Screenshot via ABC.
Former President Donald Trump talked a lot during Tuesday’s ABC News presidential debate, and a lot of that needed fact-checking. But there were a select few lines (that were too weird to qualify as “zingers”) that were extra, extra wild that deserved to be highlighted in the very readable, concise format of a list. Here is that list!
9. “Abdul”
At one point during an exchange on Afghanistan, Trump said this: “And Abdul is the head of the Taliban. He is still the head of the Taliban. And I told Abdul don’t do it anymore, you do it anymore you’re going to have problems. And he said why do you send me a picture of my house? I said you’re going to have to figure that out, Abdul.”
Worth noting, the name of the leader of the Taliban is not “Abdul.”
8. “Concepts of a plan”
When asked by moderator Linsey Davis for a “yes” or “no” answer on having a plan for healthcare, Trump said: “I have concepts of a plan. I’m not president right now. But if we come up with something I would only change it if we come up with something better and less expensive. And there are concepts and options we have to do that. And you’ll be hearing about it in the not-too-distant future.”
Trump has pledged to replace Obamacare since he first ran for president in 2016, but has never articulated his plan to replace it.
This is like saying, “I was thinking about fixing the roof,” which does not mean the same thing as “I fixed the roof,” which means there’s still a leak in the roof you only thought about fixing. In short, Trump has no plan for healthcare.
This was probably the meme winner of the night.
7. “Spheres of Terror”
During his response to a question about negotiating with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas to free the remaining hostages and stop civilian deaths in Gaza, Trump talked about several other things besides that, including “28 spheres of terror”:
Iran was broke under Donald Trump. Now Iran has $300 billion because they took off all the sanctions that I had. Iran had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah or any of the 28 different spheres of terror. And they are spheres of terror. Horrible terror. They had no money. It was a big story, and you know it. You covered it. Very well, actually. They had no money for terror. They were broke. Now they’re a rich nation.
6. “I’m talking now — does that sound familiar?”
If Trump was prepared for anything, it was trying to counter a zinger with a zinger. Harris went viral in 2020 for her “I’m speaking” comment during her vice presidential debate with then-Vice President Mike Pence. On Tuesday, Trump turned it around on her while he accused her of changing her policies and she tried to interject:
Trump: She gave up at least 12 and probably 14 or 15 different policies. Like, she was big on defund the police.
Harris: That’s not true. [mouthed, not audible]
Trump: In Minnesota, she went out — wait a minute. I’m talking now. If you don’t mind. Please. Does that sound familiar?
Harris: Don’t lie. [“lie” is audible]
Trump tried to silence Harris again later on in the debate. As moderator David Muir tried to get a response from Harris, Trump interrupted him to talk about how Russian President Vladimir Putin “would be sitting in Moscow and he wouldn’t have lost 300,000 men and women.” Muir gave him a minute, but when Vice President Kamala Harris tried to interject, Trump shushed her by saying “Quiet, please,” and continued talking about Putin.
5. “A leader on fertilization”
To be clear, this was an exchange about in vitro fertilization, so Trump can be give a little grace for this weird phrasing. But when such a hot topic is mentioned so often — and you claim to want to give it to people for free — referring to it by giving it a nickname might come off as seeming a bit uninformed on the topic. Especially when the political party you represent is trying to restrict IVF at every turn. Here is exactly what Trump said:
I have been a leader on IVF which is fertilization. The IVF — I have been a leader. In fact, when they got a very negative decision on IVF from the Alabama courts, I saw the people of Alabama and the legislature two days later voted it in. I’ve been a leader on it. They know that and everybody else knows it. I have been a leader on fertilization, IVF.
4. “He hates her”
Trump baseless claimed that President Joe Biden “hates” Kamala Harris: “I’ll give you a little secret. He hates her. He can’t stand her.” He provided no evidence. Biden has not responded.
3. Viktor Orbán
After Harris told Trump that world leaders were “laughing at him,” Trump countered with a glowing review from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has been referred to as a “near-dictator”:
Let me just tell you about world leaders. Viktor Orbán, one of the most respected men — they call him a strong man. He’s a tough person. Smart. Prime Minister of Hungary. They said why is the whole world blowing up? Three years ago it wasn’t. Why is it blowing up? He said because you need Trump back as president. They were afraid of him. China was afraid. And I don’t like to use the word afraid but I’m just quoting him. China was afraid of him. North Korea was afraid of him. Look at what’s going on with North Korea, by the way. He said Russia was afraid of him. I ended the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and Biden put it back on day one but he ended the XL pipeline. The XL pipeline in our country. He ended that. But he let the Russians build a pipeline going all over Europe and heading into Germany. The biggest pipeline in the world. Look, Viktor Orbán said it. He said the most respected, most feared person is Donald Trump. We had no problems when Trump was president.
2. “I said that?”
Trump flip-flopped again on whether or not he believes he won the 2020 presidential election, which he lost. Muir asked him directly about comments Trump made himself about losing the election “by a whisker.” Before he could finish his question, Trump interrupted him: “I said that?”
He did say that. And then he changed his position again to claim that he won the 2020 election. Here is the full exchange:
Muir: Mr. President, for three and a half years after you lost the 2020 election you repeatedly falsely claimed that you won, many times saying you won in a landslide. In the past couple of weeks leading up to this debate, you have said, quote, you lost by a whisker, that you, quote, didn’t quite make it, that you came up a little bit short.
Trump: I said that?
Muir: Are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020?
Trump: No, I don’t acknowledge that at all.
Muir: But you did say that.
Trump: I said that sarcastically. You know that. It was said, “Oh, we lost by a whisker.” That was said sarcastically.
These actual words said by Trump come courtesy of ABC News’s transcript of Tuesday’s presidential debate. He also said all of this in front of a live camera, including the things he denied saying.
1. “They’re eating the pets!”
For someone who doesn’t even like dogs, Trump’s sudden concern for pets — even fictional ones — is a little unconvincing. Also, why bring this up at a presidential debate? But how did this even happen?
It was a question about why Trump asked his supporters in Congress to kill the bipartisan border bill, but since Harris poked the bear and brought up his rallies, Trump held an impromptu rally instead of answering the question. Here is that whole journey:
Muir: Let me just ask, though, why did you try to kill that bill and successfully so? That would have put thousands of additional agents and officers on the border.
Trump: First let me respond as to the rallies. She said people start leaving. People don’t go to her rallies. There’s no reason to go. And the people that do go, she’s busing them in and paying them to be there. And then showing them in a different light. So, she can’t talk about that. People don’t leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics. That’s because people want to take their country back. Our country is being lost. We’re a failing nation. And it happened three and a half years ago. And what, what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War 3, just to go into another subject. What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country. And look at what’s happening to the towns all over the United States. And a lot of towns don’t want to talk — not going to be Aurora or Springfield. A lot of towns don’t want to talk about it because they’re so embarrassed by it. 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. And it’s a shame. As far as rallies are concerned, as far — the reason they go is they like what I say. They want to bring our country back. They want to make America great again. It’s a very simple phrase. Make America great again. She’s destroying this country. And if she becomes president, this country doesn’t have a chance of success. Not only success. We’ll end up being Venezuela on steroids.
Muir: I just want to clarify here, you bring up Springfield, Ohio. And ABC News did reach out to the city manager there. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community —
Trump: Well, I’ve seen people on television —
Muir: Let me just say here this …
Trump: The people on television say my dog was taken and used for food. So maybe he said that and maybe that’s a good thing to say for a city manager.
Muir: I’m not taking this from television. I’m taking it from the city manager.
Trump: But the people on television say their dog was eaten by the people that went there.
Muir: Again, the Springfield city manager says there’s no evidence of that.
Trump: We’ll find out.
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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
