Trump Stumped

The former front runner is struggling to adjust to Kamala Harris

- Brian Bennett, Eric Cortellessa, and Philip Elliott

The two candidates for President of the United States are as different as any duo in history.

A billionaire businessman vs. a career prosecutor and politician; a son of privilege against the daughter of a middleclass single mother; one reckless, one cautious; a former Commander in Chief against the first Black and South Asian woman to claim the nomination. They hail from different coasts, different generations, different tax brackets. But as stark as the choice facing American voters this November may be, the nation had never gotten a glimpse of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris side by side before they squared off in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, in what may be their sole debate before Election Day.

For the Republican, the U.S. is a hellscape of rising crime, unchecked immigration, and economic misery. For the Democrat, the nation is beset by the division Trump has sowed, the abortion bans he ushered in, and the economic policies he passed that favor the rich at the expense of the rest. But beyond the canned salvos and campaign boilerplate, the high-stakes clash underscored how dramatically the presidential race has changed since midsummer, when even top Democrats conceded Trump appeared to be sailing to victory in his rematch with President Joe Biden. As plain as it is that Trump wishes he were still running against Biden, it is equally apparent that Harris has rattled him.