Vice President Kamala Harris called for the American people to attend one of former President Donald Trump’s rallies in the candidates’ first presidential debate Tuesday.
When responding to a question on border control, the vice president turned the question to the viewers watching at home.
“I’m going to actually do something really unusual, and I’m going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump’s rallies, because it’s a really interesting thing to watch,” the vice president said on the ABC News debate stage.
The vice president said they would hear the former president discuss many issues, but one thing they would not hear him talk about was the American people.
“You will see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills cause cancer,” she said. “And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.”
The former president has criticized Harris’ crowd sizes in the past, even falsely claiming that a picture of a crowd at one of her rallies was AI-generated. The vice president reiterated that Trump may talk about issues at his rallies, but she noted one thing he would not discuss.
“And I will tell you, the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you. You will not hear him talk about your needs, your dreams and your desires,” she said. “And I’ll tell you, I believe you deserve a president who actually puts you first, and I pledge to you that I will.”
Trump rejected these claims, stating that people do not leave his rallies rather asserting that people do not attend Harris’ rallies.
“There’s no reason to go. And the people that do go, she’s bussing them in and paying them,” the former president said. “People don’t leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.”
ABC News outlined in the rules for Tuesday’s debate that the candidates’ microphones would be muted when the other candidate was speaking, but the network did not abide by this mandate. Both Trump and Harris interrupted each other during the debate, and viewers at home could hear the candidates’ banter. The moderators even allowed it continue at some moments during the 90-minute broadcast.
Tuesday’s ABC News debate may be the final matchup between the presidential nominees. Trump has proposed both a Fox and NBC News debate, but the networks and the Democratic nominee have not confirmed either appearance.
Watch the full response here:
Harris invites people to attend a Trump rally to see how weird and dark they are pic.twitter.com/tusYqDBbtA
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 11, 2024
