90 minutes of counterclaims

Faculty, students talk presidential debate

Viewers, including over a dozen UTRGV students who gathered on campus for a watch party, tuned in Tuesday night to a 90-minute presidential debate filled with accusations, dodged questions and conflicting claims.

ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis asked Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump about their policies on the economy, reproductive rights and immigration.

Harris’ plan for the economy focuses on building up young families, new businesses and the middle class.

Political science Professor Mark Kaswan said often, in political campaigns, candidates do not answer questions, but “we did get some detail from Kamala Harris.”

“She talks about what she calls the ‘opportunity economy,’” Kaswan said. “And, so, she talked about a tax credit … of $6,000 in the first year of a child’s life. She talked about a home loan support $25,000 subsidy for people who are first-time homebuyers, and she talks specifically about … $50,000 support for tax credit for small businesses.”

Trump’s plan for the economy is to impose tariffs on other countries.

“Other countries are going to finally, after 75 years, pay us back for all that we’ve done for the world,” Trump said during the debate. “And the tariff will be substantial in some cases.”

Kaswan clarified that tariffs are not paid by other countries, but by the companies importing goods.

“Those costs … are then passed on to consumers,” he said. “That was, basically, the only economic thing that he talked about.”

Political science Assistant Professor Andrew Smith said the tariff plan, in theory, could discourage companies from importing goods and push manufacturing jobs back to the United States, but that tariffs alone will not help the economy.

“It is, to date, his main way of combating inflation and improving American jobs and the consensus among economists seems to be that tariffs will not do that,” Smith said.

Each candidate claimed to have support from economists. Smith and Kaswan encourage voters to fact-check information and find unbiased sources that they trust.

On the topic of reproductive rights, Harris said “point-blank that she will restore the status quo of Roe v. Wade,” according to Smith. 

Kaswan said this would ensure that people who are pregnant have the ability to make decisions about their body without interference from the government, so long as the fetus has not reached the point of viability, meaning it could survive outside the womb.

“Trump’s position is far less clear because … he flip-flops a lot on abortion policies,” he said.

During the debate, Trump referenced doctors performing abortions in the ninth month, referring to it as an “execution,” a claim that Kaswan disputed. 

“The fact of the matter is … that something like 99% of all abortions happen prior to the point of viability,” Kaswan said. “When an abortion is done after the point of viability, it’s usually only because of severe deformities or because the life of the mother is at risk. So, it’s extremely rare.”

Smith said on the topic of immigration, Harris wants to “put more money” into border security, and although she has spoken broadly about reforming the immigration process, she has not yet offered a “concrete plan.”

“Trump, meanwhile, has said that he will carry out the biggest mass deportation in U.S. history,” he said. “He has not voiced any kind of support for pathway to citizenship.”

One topic raised during the debate was Project 2025, a book of policy suggestions that Smith described as “the biggest scaling back of federal authority since before the New Deal.”

During the debate, Trump claimed not to be associated with the proposal, which outlines plans to “secure the border,” instate a ban on all abortion, reduce the size of government and ban biological males from competing in women’s sports, according to project2025.org.

“Despite the former president’s claims that Project 2025 has nothing to do with him … the fact that he does have former allies and members of his administration working to create the project shows that it is fair to tie him to that,” Smith said. “Critics have claimed, not incorrectly, that this would effectively give the president more power than Congress and make the president effectively immune from prosecution.”

Kinesiology senior David Sauceda, who plans to vote and is most interested in the economy, said the debate was “pretty chaotic.”

“I wouldn’t really say either of them did a good job,” Sauceda said. “It just kind of felt like they were just countering each other. … They weren’t really saying a plan.”

He said Trump’s comments about immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, “eating the dogs” and “pets of the people that live there” stood out to him.

Kaswan also noticed that comment and said it was a “racist dog whistle” that “demonstrates how far-removed from reality” Trump is.

Brownsville Early College High School senior Mia Garcia said it is important for young people to vote because if they want to see change, they need to “try to make that change.”

Garcia said Trump is “obsessed with Joe Biden” and referenced how Trump compared Harris to Biden several times.

Smith said many of Harris’ policies closely mirror those of the Biden administration and “whether that’s a bad thing is debatable.”

What stood out to him most about the debate is how Harris kept her cool, seeming to remain “unbothered by Trump” while causing him to get “frustrated.” 

For Kaswan, the thing that caught his attention was the “blatant” falsities Trump talked about. 

“Trump would say something, and I’d just break out laughing because they were so blatantly false,” he said. “That was what really stood out, was the absurdities that Trump would repeat.” 

Kaswan and Smith each encourage students to register to vote and make their voice heard.

“Turnout in Texas is typically about 10 points below the national average,” Kaswan said. “Turnout in the Rio Grande Valley is typically 10 points below the Texas average. So, if people in the Rio Grande Valley were to vote at the same kind of rate as people in the suburbs of Houston and Dallas … the Rio Grande Valley would become the tail that wags the dog of Texas politics.”

Smith said the easiest and “arguably most effective way” to have one’s voice heard is to “educate yourself and go out and vote.”