Five things to look out for in Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s debate tonight
Tonight, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are ready to go head-to-head for the first – and likely only – time ahead of the US election.
At 2am on Wednesday, the former president and incumbent vice president will debate live on ABC News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Polling shows the Republican and Democrat are neck-and-neck just two months out from voting, with a recent New York Times and Siena College poll putting Mr Trump ahead by one point at 48% to 47% for Ms Harris.
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Ms Harris has already arrived in the “City of Brotherly Love”, with our US partner network NBC News reporting she had spent the weekend in Pittsburgh preparing for the debate.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has been packing out his schedule with campaign events, leaving his vice presidential nominee JD Vance to publicly bash the Democrat’s policies online.
Here are five things to look out for in the debate: You can watch live coverage from midnight tonight on Sky News on web and on mobile
Poking the bear
Team Harris talks about the value of getting under Donald Trump’s skin. “Poking the bear” would aim to unsettle a man prone to visible irritation.
“She should bait him,” said Hillary Clinton in a New York Times interview. “When I said he was a Russian puppet, he just sputtered onstage.”
Winding up Trump would be designed to discomfort him in the spotlight and craft the spectacle of an angry and ill-disciplined former president.
We saw it in the first presidential debate in 2020, where Trump was roundly criticised for repeatedly interrupting Joe Biden.
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From 2020: Trump v Biden: First debate gets personal
On debate stages since, he has shown he has learned the lesson, but it won’t stop Harris from inviting him to roll back the rage – if he obliges, it could diminish him and enhance her.
‘Harris owns everything’
The Trump team laid down their debate strategy in an eve-of-event news conference.
As much as Kamala Harris wants to present herself as a candidate of change, they intend to place her firmly at the heart of the Biden White House.
Trump spokesman Jason Miller told journalists that Harris was currently running the country and that she “owns everything from this administration”.
They trailed Trump’s attack lines on immigration, crime, global instability and high prices.
Their view of success is in emphasising their view of Kamala Harris as a “radical liberal”.
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The moments
Millions will tune into the 90-minute debate and pore over every last detail. Millions also won’t.
For them, the event will be consumed via viral moments on a vertical screen.
There will be much strategising around the 10-second clips that fly on TikTok and Instagram, and which shape views on victory and defeat.
Think Donald Trump standing over Hillary Clinton in 2016 and glowering “you’d be in jail”, or Kamala Harris slapping down Mike Pence in 2020 with “I’m speaking”.
For all the talk of laying down policy and engaging on the politics of the presidency, there’s a heavy element of pantomime to all of this.
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Stage dynamics
On stage, Harris and Trump will be coming face-to-face for the first time. They didn’t meet at the 2021 inauguration because Donald Trump didn’t attend.
The setting that has both candidates at lecterns should preclude a repeat of the way Trump stalked Hillary Clinton on stage in the 2016 debate.
However, the interaction between Trump and his female opponent will be no less interesting. This isn’t the old guy contest of Trump versus Biden, it’s more complicated than that.
Trump versus Harris puts gender at the centre of the stage dynamic. Donald Trump has a history of publicly denigrating women, including Kamala Harris.
He has been found liable for sexual abuse by a civil court. How that plays in the debate, and the mind of the viewer, will be a factor – particularly for the women voters he needs.
Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democrat who has been helping him prepare, told reporters: “President Trump respects women and doesn’t feel the need to be patronising or to speak to women in any other way than he would speak to a man.”
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Success
The importance of the TV debate is well-documented. Ultimately, both candidates need to be convincingly presidential, in politics and personality – to enter and exit the stage exuding gravitas and authority.
Harris, in particular, needs to assert her presence because she is less familiar to American voters – 28% said they felt they needed to know more about her, according to a New York Times survey from earlier this week.
Familiarity was always going to be a challenge for her, with such a short run between selection and election.
She, and he, will seek to lay down policy ideas and underpin their credentials for office. How easy that will be in this political bear pit is anyone’s guess.
Experience suggests it will be a loosely structured discussion that is less of a debate and more of a political stand-up routine on both sides of the stage – played not for laughs, but for the presidency.
Rudy Giuliani has been hospitalised following a car crash in New Hampshire, a spokesperson for the former New York City mayor said.
Mr Giuliani suffered “a fractured thoracic vertebrae, multiple lacerations and contusions, as well as injuries to his left arm and lower leg” when his vehicle was struck from behind while driving on a highway near Manchester on Saturday evening, according to Michael Ragusa, Mr Giuliani’s head of security.
“He sustained injuries but is in good spirits and recovering tremendously,” Mr Ragusa said in a statement on X, adding: “This was not a targeted attack.”
Mr Giuliani was in a rental car and “no one knew it was him”, according to Mr Ragusa.
His head of security said the 81-year-old had been “flagged down by a woman who was the victim of a domestic violence incident” and contacted police on her behalf. The crash shortly after was “random and unrelated” to the domestic violence incident, Mr Ragusa said.
Rudy Giuliani attended Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony in January. Pic: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Pool via Reuters
Mr Giuliani, who worked as an attorney for Donald Trump in his failed efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, is expected to be released from hospital in a few days.
His son, Andrew Giuliani, thanked people for reaching out after hearing about his father’s accident, writing on X: “Your prayers mean the world.”
“As a son, I can tell you that I’m honored to have a Dad that I can call the toughest SOB I’ve ever seen,” he added.
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US
US blocks Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other officials from United Nations’ annual meeting in New York
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other officials have been blocked from attending September’s annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has revoked the US visas of delegates from the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), and denied others from applying for one.
It is the latest step by Donald Trump’s administration to target Palestinians with visa restrictions, and follows the suspension of a programme to allow injured children from Gaza to receive treatment in the US.
Mahmoud Abbas addressed the general assembly in 2024, but is barred from next month’s meeting. Pic: Reuters
“It is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,” a statement from the US State Department said.
It added that, to be considered partners for peace, both groups “must consistently repudiate terrorism, and end incitement to terrorism in education, as required by US law and as promised by the PLO”.
Offensive will cause ‘intolerable deaths’
Several US allies, including France, Malta, and Australia have announced plans to recognise Palestine as a state at September’s United Nations General Assembly. Canada and the UK will too, unless Israel meets certain conditions.
Israel declared Gaza’s largest city a dangerous combat zone on Friday.
The army launched a planned offensive that has drawn international condemnation.
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Thick smoke rises from Gaza City after Israeli strikes
Foreign ministers from Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia and Spain released a joint statement saying the military operations in Gaza City will cause “intolerable deaths of innocent Palestinian civilians”.
Gaza latest: Israel’s Gaza City offensive condemned
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering in Gaza City while enduring famine.
An Israeli armoured vehicle in northern Gaza on Friday. Pic: AP
Palestinians ride a truck carrying humanitarian aid in Gaza City. Pic: AP
The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Riyad Mansour, said Mr Abbas had planned to lead the delegation to the UN meetings and was expected to address the general assembly at the general debate, which begins on 23 September.
He was also expected to attend a high-level meeting co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia on 22 September about a two-state solution, a broad idea involving Israel coexisting with an independent Palestinian state.
The State of Palestine is an observer member of the UN, meaning it can speak at meetings but not vote on resolutions.
The State of Palestine cannot vote on UN resolutions. Pic: AP
US decision ‘contravenes international law’
The Palestinian Authority “expressed its deep regret and astonishment” at the visa decision, calling it “a violation of US commitments” as the host of the UN, and claiming it “contravenes international law”.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the world body would be seeking clarification in the “hope that this will be resolved”.
Hundreds of diplomats left when Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu began speaking at the general assembly in 2024. Pic: Reuters
The State Department said that the Palestinian Authority’s mission to the UN, comprising officials who are permanently based there, would not be included in the restrictions.
Under a 1947 UN agreement, the US is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York.
But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons.
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The death toll in Gaza has now risen to 63,025, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
It also reported five more malnutrition-related deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number during the war to 322, with 121 of them children.
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