In their first presidential debate on Tuesday night, former United States President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris accused one another of fuelling division in the states.
The candidates quickly clashed over issues from migration and the Israel-Gaza conflict for 90 minutes without the usual groans or applause from a live audience.
The vice president rattled the former president with personal attacks and answers to questions designed to enrage the former president.
Harris told Trump that world leaders were laughing at him while military leaders called him a “disgrace".
She also pointed digs at Trump's rally sizes, his conduct during the Capitol riot and the officials who served in his administration who have since been outspoken critics of his campaign.
Harris said Americans should go to a Trump rally because they are illuminating, explaining: "People start leaving the rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom."
Trump bit back stating: "People don’t leave my rallies, we have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics."
Meanwhile, the former president repeatedly returned the subject back to inflation and immigration arguing that the Biden-Harris administration had “destroyed” the country, and called her a "Marxist."
At another point in the conversation, Trump made claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, had been stealing pets and eating them despite there being no credible reports to support this claim.
Some of the most heated moments in the debate were over abortion with Harris claiming Trump would "sign an abortion ban" if re-elected.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump clashed over issues from migration and the Israel-Gaza conflict ABCTrump denied this stating: "What she says is an absolute lie. I am not in favour of an abortion ban."
Harris argued: "One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government - and Donald Trump, certainly - should not be telling a woman what to do with her body."
The former president reiterated that he supports abortion in cases involving rape, incest or when a mother's life is at risk.
But, he then went on to claim that some babies were being subject to "executions" after birth, but an ABC moderator interjected Trump to fact-check him stating: "There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.”
The Harris campaign had previously been coy about agreeing to another debate. Still, after last night they called for a second presidential debate before November indicating how well the Democrats think the discussion went.
Former President Trump also claimed victory after the debate by taking to his social media platform Truth Social to proclaim: "People are saying BIG WIN tonight!"
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