• The debate is usually a chance for one to sell their plan or agenda for the United States, as much as it is also a chance for them to woo the undecided voters.
• In the debate that lasted at least 90 minutes, Kamala and Trump threw the usual political jabs at one another even as they debated policies.
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The first United States of America’s 2024 presidential debate was held on September 10, 2024.
The debate saw Democratic Party aspirant Kamala Harris and her opponent and Republican Party candidate Donald Trump meet for the first time and even shared a podium.
The debate is usually a chance for one to sell their plan or agenda for the United States, as much as it is also a chance for them to woo the undecided voters.
Another debate is expected to follow even though the debates have not been confirmed and the candidates have yet to agree to it.
In the debate that lasted at least 90 minutes, Kamala and Trump threw the usual political jabs at one another even as they debated policies.
They made their positions known on the Economy, Healthcare, Abortion, Immigration, Taxes and Job creation among others.
The two also responded to questions about the different administrations they have served in, policies retained from former preceding administrations, as well as what they intend to do for Americans in general.
Now, during the debate, the moderators, all from the ABC news channel, David Muir and Linsey Davis found themselves having to correct especially Trump whenever he said anything that was not factual.
Vice President Kamala Harris also found herself making claims that could not be substantiated.
Here are some of the false claims that were made during the debate;
The US Vice President claimed that Donald Trump left the worst unemployment since the Great Depression, she went on to say that if Trump is re-elected, he would sign a national abortion ban and that Economists say Trump's sales tax would result in middle-class families paying about $4,000 more yearly.
A fact-check by US media houses found Kamala’s remarks to be false.
On the first claim, the unemployment rate spiked to a post-Great Depression record of 14.8 per cent in April 2020 when Trump was president but he did not leave the Biden administration with a post-Great Depression record unemployment rate. By December 2020, the unemployment rate had fallen back to 6.4 per cent.
On the second claim, it was found that Trump had denied that he would sign a national ban on abortion if elected president and that he would leave limits on abortion access up to individual states to decide.
On the sales tax, Trump insists the cost would only be felt by foreign countries but economists believe there would be an economic cost for US importers and consumers.
Trump also made several claims including Kamala Harris wouldn’t meet Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu because she was at a sorority party.
However, on the day of the said meeting, the VP was at a sorority meeting she was scheduled to attend on the day Netanyahu addressed the joint congressional sitting. Kamala met Netanyahu face-to-face the following day.
He went on to claim the Biden administration US left $85 billion worth of brand-new military equipment in Afghanistan when US troops were withdrawn.
The truth on this, however, is figure is far lower than Trump stated. An independent inspector general report told Congress that only about $7 billion of US-funded equipment remained in the Taliban’s hands.
Trump claimed that in Springfield, Haitian immigrants are eating dogs and cats, but a city spokesperson said the claims are unfounded. He said the city had no such reports.
Police told a local news outlet the department had received no reports of pets being stolen and eaten.
The 44th US President said the 818,000 jobs created by the Biden administration was a fraud. However, the federal agency that calculates how many people are working said there was a downward adjustment of the past year’s employment gains by some 818,000 jobs.
Trump said Democrats support execution after birth. This was, however, in relation to remarks by Former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam who said during a radio interview that in rare, late-pregnancy cases when fetuses are nonviable, doctors deliver the baby, keep it comfortable, resuscitate it if the mother wishes, and then have a “discussion” with the mother.
Trump said Kamala Harris was sent to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin but failed. The truth here is that Harris, in her role as vice president did not meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, and there were no negotiations.
The former President said there are millions of people pouring into the US from prisons, jails, mental institutions and insane asylums
Of the 1.4 million apprehensions of people crossing the border illegally so far this financial year, the Border Patrol databases said about 14,700 people had previous criminal convictions.
There are no publicly available figures on how many of them have served time in prison or come from mental institutions.