On Tuesday, the night of the debate, a CNN post debate poll revealed VP Kamala Harris won by 67% to former President Donald Trump’s 37%. PHOTOS BY KEVIN HICKS FOR SOUTH FLORIDA TIMES

Meeting former President Donald Trump for the first time at a presidential debate stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, Vice President Kamala Harris walked up to him with hand extended for a shake and introduced herself. “Kamala Harris. Let’s have a good debate.”

“Have fun,” the Republican presidential nominee replied as he shook her hand.

“She sure appeared to. He did not,” The New York Times remarked.

“In this debate tonight, you’re going to hear from the same old tired playbook, a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling,” the Democratic nominee predicted at the beginning. “Donald Trump actually has no plan for you, because he is more interested in defending himself than he is in looking out for you.” That was an obvious reference to Trump’s legal woes.

Trump’s rebuttal: “Everything that she believed three years ago and four years ago is out the window – she’s going to my philosophy now. In fact, I was going to send her a MAGA hat. She’s going to my philosophy. But if she even got elected, she’d change it and it will be the end of our country. She’s a Marxist. Everybody knows she’s a Marxist. Her father’s a Marxist professor in economics. And he taught her well.”

Over the next 90 minutes or so, an unflappable Harris, her famous smile and laugh intact, painted a future under her that is optimistic, hopeful and all-embracing. Trump stuck to campaign rhetoric in which he accused her and President Joe Biden of destroying the country, with worse to come if she is elected.

Speaking for a total of 42 minutes and 52 seconds, according to CNN, Trump managed to make what the network said were about 30 false claims – compared to one by Harris, who spoke for 37 minutes and 36 seconds.

Trump, as he has been doing on the campaign trail, sought to distance himself from the Project 2025 plan for a massive takeover of the federal bureaucracy.

He also denied that he had anything to do with the Jan.6, 2021, attack on the U.S Capitol, claiming he was there only to give a speech. And although news reports had indicated that he took hours before calling for calm, he sought to blame then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, for the insurrection by rejecting his call to deploy the National Guard.

Trump also repeated his claim that Democrats not only support full-term abortion but also killing the new-born infants. He claimed that most Americans had wanted an end to federal right to abortions and that he supports exceptions in any abortion ban for rape, incest and threats to the mother’s life – though he has said he will vote against a Florida constitutional amendment that will overturn the state’s six-week ban. Harris accused him of engineering the end to the Roe v. Wade federal protection and of holding a position that is “insulting to the women of America.” She rejected the allegation that her party backs abortions up to the time of birth and placed the right to an abortion in the context of freedom of choice. She blamed Trump for women “bleeding out” in parking lots and for children having to carry a pregnancy that resulted from incest.

Trump also insisted that the country enjoyed the “best economy” during his four years as president, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and he blamed Harris and Biden for the rate of inflation which, up to a few months ago had been unusually high. “People can’t go out and buy cereal, or bacon, or anything else,” Trump said.

The inflation rate, which soared to 9.1 percent in 2022, has fallen, as of this week, to 2.5 percent and the Federal Reserve is poised to make an interest rate cut, which will boost the economy.

Harris challenged Trump on his proposal to slap a 20 percent tariff on all goods coming into the country. She said that will worsen the cost of living for ordinary Americans – an apparent reference to the fact that the cost of higher tariffs is usually passed on to consumers.

Immigration also sparked a sharp exchange between the two candidates and which Trump and the Republican party see as Harris’ weakest point. But Trump was not content with just highlighting how serious the problem is. He repeated unfounded claims that, in the Ohio city of Springfield, where an estimated 20,000 migrants live, they are eating residents’ pets. Trump also found himself unable to provide a satisfactory answer as to how he will, as promised, deport the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country.

But he pointed to an urgency in solving the border crisis, insisting that migrants are responsible for the worst crime wave ever. Other countries have a lower crime rate than the U.S. he said, because they send all their criminals and other undesirables here. He provided no statistics.

Foreign policy also featured prominently, in view of the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s President Vladimir’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump maintained that neither war would have taken place if he had been president and that he will end the conflicts even before taking office – or within days of doing so – if re-elected because he knows the leaders involved. He added that the current course could lead to World War III. Harris responded that Putin would “eat you for lunch.”

The moderators from ABC asked Trump about accusing Harris of playing the race game with her heritage, saying at one time she said she was Indian American and at another time she was African American. “Whatever she wants to be is okay with me,” he said. Harris responded by accusing Trump of using race to divide people throughout his career. “I think the American people want better than that, want better than this,” she said. “We see in each other a friend. We see in each other a neighbor. We don’t want a president who wants to constantly see Americans point a finger at each other. … The people of our country actually need a leader who engages in solutions, who actually addresses the problems at hand.”

The Washington Post summarized the debate this way: “Harris’ barbs landed crisply, while Trump often veered off-message in response to her attempts to bait him on sensitive topics like the size of his rally crowds, his 2020 election loss and his admiration for strongmen.”

As The Times pointed out, Harris not only went on the attack verbally: “She turned to him with an arched brow. A quiet sigh. A hand on her chin. A laugh. A pitiful glance. A dismissive shake of her head. From the opening moments … Kamala Harris craftily exploited her opponent’s biggest weakness. Not his record. Not his divisive policies. Not his history of inflammatory statements. Instead, she took aim at a far more primal part of him: his ego.”

But whether Harris did well enough to win over undecided and independent voters remains to be seen. Some initial media reports indicate she had been impressive but that some voters want to hear more from her about her specific plans. Much, therefore, will depend on how she fleshes out her vision for her promised “opportunity economy” in the 50 days or so leading to the Nov. 5 election. Those still waiting to be convinced include some African Americans.

Keilah Miller, 34, a Milwaukee resident among those whom The Times interviewed, said Trump had been “a little more convincing,” adding, “I guess I’m leaning more on his facts than her vision.”