Cool Kamala beats Trump at his own game

KAMALA HARRIS rattled Donald Trump at the presidential debate, turning the tables on America’s former leader following Joe Biden’s humiliating withdrawal from the race for November’s election.

- Jitendra Joshi

After the 90-minute showdown last night in Philadelphia, one instant poll for CNN said 63 per cent of viewers scored a win for the vice-president, compared to 37 per cent for her Republican rival.

It was a mirror image of a snap survey after Mr Biden and Trump debated in late June, when the 81-year-old president’s stumbling performance left Democrats in despair and led to him bowing out in favour of Ms Harris. Instead, it is now Trump at 78 who faces questions about his advancing years.

For many observers, his performance last night resembled an angry old man going up against a younger and history-making candidate in the biracial Ms Harris, 59, who is bidding to be America’s first woman president.

He alleged without evidence that Haitian immigrants were eating the cats and dogs of residents in Springfield, Ohio, the home state of his running mate JD Vance, who himself has backtracked from the claim circulating on social media.

“They’re eating the pets of the people who live there,” Trump shouted during the ABC debate, as Ms Harris laughed disbelievingly. “She’s destroying this country… we’ll end up being Venezuela on steroids.”

Ms Harris said “talk about extreme”, attacking Trump over his many racist remarks including one against herself. She noted she has won the endorsements of 200 Republicans including most recently that of the hardline former vice-president Dick Cheney.

The biggest endorsement yet materialised just after the debate concluded. Taylor Swift signed off an Instagram post backing Ms Harris with the words “childless cat lady”, in a pointed reference to a much-criticised attack on Democrats by Mr Vance.

Ms Harris exploited her experience as a courtroom prosecutor to press her case against Trump as unfit for office, highlighting his criminal convictions and his opposition to federal protection for abortion rights.