Muir finally asks Harris, re Ukraine, if she would do anything differently than Biden. She ignores the question.
Trump promises to settle the Russia–Ukraine war before taking office, which would violate the Logan Act.
Trump, when asked directly if he wants Ukraine to “win” its war against Russian invaders: “I want the war to stop.”
Trump finally gets on a good roll talking about national security and foreign policy instead of his January 6 nonsense. ABC hastily cuts to a commercial.
Strongest answer of the night from Trump on foreign policy. Mentions how Harris, despite claiming to be pro-Israel, blew off attending the Israeli prime minister’s speech to Congress. Clearly lists the Biden administration’s record of weakness.
There’s going to be a lot of whining about the moderators tonight, and the order of the topics discussed, the topics chosen, the wording of the questions and all of that is a fair gripe. But no one made Trump spend a lot of time insisting that January 6 was patriotic, that he had no regrets about what he said and did that day, to assert that Biden hates Harris, that migrants are eating Americans’ pets, and so on. Donald Trump has zero impulse control and he takes the bait, every single time. Maybe this debate won’t have much of an effect, but Trump has done himself few if any favors so far tonight.
Harris says Israel has a right to defend itself, but pivots quickly to the “but” – blaming Israel for civilian casualties, arguing for deals to get hostages back, urging a two-state solution, and in no way suggesting that Israel has any right to act other than in a purely defensive posture that keeps its enemies alive and armed.
How will you get a ceasefire deal if there is no deal to be had, Harris is asked.
“The way it will end, and we need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out,” she replies.
Which is to say, she has no idea.
Of course, the “critical” ABC question on Gaza is asked from the pro-Hamas perspective of why Biden and Harris aren’t doing more to pressure Israel.
Following a Trump rant on how Democrats switched out Biden for Harris, whom nobody voted for, the moderators hasten to change the subject.