As the old saying goes, even the dogs in the street know he was talking nonsense.

Donald Trump rolled out the long-debunked rumour that Haitian immigrants were eating pet dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio.

The debate moderator, in serious tone, duly interjected that they’d contacted the “city manager” who had played it down.

It felt like comedy (there was laughter in the spin room) until we were reminded this was the serious matter of who would be the next leader of the free world.

Trump v Harris debate: Live updates and reaction

It wasn’t, perhaps, the best performance by the leader of the Republican Party.

Kamala Harris will be content that she asserted an authority and stage presence that rattled Donald Trump – calling him weak, saying that Vladimir Putin would have him for lunch and saying that people left his rallies out of exhaustion and boredom.

It was a confrontation that Donald Trump has seldom experienced – in its aggression, disrespect and withering insult.

Read more:
Taylor Swift endorses Kamala Harris minutes after debate
How Vance used ‘hillbilly’ roots to become VP candidate
Migrants try to forget election could mean life or death
The arrest that changed Tim Walz’s life

Harris assailed him on his record and personality in a way that he doesn’t face in interview by journalists, neutral or otherwise.

She employed the structured hostility of the trained prosecutor and it unsettled Trump.

He was, nonetheless, robust in his response.

While she styled herself a president for all Americans, he dismissed her as a worst-ever vice president whose time in the White House had been a failure.

He made a best effort to orientate discussion onto subject areas – immigration, the economy – where he was confident he would score, deploying familiar arguments that will resonate with his support base.

Harris was never going to shift that section of the electorate. It is unshakeable through the highs and lows.

She will hope that a confident, assertive performance reaches the middle ground and demonstrates credentials for office and an excuse not to vote Trump.

To win this debate was to leave the viewer believing in one candidate over the other, to emerge with authority and credibility enhanced.

Democrats extolled the Harris performance, while Republicans were insistent that their man carried the day.

Curiously, Donald Trump made an unscheduled appearance in the spin room afterwards and took questions from journalists.

It begged the question: why not let a 90-minute debate performance speak for itself?

It was, perhaps, the action saying a lot of a man who hadn’t said enough.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have clashed over issues including abortion, the economy and illegal immigration in their first – and possibly only – debate before the US election.

Ms Harris’s attacks appeared to get under her rival’s skin at times, claiming people left his rallies out of “boredom” and Russian President Vladimir Putin “would eat him for lunch”.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump frequently resorted to accusing her of allowing massive illegal immigration, as well as being a dangerous “Marxist” and the worst vice president ever.

Trump v Harris debate live: Pivotal night in US election

The debate in Philadelphia began with Ms Harris approaching Mr Trump for a handshake – an awkward pleasantry in the 100-minute face-off.

Ms Harris addressed voters directly into the camera several times as she made promises including cutting the cost of living and restoring abortion rights.

The ex-president, however, focussed on the two moderators throughout as the debate took place without a live studio audience.

In the opening duels, Mr Trump claimed Ms Harris had no plan for the economy and – as part of the Biden administration – had presided over high inflation and a flood of illegal immigrants taking jobs.

The vice president, in turn, accused the Republican of planning “a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations”.

During one of Mr Trump’s frequent references to a “dangerous” immigrant influx, he made a bizarre claim there were cases of them eating people’s pets.

“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,” he said.

The debate moderator interjected to clarify that officials in Springfield, Ohio, had reported no credible reports of such incidents.

Abortion rights were another key moment of the evening.

Ms Harris hit out at “Trump abortion bans” and said it was “unconscionable” that government should dictate what women do with their bodies.

During his presidency, Mr Trump installed three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion in 2022.

The 78-year-old defended the move, saying the issue had been “tearing the country apart” and that he had led on IVF rights.

“Each individual state is voting. It’s the vote of the people now. It’s not tied up in the federal government. I did a great service in doing it,” said Mr Trump.

Ms Harris said his claim her vice presidential pick, Tim Walz, supported abortion in the ninth month was a “bunch of lies” as she painted a sobering picture of what some women now go through.

“Now in over 20 states there are Trump abortion bans which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care,” she said.

“In one state it provides prison for life. Trump abortion bans that make no exception even for rape and incest.”

‘Love letters to Kim Jong-un’

The former president, who’s looking to return to the White House despite his numerous legal troubles, looked rattled early on when Kamala Harris claimed people left his rallies “out of exhaustion and boredom”.

Mr Trump hit back that his events were “the most incredible rallies in the history of politics” and said Ms Harris was “bussing” people to her events and “paying them”.

Among other subjects, the two nominees were questioned on Ukraine, Gaza and Afghanistan.

Mr Trump suggested a win for the Democrats would end up with World War 3 and painted Ms Harris as a “horrible negotiator” who wouldn’t be able to stand up for America.

She hit back that Putin “would eat you for lunch”, claiming he “exchanged love letters” with Kim Jong-un and “admires dictators”.

Ms Harris said America’s top military commanders viewed him as a liability who is easily manipulated.

“It is absolutely well known that these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again, because they’re so clear they can manipulate you with flattery and favours,” said Ms Harris.

Mr Trump repeated his belief the Ukraine invasion wouldn’t have happened if he were in charge and claimed he would end it within days if he wins the election.

On Gaza, Ms Harris insisted Israel had a right to defend itself but that a ceasefire and a path towards a two-state solution was vital. Mr Trump claimed she “hated” Israel and had refused to meet President Netanyahu.

‘Not even close’

Ms Harris’s performance was praised by the man who she replaced as a candidate following his own debate debacle.

Joe Biden posted on X that the debate “wasn’t even close” – but the 59-year-old told supporters afterwards there remained “a lot of work to do”.

Read more:
Ultimate guide to the election
Three key challenges for Trump in US election
‘Comrade Kamala’ – Harris’s key challenges

Mr Trump called it his “best debate ever” and claimed his opponent “lost” as he made a rare move of entering the spin room to defend his performance.

There are so far no plans for a second debate – with the ex-president telling reporters he would “have to think about it”.

Follow Sky News on WhatsApp

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Tap here

Before Tuesday night, a summary of opinion polls by FiveThirtyEight put Ms Harris just ahead at 47.2% to 44.4% – it remains to be seen if the TV showdown will significantly shift those numbers.

There was also a boost post-debate for the Democrat hopeful when Taylor Swift posted on Instagram to say she backed Ms Harris.

“I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them,” she wrote.

“I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”

“My name is Donald Trump and I’m the largest real estate developer in New York. I own buildings all over the place. I’ve mastered the art of the deal and turned the name Trump into the highest-quality brand.”

This is how Donald Trump introduced himself in the opening credits of The Apprentice when it first aired on 8 January 2004.

He was already a well-known businessman, having turned his father Fred’s rental company into a billion-dollar real estate empire. His turbulent finances – and love life – had also gained him notoriety in the tabloid press.

But it was his 11 years on The Apprentice that many say solidified his reputation – and paved the way to his shock White House win of 2016 – and second attempt at the presidency this year.

‘My jet’s going to be in every episode’

When NBC first had the idea for The Apprentice, Donald Trump was one of many moguls who would sit at the boardroom table – with others proposed to front future series.

But having negotiated a 50% stake in the show and the episodes being filmed in Trump Tower, potential successors were soon shelved – and Trump stayed at the helm for 14 seasons.

According to reports, filming for the first episode, “Meet The Billionaire”, overran by hours, and Trump would call the channel at 6am the day after each one aired to get the earliest viewing figures.

Seemingly laser-focused on how the show could promote his businesses, he reportedly told TV bosses at the time: “My jet’s going to be in every episode. Even if it doesn’t get the ratings, it’s still going to be great for my brand.”

Read more
Trump’s criminal cases
Five things to watch at Harris-Trump debate
Who’s on track to win the US election?

Further episodes were entitled “Sex, Lies and Altitude” and “Ethics Schmethics”.

Meanwhile, his opening voiceover acknowledged his previous financial difficulties, claiming, “It wasn’t always easy,” and that “15 years ago I was seriously in trouble… billions of dollars in debt”.

But he then exclaimed: “I fought back and I won… bigly.

“I used my brain and my negotiating skills and I worked it all out. Now my company is the biggest and strongest it ever was. And I’m having more fun than I ever have.”

During his time on the show, he battled bankruptcies, court cases, and personal scandal.

But with 20 million viewers in the first year alone, his ‘The Donald’ persona and ‘You’re fired’ catchphrase is what many Americans knew and remembered him for.

Fresh Prince and Sex And The City

After rebranding his father’s business empire the Trump Organization in 1971, he was often pictured with celebrities at parties and married Czech model and athlete Ivana Zelnickova in 1977.

His longstanding feud with then New York mayor Ed Koch often played out in newspaper and magazine interviews – also helping ensure he stayed in the public eye.

Meanwhile, throughout the 1980s and 1990s he bought casinos, hotels, and golf courses – as well as an American football team, 282ft yacht, and the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA beauty pageants.

During the 1990s, he also started making cameos on TV.

When the Home Alone sequel Lost In New York was released in 1992, both Trump and one of his biggest assets – Manhattan’s Plaza Hotel – were featured.

In 1994 he and his second wife, actress and TV presenter Marla Marples, played themselves in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

As prospective buyers of the family home, Will Smith’s on-screen cousin Carlton screams: “It’s The Donald, oh my god!” before fainting, before his sister Hilary says: “You look much richer in person.”

When he appeared in the sitcom The Nanny in 1996, his team is reported to have asked scriptwriters to change the reference to him from a millionaire to a billionaire.

He also made appearances in the film The Little Rascals and as a business contact of a rich older man trying to seduce Kim Cattrall’s character Samantha in Sex And The City.

Meanwhile, the Trump empire was suffering major financial difficulty.

The US recession of the early 1990s hit Trump’s businesses and he eventually accumulated $5bn (£3.8bn) in debt.

He was forced to sell his airline, yacht, and take out third mortgages on most of his properties, with many banks refusing to do business with him as a result.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Trump filed for bankruptcy six times.

Deutsche Bank came to his rescue, however, when they entered the US market in the early 2000s offering him millions in credit to fund Trump Tower among other projects.

Away from business, in 2005, Trump married his third wife, Melania.

Dropped by Apprentice over Mexico claims

Trump had flirted with politics from 2000, running as a candidate for the fringe Reform Party in the California and Michigan primaries.

That year, he also published a book called The America We Deserve, in which he expressed a series of conservative political views.

Over the next decade, he registered as both a Republican and a Democrat.

He made moves towards another presidential bid, this time as a Republican, in 2011, but ultimately declared he wouldn’t run.

Despite his failure to progress, he received widespread attention for promoting ‘birtherism’ – a conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not born in the US.

The start of Trump’s political career marked the end of his time on The Apprentice.

In June 2015, NBC dropped him from the show over comments during his campaign launch speech about US Mexican immigrants being “rapists” and “bringing drugs”.

It was during this speech that he first vowed to “Make America Great Again”, having declared the American Dream “dead”.

His campaign was overseen by the right-wing media figure Steve Bannon, who he appointed chief executive in mid-2016. In rally speeches, he made promises to “build a wall” along the US-Mexico border and throw his Democrat opponent Hillary Clinton in prison over claims she was “crooked”.

He trailed in the opinion polls and an audio clip from 2005 appeared to reveal him bragging about sexually assaulting women.

But despite many failing to take him seriously, the race narrowed and Clinton suffered a shock defeat, paving the way for a Trump White House in January 2017.

Twitter president

Trump continued causing controversy when he entered the Oval Office.

He often bypassed official communication channels, preferring to make formal policy announcements on Twitter instead.

Domestically, he made moves to dismantle Obamacare, and shifted the political makeup of the Supreme Court by nominating three conservative justices, which has since led to the overturning of constitutional abortion rights through Roe v Wade.

He quickly imposed what was dubbed a ‘Muslim ban’, temporarily stopping immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Abroad, he withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement and fundamentally changed trade relations with China and other key states.

He was praised for spearheading the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain, and many hoped would help move closer to peace for Israel-Palestine.

Despite declaring he had “made peace in the Middle East”, however, he also withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal.

Meanwhile, his 2016 election campaign was investigated for alleged Russian interference. More than 30 people were charged, with his former attorney Michael Cohen among those sent to prison. Trump himself was never indicted and the special counsel probe failed to show any criminal collusion.

He was impeached twice – the first time in 2019 after an inquiry found he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to dig up dirt on his 2020 election rival Joe Biden – and the second time over the 6 January insurrection.

His handling of the coronavirus pandemic was widely criticised – but supported by libertarians, mask and vaccine sceptics.

Despite contracting the virus in October 2020, he repeatedly referred to it as the “China virus” and made false claims that bleach could cure it.

At the November election, Trump got 74 million votes – more than any other sitting president in history – but lost by seven million overall.

Insurrection, impeachments and indictments

Trump immediately disputed the 2020 election result, claiming widespread electoral fraud in multiple states.

His “stop the steal” campaign culminated in a “Save America” rally at Washington DC’s National Mall on 6 January 2021.

Ahead of the formal verification of votes by the Electoral College, Trump urged supporters to “fight like hell”, vowing “we will never concede” and “we are going to the Capitol”.

When the rally ended, a mob descended on the Capitol, breaking into buildings, making death threats, and causing damage.

Six people died as a result, Trump was impeached for a second time, and he faced both criminal and civil lawsuits.

The aftermath saw Trump largely abandoned by the Republican Party.

He refused to attend his successor’s inauguration and was banned by nearly all mainstream social media platforms, leading him to set up his own – Truth Social – in 2022.

Momentum began to build against him legally – and he faced criminal cases for alleged electoral fraud in Georgia, the removal of classified documents in Florida, and ‘hush money’ over an affair with former adult film star Stormy Daniels in New York.

The Florida case was thrown out but he became the first US president in history to be convicted when he was found guilty in the hush money case. He is yet to be sentenced.

Separately, he lost two civil lawsuits in New York – one for sexually assaulting and defaming the writer E Jean Caroll and a second for overvaluing his business assets to secure bank loans. The fines for both totalled almost £350m.

Comeback

After the insurrection, Republican donors, congressmen and women effectively disowned Trump and he was blamed for the party’s results in the 2022 midterm elections.

But he remained popular with the grassroots, and had a more direct line to them when Elon Musk took over Twitter, reinstating Trump’s account.

Trump used the criminal cases against him to fuel his anti-establishment image and amid poor approval ratings for Joe Biden and a lack of another clear candidate, he re-emerged as a serious contender for the Republican nomination.

At the same time, Mr Biden’s age and mental capacity came increasingly into question.

And after confusing Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Russia’s Vladimir Putin – and a disastrous TV debate, during which Trump said “I don’t think he knows what he said”, he was forced to pull out of the 2024 race.

Trump’s narrow escape from an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally emboldened him and his supporters further.

His defiant raised fist and ear injury became symbols of the subsequent Republican Convention, where he formally accepted the party’s nomination and his most loyal followers sported solidarity ear bandages.

He now faces Kamala Harris for the presidency and a second shot at the White House on 5 November.