Democratic nominee Kamala Harris accused Donald Trump of coddling strongmen like Russia's president, saying the former US leader would "give up" in the face of pressure from Vladimir Putin, who would "eat you for lunch."
"Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe, starting with Poland," Harris said in her presidential debate with Trump, noting "how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch."
She did something rarely seen Tuesday night when she faced off against her Republican challenger, repeatedly putting Donald Trump on the defensive during their closely-watched presidential debate.
Throughout the fierce one hour and forty-five-minute showdown, Harris attempted to cast herself as Trump's diametric opposite: cool, calm and collected under pressure, fending off repeated attacks from the ex-president and launching salvos of her own as the duo addressed America's hot-button issues, including immigration, abortion and the economy.
Harris repeatedly sought to get under Trump's skin and bait him, saying world and military leaders view him as a "disgrace" and seeking to cast doubt about his repeatedly-touted business acumen.
"World leaders are laughing at Donald Trump," she said in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
"I grew up a middle-class kid raised by a hard-working mother who worked and saved and was able to buy our first home when I was a teenager. The values I bring to the importance of homeownership, knowing not everybody got handed $400 million on a silver platter and then filed bankruptcy six times," Harris added, in reference to Trump.
Trump quickly denied being given $400 million, saying he was "given a fraction of that" and went on to build it "into many, many billions of dollars." He much earlier in the debate castigated Harris and her father as "Marxists," saying the US vice president and President Joe Biden "hate our country."
The ex-president walked back earlier comments in which he acknowledged his 2020 electoral defeat, saying he made the remarks sarcastically, a claim challenged by moderate David Muir.
"You know that we said, Oh, we lost by a whisker. That was said sarcastically. Look, there's so much proof. All you have to do is look at it, and they should have sent it back to the legislatures for approval," he said.
Harris quickly pounced, calling her challenger delusional, maintaining the "American people deserve better."
"Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people, so let's be clear about that, and clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that, but we cannot afford to have a president of the United States who attempts, as he did in the past, to upend the will of the voters in a free and fair election," she said.
"When you then talk in this way in a presidential debate and deny, what over and over again are court cases you have lost, because you did, in fact, lose that election, it leads one to believe that perhaps we do not have in the candidate to my right the temperament or the ability to not be confused about fact. That's deeply troubling, and the American people deserve better," Harris added.
Apparently feeling confident after the debate wrapped up, the Harris campaign issued a challenge to Trump for a second face-to-face.
"Under the bright lights, the American people got to see the choice they will face this fall at the ballot box: between moving forward with Kamala Harris, or going backwards with Trump," chair Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a statement. "Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?"
