LATIKA M BOURKE: Kamala Harris turns policy-light debate into demolition of Donald Trump’s character

Kamala Harris had two jobs heading into the debate, avoid having to account for the Biden Administration and make it all about Donald Trump. And she largely succeeded.

She was fortunate and skilled enough to turn a policy-light debate into a demolition of Trump’s presidency and character.

The vice president had a shaky start and repeatedly stumbled over key lines.

Her initial nervousness was understandable — the pressure was almost entirely on her. To maintain the momentum that polls showed was starting to dissipate, there was no room for fatal error.

Trump, whose bombast, insults and ravings have been part of the fabric of US politics for the best part of a decade, had less to lose by contrast.

Whether that’s fair or not is irrelevant, the likely only Presidential debate was always going to be more about Kamala Harris purely because voters know so little about her given her late ascendancy.

Trump briefly managed to revive the self-control that he conjured for his battle against Joe Biden — that debate ended the President’s decades-long political career.

But when the ABC’s Linsey Davis turned to the issue of abortion, after a brief stoush on the economy and tariffs, the stage was instantly reset for both candidates and Harris seized her moment.

The famed prosecutor found that pressing the emotional cases of women and girls raped and abused by relatives and unable to access terminations rendered Trump speechless, then incomprehensible.

“A 12 or 13-year-old survivor of incest being forced to carry a pregnancy to term? They don’t want that,” she said.

Harris pledged to sign back into law the protections offered by Roe V. Wade.

By contrast, Trump notably refused to state whether he’d veto a national ban on abortion and distanced himself from JD Vance, his vice presidential pick.

(Kamala Harris’) facial expressions, which will be fodder for a torrent of memes, showed her growing confidence.

Harris found her stride and began needling Trump.

“I’m going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump’s rallies because it’s a really interesting thing to watch,” she said.

“You will see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter.

“People start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.”

Trump took the bait and defended the size of his rallies, before descending into a conspiracy theory he said he saw on television.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country,” he said.

“There have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” corrected ABC moderator David Muir.

Harris couldn’t contain her glee. “Talk about extreme,” she said laughing.

The Onion-like headlines continued as Trump later accused Harris of wanting to “do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison”.

Harris smirked, shook her head and looked shocked and in disbelief throughout the debate as Trump struggled to land a decent blow against her. Her facial expressions, which will be fodder for a torrent of memes, showed her growing confidence.

Her taunts turned into downright character attacks and she welcomed anyone who thought January 6 was a “bridge too far” into her campaign.

She was able to mobilise her trademark joy and unity vibe and contrast it against Trump’s relentless grievance politics.

In the end, the bigger surprise was Trump’s failure to turn the debate onto the economy and hammer Harris about how much of the Biden Administration she stood for and would continue and if not why not.

He did manage to land a decent blow against her for saying so little about her agenda.

“It’s like four sentences, like run-Spot-run,” Trump said.

“Four sentences that are just oh, we’ll try and lower taxes.

“She doesn’t have a plan.”

But Trump’s successes were underwhelming compared to Harris. Given this was Trump’s seventh debate and Harris’ first, it’s clear she went into the clash better prepared, even if there was little in the way of policy details.

But she managed some devastating attacks as she told him military leaders she’d met thought he was a disgrace and world leaders laughed at him.

“Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people ... clearly he’s having trouble processing that,” she said, adding that he was “confused about fact.”

Pity the American voters, they have few clues about how Harris might run the country differently to Biden and the debate left them none the wiser.

It was the same for those hoping to understand how her foreign policy might differ from the President’s.

The fact that Trump felt it necessary to head to the spin room immediately after to tell journalists it was his best debate ever, said it all. He cut a pitiful figure.

His descent into a rabbit warren of conspiracy theories, rather than a relentlessly forcing the focus onto the economy and immigration means she passes an important hurdle and can hope to build on her momentum.