This segment covers the final four questions of the debate (Ukraine, Afghanistan, Racial Politics, Healthcare, and Climate) as the responses were shortened up.
After hours digging into every word of substance Harris said at the debate, the only conclusion is this: Kamala Harris IS the Biggest Liar
Q8) DAVID MUIR: I want to take this to Vice President Harris. I want to get your thoughts on support for Ukraine in this moment. But also as commander in chief if elected how would you deal with Vladimir Putin and would it be any different from what we’re seeing from President Biden?
Harris: “I believe the reason that Donald Trump says that this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up”
FACT CHECK: We are not fact checking this opinion, but it is worth noting that Trump has stated repeatedly he would negotiate an end to the war with both nations, not impose an outcome. Also of note: Harris in response to this question to place herself in a central role in supporting Ukraine, which appears to be a bit of stretch, but since we know little about who is making what decisions in a White House without a functioning President, we do not have information to accurately prove or disprove that claim.
Harris: “If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now. And understand what that would mean. Because Putin’s agenda is not just about Ukraine.”
FACT CHECK: Vladimir Putin had 4 years to invade Ukraine while Donald Trump was in office, and did not do so after having invaded part of the country during Obama’s tenure, and launching the full-scale invasion during Biden’s. Hence, there is no evidence to support her assertion. Likewise, the narrative that Russia has plans to invade the rest of Europe is – given their inability to conquer even one tiny nation with a miniscule military – an utterly laughable talking point.
Verdict: False
Harris: “Understand why the European allies and our NATO allies are so thankful that you are no longer president and that we understand the importance of the greatest military alliance the world has ever known, which is NATO. And what we have done to preserve the ability of Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians to fight for their Independence. Otherwise, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe. Starting with Poland.”
FACT CHECK: NATO countries don’t like Trump because he called them out for failing to meet their spending commitments to NATO – countries that have spent decades calling out the U.S. for not having social safety nets as extensive as their own while they sat back and demanded we pay for their entire defense. Europe’s population is 25% larger than the U.S., their total economy is similar in scope, and yet they spend less than a third of what the U.S does on their defense.
Verdict: False. It is not destructive to NATO to demand that our European allies honor their spending commitments. And, again, the assertion that Russia is some military powerhouse poised to roll over Europe is a canard.
Q9) DAVID MUIR: Thank you. I want to turn to Afghanistan. We witnessed a poignant moment today on Capitol Hill honoring the soldiers who died in the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. I do want to ask the vice president, do you believe you bear any responsibility in the way that withdrawal played out?
Harris: “I agreed with President Biden’s decision to pull out of Afghanistan. Four presidents said they would, and Joe Biden did. And as a result, America’s taxpayers are not paying the $300 million a day we were paying for that endless war.”
FACT CHECK: Harris has also previously claimed to be the “last person in the room” during the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. The war did, at one point, cost $300 million per day, but that number was an average that included the nearly two decade period before Trump’s draw down of troops there.
Verdict: Deceptive
Harris: “And the president at the time invited the Taliban to Camp David. A place of storied significance for us as Americans, a place where we honor the importance of American diplomacy, where we invite and receive respected world leaders. And this former president as president invited them to Camp David because he does not again appreciate the role and responsibility of the President of the United States to be commander in chief with a level of respect. And this gets back to the point of how he has consistently disparaged and demeaned members of our military, fallen soldiers, and the work that we must do to uphold the strength and the respect of the United States of America around the world.”
FACT CHECK: Trump did invite some Taliban leaders to meet at Camp David and then withdrew the invitation. A moderator who wasn’t in the bag for Harris might have asked a follow up: was it disrespect for the role and responsibility of the President for Bill Clinton to invite terrorist leader Yasser Arafat to Camp David? Additionally, there is no evidence to support the assertion that Trump has disparaged U.S. servicemembers.
Verdict: Deceptive. You can only make peace with people who are your adversaries, hence diplomacy means dealing with some horrible humans.
Q10) DAVID MUIR: President Trump, thank you. I want to move on now to race and politics in this country. Mr. President, you recently said of Vice President Harris, “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black.” I want to ask a bigger-picture question here tonight. Why do you believe it’s appropriate to weigh in on the racial identity of your opponent?
Harris: “And let’s remember how Donald Trump started. He was a, a, a—land, he owned land, he owned buildings, and he was investigated because he refused to rent property to Black families.”
FACT CHECK: Harris appear to be referring to a 1973 case when Donald Trump’s father was in charge of the company. Harris’ use of “investigated” is key, because the Trump organization was not convicted of discrimination.
Verdict: True, but deceptive.
Harris: “Let’s remember, this is the same individual who took out a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the execution of five young Black and Latino boys who were innocent, the Central Park Five. Took out a full-page ad calling for their execution. This is the same individual who spread birther lies about the first Black President of the United States.”
FACT CHECK: Both of these claims are accurate. In the context of the Central Park Five, media coverage at the time was overwhelming in asserting their guilt, subsequent revelations many years later changed the narrative.
Verdict: TrueX2
Q11) LINSEY DAVIS: Vice President Harris, in 2017 you supported Bernie Sanders’ proposal to do away with private insurance and create a government-run health care system. Two years later you proposed a plan that included a private insurance option. What is your plan today?
Harris: “Well, first of all, I absolutely support and over the last four years as vice president private health care options. But what we need to do is maintain and grow the Affordable Care Act.”
FACT CHECK: Harris has made repeated statements over many years calling for the elimination of all private insurance.
Verdict: Deceptive. This is one of the many Harris positions that changed overnight when she was anointed. What are her positions now…?…?…?
Harris: “And then this business about taking everyone’s guns away. Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We’re not taking anybody’s guns away.”
FACT CHECK: Harris was not asked about gun control in this question, but has a lengthy history of calling for firearm confiscation, and a host of other draconian gun control measures, including requiring gun owners to submit to in-home checks at any time. She has also asserted her right as President to unconstitutionally implement gun control measures via executive order
Verdict: Deceptive. Does a leopard really change this many spots?
Harris: “When Donald Trump was president, 60 times he tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.”
FACT CHECK: Joe Biden said it was 50 times, but regardless, Trump and the Republican caucus did attempt on numerous occasions to replace the ACA. Trump now says he wants to improve it, but has offered few details.
Verdict: True
Harris: “And now we have capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month. Since I’ve been vice president we have capped the cost of prescription medication for seniors at $2,000 a year.”
FACT CHECK: The insulin cost-cap was a Trump administration policy that Biden expanded upon. Biden’s expansion did cap costs for seniors.
Verdict: True, but deceptive.
Q12) LINSEY DAVIS: President Trump, thank you. We have another issue that we’d like to get to that’s important for a number of Americans, in particular younger voters, and that’s climate change. President Trump, with regard to the environment, you say that we have to have clean air and clean water. Vice President Harris, you call climate change an existential threat. The question to you both tonight is what would you do to fight climate change? And Vice President Harris, we’ll start with you. One minute for you each.
Harris: “You ask anyone who lives in a state who has experienced these extreme weather occurrences who now is either being denied home insurance or is being jacked up. You ask anybody who has been the victim of what that means in terms of losing their home, having nowhere to go. We know that we can actually deal with this issue.”
FACT CHECK: Total numbers of Hurricanes are not increasing, nor are tornados. Insurance issues are related to building and rebuilding in flood zones, along with generally higher costs of home repairs and construction due to inflation, and can easily be curbed by preventing construction and re-construction in areas that are frequently flooded.
Verdict: False, though Harris is correct in assessing that the problem here can be easily addressed, just not in the way she is asserting.
Harris: “And I am proud that as vice president over the last four years, we have invested a trillion dollars in a clean energy economy”
FACT CHECK: Biden’s signature Build Back Better legislation did invest a trillion dollars in the clean energy economy – such as spending $7.5 billion for electric car chargers, none of which have been built.
Verdict: True, Democrats love to line the pockets of their billionaire donors, who love to steal taxpayer money.
Harris: “We have created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs while I have been vice president.”
FACT CHECK: Harris loves to use data from the lockdown economy. Manufacturing jobs in the U.S. only returned to pre-pandemic levels this year, net growth under Biden/Harris has effectively been zero.
Verdict: False
Final Summary
I found myself getting physically ill researching and analyzing Harris’ debate performance. Trump’s lies – and there are plenty – are mostly harmless self-promotion. Braggadocio. Harris’ lies are substantial to her policy, and cover virtually every area of political activity. There’s an old maxim in intelligence operations that you mix two parts truth to one part lies, and your target will swallow the lie. Harris has turned that upside down. This was the LEAST honest debate performance I have analyzed in two decades of working in politics.
Final Kamala Harris “Truth Tally”
34 lies
13 deceptive answers
20 truths, 8 of the deceptive variety
