Philadelphia
CNN
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Kamala Harris provoked Donald Trump for almost the entire 1 hour and 45 minutes of their first and possibly only debate on Tuesday night – and Trump did not miss the opportunity.

The vice president had prepared extensively for the debate, peppering nearly every answer with a comment designed to infuriate the former president. She told Trump that world leaders were laughing at him and military leaders were calling him a “disgrace.” She called Trump “weak” and “fake.” She said Trump had been fired by 81 million voters – the number who voted for President Joe Biden in 2020.

“It’s obviously very difficult for him to process this,” she said.

Trump was often out of control. He loudly and repeatedly insisted that a whole host of falsehoods were true. The former president repeated lies about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, parroted a conspiracy theory that immigrants eat pets, and lied that Democrats support abortions after babies are born — which is murder and illegal everywhere.

He painted a grim picture of the United States, reminiscent of the “American bloodbath” he warned about at his inauguration in 2017.

“We have a nation that is dying,” Trump said Tuesday evening.

Here are some brief insights from the first part of the debate:

When Harris and Trump took the stage in Philadelphia, it was the first time they had met in person. Trump had, after all, skipped Biden’s inauguration.

Harris set the tone by bridging the six feet between her podium and Trump’s and extending her hand for a handshake. She introduced herself and said, “Let’s have a good debate.”

“Nice to see you,” Trump replied.

It was the first handshake at a presidential debate since Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off in 2016. Trump famously got uncomfortably close to Clinton during the town hall-style debate.

Trump generally looked ahead as Harris spoke, while the vice president communicated through facial expressions. She laughed at some of Trump’s comments, grinned at others, shook her head at some and appeared confused at times.

When Trump repeated a debunked myth about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, Harris laughed mockingly, shrugged and pointed at Trump.

Despite the signals even from his running mate, Trump did not hesitate to repeat the current conspiracy theory during the debate.

The former president raised the unfounded conspiracy theory that migrants from Haiti living in Springfield, Ohio, are eating people’s cats and dogs. He once said, “In Springfield, they eat the dogs. They eat the cats. They eat the pets of the people who live there.”

When ABC anchor David Muir pointed out that city officials deny any evidence that migrants in Springfield are actually eating pets, Trump persisted, saying that’s what “people on TV” say. When asked, Trump simply said, “We’ll find out.”

When the debate turned to crime, Trump claimed that crime in the US has risen, unlike the rest of the world. Again, Muir pointed out that according to FBI data, crime has actually fallen in recent years.

Trump, in turn, invoked another conspiracy theory that the FBI was deeply corrupt and made “fraudulent statements.” He argued: “It was fraud.”

Later in the debate, Trump claimed the US elections were “a mess” and alleged that Democrats were trying to encourage undocumented immigrants to vote.

“We have a nation that is dying,” he said.

Fierce dispute over abortion, a central issue for both candidates

Few moments highlighted the difference between Biden’s performance in the June debate and Harris’ performance on Tuesday as much as the abortion debate.

The vice president, who has long been one of the administration’s strongest advocates on reproductive rights issues, may have responded differently than Biden to the former president’s defense of his abortion policies.

The former president, who appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who struck down federal abortion protections, has tried to soften his stance on the issue, criticizing the ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and reiterating his support for exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. But he has also defended the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“Now it’s no longer tied to the federal government,” Trump said. “I’ve done a great service by doing it. It took courage to do it.”

Trump repeated several of the arguments he made on abortion during his June debate with Biden. He argued that “everyone” wanted to return the issue to the states, despite widespread opposition from Democrats and some independents. He falsely argued that a former Virginia governor had said babies should be executed – a reference to comments by former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, a physician, about caring for births after nonviable pregnancies.

And Trump repeated the false claim that some states allow abortions even after a child is born, prompting ABC News’ Linsey Davis to fact-check.

“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after birth,” Davis said.

In her response, Harris referred to cases in which women were unable to have an abortion after being raped or had difficulty treating a miscarriage.

“You want to talk about what people wanted?” Harris said. “Pregnant women trying to carry a pregnancy to term, having a miscarriage, being denied treatment in the emergency room because doctors are afraid she’ll go to jail, and she bleeds to death in a car in the parking lot – that’s not what she wanted.”

Trump bites the bait – again and again

Harris took the stage with a clear plan: she wanted to disrupt Trump.

It was a dramatic success by any measure. When the vice president mentioned Trump’s criminal conviction and the outstanding legal issues, he bit. When she criticized him for killing a bipartisan immigration bill, he bit even harder. And when Harris suggested Trump’s rallies were boring, he almost choked on the bait.

Instead of addressing the issues raised by the moderators – including some that Trump counts among his political strengths – the former president went into detail about the entertainment value of his rallies, claimed that the Biden administration was legally targeting him and, in a long, bizarre pause, insisted – contrary to all available evidence – that migrants were eating Americans’ pets.

“In Springfield,” Trump said after Harris criticized him for blocking immigration legislation, “they eat the dogs, they eat the cats.”

Harris seemed stunned, but barely addressed the allegations and was apparently content to let Trump have his way.

Trump seemed particularly annoyed by the vice president’s comment about his campaign rallies. Even when Muir tried to steer the debate toward immigration – again one of Trump’s favorite topics – the former president persisted.

“Let me first address the rallies,” Trump said, first mocking Harris’ crowd and then turning back to his own. “People don’t leave my rallies, we have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.”

The first hour of the debate ended as it had begun – with a long, narrow-minded digression by Trump about the 2020 election, which he – once again falsely – claimed was stolen from him.

In her effort to introduce herself to voters, Harris set the tone early on, drawing a contrast to Trump by portraying herself as an advocate for the American middle class – and portraying her opponent as self-centered.

“Donald Trump has no plan for you,” Harris said in response to a question about the economy, looking into the camera in a direct appeal to voters.

Harris drew on her personal biography and portrayed herself as a “child of the middle class.” She outlined an economic vision that includes tax cuts for families and tax deductions for small businesses, whereas Trump, she said, “will do what he’s done before, which is introduce tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations.”

Trump, Harris continued, “basically has no plan for you because he cares more about his own defense than about you.”

Her campaign has argued in its ads and talking points that Trump is a self-respecting candidate, and Harris brought that message to the debate stage on Tuesday.

“I’m telling you, the only thing he won’t talk about is you. And I’m telling you, I think you deserve a president who really puts you first,” she said.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.