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The most appropriate terms to describe how Kamala Harris triumphed over Donald Trump in Tuesday’s debate come not from political punditry but from the field of psychology: triggered, baited, ego deflated.
During last night’s debate, Donald Trump said some strange things, even by his own standards. He praised the Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán (using the antidemocratic term strongman approvingly); lamented that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are “eating the dogs”; and falsely suggested that Kamala Harris wants to do “transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison.” This is not merely the stuff of normal Trumpian discourse.
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.
This morning found the former apex predator of American politics looking for some hand-holding.
The bar for tastelessness in American politics has dropped precipitously in the past decade. It’s even dropped in the past 24 hours. Nonetheless, it takes a unique kind of vulgarity to bring a 9/11 “truther” to events marking the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
The culprit is former President Donald Trump, who attended commemorative events in New York and Pennsylvania today.
Before last night’s debate, I got a text from a friend who summed up Kamala Harris’s predicament: She has to appear feminine but not dainty. She has to be firm but not nasty. She has to call out Donald Trump’s lies but not be naggy. She has to dress presidentially but not be blah.
Evidently, women candidates face challenges that men don’t—voters question their toughness and are often ambivalent about how they should discuss identity.
Tuesday night’s presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump focused heavily on abortion rights and the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Trump repeated his false claim that Democrats support infanticide, and claimed that allowing individual states to set their own laws on abortion was an improvement. Harris highlighted the risk to pregnant people now navigating a patchwork of laws and restrictions in the U.S.
We speak with consumer advocate Ralph Nader and Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz about Tuesday’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Stiglitz says Trump’s policies, including a plan for major new tariffs, would result in “more inflation and slower growth” and wreak havoc on the U.S. economy.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump had their first and only scheduled debate Tuesday, providing a stark contrast between the two candidates with just eight weeks to go before the November 5 election. Harris repeatedly put Trump on the defensive as they debated abortion, immigration, Israel’s war on Gaza, race, January 6 and other issues.
Tuesday night’s debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris focused heavily on immigration, with the Republican nominee attacking the current administration for not closing the border, and spreading xenophobic and racist conspiracy theories about asylum seekers. “Donald Trump resorted to the same deranged and despicable rhetoric that is meant to divide people.
Across the U.S. in November, voters will weigh proposals on election policies, minimum wage increases and marijuana legalization.
“Every huge thing is composed of a lot of very small things.
Can Gen Zs even write checks? Felix says no. Emily says yes. They both wish checks would go away.
A plan to expand access to the drug treatment is hung up on fears of a black market, despite bipartisan support.
The state lost millions in federal funding because it refused to offer patients a national hotline number for information about abortion.
While the risk of hospitalization and death is nowhere near what it was in 2021, there is still a danger, particularly for the elderly or those with compromised immune systems.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump want to provide relief, though they disagree on the details.
The former top U.S. infectious disease expert is expected to make a full recovery.
Trump arrived in New York amid growing concerns among some investors about his economic plans as Harris casts his agenda as a financially calamitous wishlist.
The vice president looks to beef up her economic plans ahead of next week’s debate.
This summer’s conventions featured strongly diverging visions of the future — and the present.
Vance’s rally Tuesday was the first of a series of events in Rust Belt swing states that he and Trump are visiting this week.
Israel is continuing its military assault across the occupied West Bank, with soldiers storming the Palestinian city of Tulkarm after midnight Monday, just days after Israeli forces withdrew from Tulkarm and Jenin following a brutal incursion that lasted over one week.
Even host Jesse Watters seemed a little lost.
Even host Jesse Watters seemed a little lost.
David Muir and Linsey Davis were ready.
David Muir and Linsey Davis were ready.
Tonight’s presidential debate was held while wildfires rage in Nevada, Southern California, Oregon, and Idaho. Louisiana is bracing for a possible hurricane landfall. After a year of floods and storms across the country, more than 10 percent of Americans no longer have home insurance, as climate risk sends the insurance industry fleeing vulnerable places. Record heat waves have strained infrastructure and killed hundreds of Americans.
Vice President Kamala Harris walked onto the ABC News debate stage with a mission: trigger a Trump meltdown.
She succeeded.
Former President Donald Trump had a mission too: control yourself. He failed.
Trump lost his cool over and over. Goaded by predictable provocations, he succumbed again and again.
Trump was pushed into broken-sentence monologues—and even an all-out attack on the 2020 election outcome.
Over the past 24 hours, the MAGA faithful have been busy sharing cat memes with one another. These are not the adorable “lolcats” that have circulated on the internet for well over a decade, but something darker. They reference a baseless and racist claim from Donald Trump’s running mate, J. D. Vance, that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are eating people’s pets. Trump, the memes show, will protect America’s house cats from this supposed threat.
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.
Tonight’s debate—if it doesn’t devolve fully into personal attacks—presents an opportunity for the moderators to ask Kamala Harris and Donald Trump about policy proposals, including on the urgent problem of housing. The U.S.