In tonight’s debate, Harris showed up as a prosecutor. Trump showed up as himself

Classic Trump showed up. So did Prosecutor Harris.

Despite all the advice former president Donald Trump got beforehand − that he should attack Vice President Kamala Harris on policy and avoid the personal − the debater who showed up in Philadelphia Tuesday night was the more familiar Trump. He hurled insults, shouted into the microphone and used more oxygen defending his record than questioning her proposals.

Harris stayed on offense through almost all of debate, hosted by ABC News, her experience as prosecutor in California on display. She managed to make many of the exchanges not about her flip-flops on policy or the record of the Biden administration but about Trump and his history.

Again and again, Trump took the bait when she needled him about the size of his rallies, his criminal conviction on felony charges, his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and his reputation among world leaders.

"You were fired by 81 million people," she told him, saying his failure to acknowledge that he lost the 2020 election could indicate he didn't have "the temperament or the ability to not be confused about fact," which she called "deeply troubling."

He responded by repeating praise for him by Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban and attacking President Biden as a "weak, pathetic man." He added, shouting, "I'll tell you a little secret. He hates her. He can't stand her."

"You're not running against Joe Biden," she replied when he mentioned Biden again. "You're running against me."

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The most significant event of the election?

Journalists are notorious, and often wrong, for declaring every development as a defining moment, every encounter as crucial.

That said, Tuesday's debate was surely a defining moment and pivotal, especially for Harris. At Election Day, it is entirely possible that this 105-minute slugfest will have been the most crucial single event of the 2024 general election.

In a coin-toss race, one with the candidates essentially tied in the battleground states that will determine who wins, they stood side by side − not only for the first time during the campaign but for the first time ever − and presented starkly different policies, personalities and priorities.

Trump landed some blows. He repeatedly returned to the issue of immigration, a vulnerability for the Biden administration in general and for Harris in particular. He described a world in turmoil, citing conflict in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine. He noted Americans' concerns about inflation and hammered Harris for her past opposition to fracking, an important issue in the swing state of Pennsylvania.

But he spent more time on issues unlikely to do him any political good, including repeating a weird and unsubstantiated Internet-fueled story that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were kidnapping cats and dogs and eating them. As moderator David Muir noted, the city manager says there's no evidence that has happened.

Harris simply ignored some assertions that Trump made, including labeling her "a Marxist."

She used her time to attack Trump and to talk about subjects that are likely to do her some political good. She blamed him for the Supreme Court decision reversing Roe v. Wade and ending abortion access for women and girls across the country. She said she had a plan to help middle-class Americans, including small-business owners and parents struggling to afford childcare, though she unveiled no new details on policy.

"What I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country," she said. "Let's turn the page and move forward."

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More sure-footed than Biden or Clinton

This debate could not have been more different from the last one.

At the first debate, in June, Biden defeated himself with a performance so frail and faltering that by the time the second debate came around on Tuesday night, he was no longer the Democratic contender.

This time, when the two candidates were introduced on stage, she walked over to Trump, extended her hand, and said, "Kamala Harris," although presumably he knew her name even though the two had never met before.

Then, at podiums positioned just six feet apart, she watched him as he talked, sometimes rolling her eyes, smiling and laughing. She often seemed to be dismissing his comments as outlandish.

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Trump generally looked straight ahead, often glowering.

Harris was more vigorous and confident than Biden had been in June. Indeed, she was more sure-footed than Biden during his two debates with Trump in 2020, and more than Hillary Clinton during her three debates in 2016 − both contenders with more debate experience than she has.

After the debate, Trump went to the media spin room to tout his performance to reporters working there. "I thought that was my best Debate, EVER, especially since it was THREE ON ONE!" he posted on his social media site. He complained that the moderators had been biased against him.

Meanwhile, the Harris campaign released a statement of its own. "Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate," in October, campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon said. "Is Donald Trump?"

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: In tonight’s debate, Harris showed up as a prosecutor. Trump showed up as himself