Cost-of-living crisis kicks off the Harris, Trump debate Inflation and affordable housing loomed large during the Harris-Trump presidential debate

 

Former President Trump and Vice President Harris led off the high-stakes presidential debate Tuesday with a discussion about the cost-of-living crisis and economic challenges Americans are facing.

The first faceoff between the two, held in Philadelphia and hosted by Disney-owned ABC News, kicked off with a question posed by moderator David Muir to Harris about whether Americans are better off than they were four years ago in terms of the economy and the cost of living under the Biden-Harris administration.

Vice President Harris said her economic plan is "about lifting up the middle class and working class of America" and wants to build an "opportunity economy" before discussing elements of her economic platform.

"We know that we have a shortage of homes and housing, and the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people," Harris said. "We know that young families need support to raise their children, and I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of $6,000 — which is the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time — so that those young families can afford to buy a crib, a car, but clothes for their children." 

Former President Trump and Vice President Harris faced off in the presidential debate in Philadelphia. (Getty Images / Getty Images)

Harris noted her plan to give a $50,000 tax deduction to those starting businesses and criticized Trump's tax cut plans and tariffs.

Former President Trump responded and said inflation wasn't a problem when he left office despite the tariffs, which he noted the Biden-Harris administration left in place, adding inflation "has been a disaster for people" under his successor.

"We've had a terrible economy because inflation, which is really known as a country buster, it breaks up countries. We have inflation like very few people have ever seen before, probably the worst in our nation's history," Trump said. "We were at 21%, but that's being generous because many things are 50%, 60%, 70%, and 80% higher than they were just a few years ago."

The cost of things like beef, eggs, and auto insurance have seen volatile double-digit increases in recent months. 

As of May, the consumer price index — a broad measure of the price of everyday goods, including gasoline, groceries, and rent — was up more than 19.4% from January 2021, when the Biden-Harris administration took office. Year-over-year inflation was at 1.4% in January 2021 and peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 but has since declined to 2.9% as of July 2024. 

Former President Trump criticized Vice President Harris and President Biden for inflation that hit the U.S. economy in recent years. (Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Harris was allowed to respond and said, "Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression. Donald Trump left us the worst public health epidemic in a century."

During the COVID pandemic, the unemployment rate peaked at 14.8% in April 2020 as lockdown orders were enacted at the state and local levels. The labor market gradually recovered, and the unemployment rate had fallen to 6.4% in January 2021, when the Biden-Harris administration took office. It has since trended down to 4.2% as of August 2024. 

Vice President Harris touted her housing plan and child tax credit extension during the debate. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Trump responded and said the economy was strong before the onset of the COVID pandemic and that the economy was recovering by the time the Biden-Harris administration took office.

"We had the greatest economy. We got hit with a pandemic. The pandemic was not since 1917 when 100 million people died has there been anything like it. We did a phenomenal job with the pandemic," Trump said. "We handed them over a country where the economy and the stock market was higher than it was before the pandemic came in. Nobody's ever seen anything like it."

The S&P 500 had reached 3,380 in February 2020 before the onset of the pandemic and bottomed out at 2,304 in March. By January 2021, it rebounded to 3,824 before the Biden-Harris administration took office. It has since crossed above 5,000 amid expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this month. 

S&P 500

Trump said the jobs created in the Biden-Harris administration were "bounce-back jobs" that were recovered after the pandemic, adding that "I created them. They know it, and so does everybody else."

While tens of millions of Americans tuned in to watch the debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on their television screens on Tuesday, a secondary battle played out on social media through clips and video edits of memorable debate moments.

Social media users were off from the opening moment of the debate, with Democrats seizing the moment Harris walked across the stage to shake Trump's hand and introduce herself.

"Kamala said you’re gonna shake my hand dammit!" social media user Adam James Smith posted on X, to 40,000 likes.

Part of Vice President Harris' debate plan was to goad Trump into saying things that could become viral social media clips, advisers said earlier, and the debate suggested that strategy paid off.

Supporters circulated images of Harris' sometimes bemused, sometimes skeptical facial expressions as Trump cycled through a series of familiar falsehoods and repeated a false conspiracy that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pet dogs and cats.

"They're EATING THE DOGS," quickly trended on social media platform X, buoyed by thousands of posts - including many confused at the quote's relevance in a presidential debate, after Trump said, "They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats."

Trump supporters, meanwhile, jumped on his response as he discussed Harris' economic plan, saying it was simplistic and copied her boss President Joe Biden's agenda. "Run, Spot, run," he said, referring to a popular children's book series used to teach kids to read in decades past. Social media is playing an even more significant role in this year's election cycle than it has in the past, political strategists say. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have drafted content creators, or influencers, to push information on their party's policies and their candidates.

Overall, Trump outperforms Harris and her campaign on X and TikTok based on followers. The Harris campaign's official Kamala HQ account has 1.3 million followers on X, compared to Trump's 2.4 million. However, her campaign has received over 100 million "likes" on its videos on TikTok versus Trump's 44 million.

ECONOMY

"Look, we've had a terrible economy, because of inflation, which is really known as a country buster," said Trump.

"People can't go out and buy cereal, bacon, eggs, or anything else. The people of our country are absolutely dying with what they've done. They've destroyed the economy," said Trump.

"I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people, and that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy," said Harris.

"My opponent, on the other hand, his plan is to do what he has done before to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations," said Harris.

ISRAEL-GAZA CONFLICT

"It must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal, and we need the hostages out," said Harris.

"She hates Israel. If she's president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now," said Trump to which Harris responded: "That's absolutely not true. I have my entire career and life supported Israel and the Israeli people."

UKRAINE

"I want the war to stop. I want to save lives," Trump said when asked if he wanted Ukraine to win the war with Russia.

"If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now," said Harris.

ABORTION

"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," said Harris.

"Now, I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. ... Now states are voting on it. ... Each individual state is voting. It's the vote of the people. Now it's not tied up in the federal government," said Trump.

IMMIGRATION

"I'll tell you something, he's going to talk about immigration a lot tonight, even when it's not the subject that is being raised," said Harris.

"Our country is being lost, we're a failing nation," Trump said, referring to people crossing into the country illegally.

GUNS

"She has a plan to confiscate everybody's gun," said Trump.

"(Democratic Vice Presidential nominee) Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We're not taking anybody's guns away," said Harris.

JAN. 6, 2021, CAPITOL ATTACK

"I had nothing to do with that, other than they asked me to make a speech," said Trump, when asked if he regretted anything that day.

"I was at the Capitol. I was the vice president-elect. I was also a senator and on that day, the president of the United States incited a violent mob to attack our nation's capital, to desecrate our nation's capital," said Harris.