Former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris both claimed victory in the tense 2025 presidential debate in which both candidates made many false claims.
Throughout the debate, Donald Trump insulted Kamala Harris and her positions, and stated several false claims about the country. Harris also attacked Trump’s character by bringing up his sexual assault allegations and critiquing his policies with false claims. This all led to a very tense environment for both parties.
As they discussed their plans and opinions about women’s rights and abortion, Trump and Harris clashed. Harris said she plans to advocate for women’s abortion rights. Trump retaliated, claiming he is pro-life. To back up his opinion, he states that democrats are supporting abortion after birth. In real time, one of the moderators interrupted, clarifying that this is false. Although Trump states that some people allow abortion after birth, this is not legal. Some states do allow abortion very late term due to defects or problems involving the baby and the birth. However, babies are not allowed to be killed after birth.
In addition to this, Harris made false claims about Trump’s sales tax plan. While talking about the economy, Harris came after Trump stating that he will put a 20% sales tax on everyday items. While this is partly true, it needs context. Trump is planning to put a 20% tariff on foreign goods, which is similar but not identical.
Not only did she make false claims about this, but she also said “As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is on active duty in a combat zone, in any war zone around the world, for the first time this century.” According to an article written by ABC News, this is false. ABC News states that “there are 500 U.S. military troops in Iraq and more than 900 U.S. military personnel in Syria,” and these are both combat zones. This means that what Harris said is false.
Another false statement emerged when Trump claimed immigrants were eating pets, specifically cats and dogs, in Ohio. He used this as an argument as to why illegal immigrants need to be deported. According to an AllSides News Article, this is not true. There is a report of a woman eating a neighbor’s pet, but she was born in the US, and it is not a recurring incident.
Throughout the debate, there were many more false statements made from both sides. Not only has ABC created an article fact checking both sides, but many other people have come out in an attempt to fact check them too. It is important to current and future voters in high school that these false claims are corrected so that voters can make the best informed decision on who to cast their ballot for.
