offer families a tax credit of up to $6,000 for each eligible child, as well as a $50,000 tax deduction for small businesses, if elected president. She claimed Trump would favor billionaires and corporations over anyone else, and said the former president planned a sales tax that would hurt ordinary Americans.

Trump countered by saying President Joe Biden’s administration ushered in the highest inflation in US history, quoting figures of 21pc and as high as 60pc on some goods. This is false. Inflation currently stands at 2.9pc. Inflation did peak at 9.1pc under Biden in 2022. But this was well below a historic high of 23.7pc in 1920.

Trump denied he would impose a sales tax but conceded that other countries would face trade tariffs at a minimum of 10pc. Experts say tariffs amount to a tax on consumers who end up paying extra as the costs are passed on to them.

Sixteen Nobel laureates have described Trumps economic plan as something that would increase inflation and invite a recession by the middle of next year. This is mostly true.

Sixteen Nobel prize-winning economists raised concerns in June, warning that the US economy will suffer if Trump wins the election in November. The jointly-signed letter, first reported by Axios, says the economic agenda of President Joe Biden is “vastly superior” to Trump’s. The letter was released before Biden stepped aside from the presidential race in late July.

Many Americans are concerned about inflation, which has come down remarkably fast. There is rightly a worry that Donald Trump will reignite this inflation, with his fiscally irresponsible budgets, the economists state in their letter.

Immigration and ‘migrant crime’

Trump falsely claimed “millions and millions” of people from countries such as Venezuela “from mental institutions and insane asylums” are entering the US and committing crimes. He also re-aired a baseless viral claim that migrants are eating pets in places including Springfield, Ohio.

“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. And this is what’s happening in our country.” Police and local authorities say there are no credible reports of such animal killings.

In a statement on Tuesday, a Springfield police spokesperson said, “In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

Violent and property crimes in the US are near their lowest levels in decades, according to FBI data from 2022, the most recent year for which figures are available. A June 2023 study found a decline in incarceration rates among immigrants from all regions since 1960. Other research has found migrants commit fewer violent crimes than US citizens.

Harris said Trump put politics above policy by ordering Republican lawmakers in February to kill a bipartisan bill that would have toughened policies at the southern US border, effectively denying Democrats a win on immigration in an election year.

Abortion

Trump, who appointed three conservative judges to a Supreme Court that overturned Roe v Wade, the precedent that guaranteed abortion access, called Democrats “radical” on the issue, claiming vice presidential candidate Tim Walz supports “execution after birth — it’s execution, no longer abortion — because the baby is born is okay, and that’s not okay with me.” This is false.

Debate moderator Linsey Davis corrected Trump, saying: “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.” Harris added: “Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That is not happening.” Harris claimed: “If Donald Trump were to be reelected, he will sign a national abortion ban.” But the former president immediately replied: “I’m not signing a ban,” saying the issue is with the states.

Ukraine

During a testy exchange on Ukraine, Trump called Harris “the emissary,” saying she tried to avert the war by negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“They sent her to negotiate peace before this war started. They sent her in to negotiate with Zelensky and Putin. And she did and the war started three days later.” This claim is false.

Harris did not meet Putin and she called Trump’s claim a lie. As vice president, she did meet Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference in the days before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Taliban invited to Camp David

Harris said Trump negotiated directly with the Taliban, got 5,000 Taliban terrorists released and he invited the Taliban to Camp David. Harris statements are accurate. In 2020, Trump said he would be personally meeting leaders of the Taliban to pave the way for a troop-withdrawal deal.

That year he also said he spoke on the phone directly to a Taliban leader. Under Trumps administration, by 2020 the US-backed Afghan government had released 5,000 Taliban prisoners. The release was a condition for the insurgent group to join peace talks with the Afghan government. In 2019, Trump called off plans to invite Taliban leaders to a presidential compound in Camp David, Maryland.

Trump says that during his administration, for 18 months we had nobody killed in Afghanistan. This is false. Reuters Fact Check previously addressed Trump saying there were no military deaths in an 18-month period under his administration.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2024