ABC News presidential debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis tried to corner former President Donald Trump on the issue of the Russia-Ukraine war during the September 10 presidential debate.
The moderators seemed to want Trump to say that Ukraine should emerge victorious from the ongoing war. However, Donald Trump refused to answer the questions in the way they wanted. He repeatedly stated that he wanted the war to end immediately so that innocent people would stop dying.
Muir first asked Trump if he wanted Ukraine to win the war, to which the former president replied that he wanted to save innocent lives in both Russia and Ukraine. Muir was not satisfied with the answer, as he asked Trump whether it would be in the best interest of the United States if Ukraine won the war against Russia. The moderator asked the former president to answer “yes or no,” Trump replied that the US’s interest is in stopping the war by negotiating a deal between the two warring nations.
Harris seized the opportunity to attack Trump on this issue, stating that America’s NATO allies are thankful that Trump is not in the White House, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin would have already captured Ukraine under Trump’s presidency and would be aiming to attack more European countries, beginning with Poland.
The vice president also claimed that Trump would have sought closer ties with a dictator like Putin who “would eat” him “for lunch.”
Although the liberal moderators continued to fact-check and press Trump on various occasions during the debate, they did not counter Harris at all, even when Trump asked them to do so. On the question of abortion, Trump asked the moderators to ask Harris if she would support abortion in the third trimester, but both moderators ignored the request and moved on to the next question.
Trump also grilled President Joe Biden and Harris for the failed foreign policies the duo has adopted in various international conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Palestine war, and the messy US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which resulted in the killing of 13 US soldiers in a terrorist attack at Kabul airport.
Meanwhile, Harris also took credit for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, asserting that Joe Biden was able to end America’s 20-year-long war even though Trump led the talks with the Taliban during his presidency and finalized most agreements that ended America’s longest war in history.
After the debate, Trump claimed victory, stating it was his best debate ever, especially considering he was competing against three people.
Some critics also claimed that ABC News avoided questions that could have put Harris in hot water, including how she rose to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket without running in the primaries.