Jon Stewart on Harris’s debate performance: ‘She crushed that’

Late-night hosts recapped the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on ABC News.

Jon Stewart took over his guest perch at the Daily Show on Tuesday for a live post-debate show, reeling from over 90 minutes of heated conversation between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

"I just want to say that after surviving the PTSD of the last presidential debate, how unbelievably refreshing it is to go back to the same old nobody is going to answer any fucking questions! We're back!" Stewart joked of the "cliches" and "baseless ad hominems" of American political theater.

Early in the matchup, Trump claimed that "everybody" wanted Roe v Wade overturned and the legality of abortion left up to states, which Harris accurately disputed. "I have talked with women around our country," she said. "You wanna talk about, this is what people wanted? Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the healthcare providers are afraid they might go to jail - and she's bleeding out in a car in the parking lot? She didn't want that."

"Holy shit! She crushed that," said Stewart.

Stewart ran through highlights of the debate, including when Harris got under Trump's skin about the crowd sizes at his rallies, or when Trump tried to deny that he had any role in January 6. But ultimately, "I don't know if this debate is going to change anything," said Stewart. "People are often set in the manner that they view these proceedings. What I think is a home run answer for one candidate, someone else views as a dodge or a lie.

"It doesn't matter what they say any more, but one thing will always be true - and it is the quality of the former president I respect the least," he continued. "Whenever he is cornered and forced to face even the smallest of consequences for his own mendacity and scheming, he reverts to the greatest refuge of scoundrels."

That would be the classic line of deflection - "it wasn't me" - which Trump basically used for January 6.

"This man, who constantly professes to be your champion, who says they're going to have to go through him to get to you, will always, when the boat is going down, be the first into the lifeboats," Stewart declared with palpable anger. "Because in that moment, he will always say the same thing: 'I didn't know anything about it, I was just told to show up for a cruise.' Even though, everybody knows, he was the fucking captain of the ship.

"In any other country, that lack of accountability would be disqualifying," he concluded.

"Unlike the first presidential debate back in June, this time the Democratic candidate was able to walk out to the stage without pausing for a nap," said Stephen Colbert on the Late Show.

The host was impressed with the vice-president's performance. "Kamala Harris came in needing to rattle Trump's cage," he said. "And now that it's over, they are still looking for pieces of his cage in low orbit.

"Harris got under his skin like she was stuffing in butter and rosemary. It was beautiful," he continued. "By the end of the debate, the meat was falling off the bone."

Trump was "so nonsensical" throughout the debate, that Harris "looked at him the way a parent looks at a kid giving a presentation on why they should be allowed to get a pet tiger".

When the moderators asked a basic question on Roe v Wade, Trump "lied so fragrantly" that the ABC News moderator Linsey Davis had to intervene with the fact-check "there is no state where it is legal to kill a baby after it is born".

"Follow up question: can a moderator win a debate?" Colbert quipped.

Harris often returned to a theme of looking toward the future, to "turn the page" on the Trump years.

"Actually, turning the page seems kind of mild," said Colbert. "I would say we should burn the book, but that's really more his thing."

In Los Angeles, Jimmy Kimmel also dug into "the debate of the decade".

"It was like watching the Lorax debate the Grinch tonight," he said. "Usually when Trump gets a spanking like this from a woman it's with a Forbes magazine. Kamala was pushing his buttons like a 12-year-old playing Fortnite."

Though Republicans urged Trump to stay focused on the issues, he did anything but. "Who are we kidding? This election isn't about the issues," said Kimmel. "Dick Cheney isn't voting for Kamala Harris because he agrees with her on the issues. He's voting for her because there's a rhinoceros charging, and she has the tranquilizer gun."

Kimmel zeroed in on the moment when Trump repeated false stories about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating cats and dogs, which has been repeatedly debunked. Nevertheless, Trump said: "They're eating all the pets of the people that live there."

"I want you to imagine that we've never heard of Donald Trump before, and the first time you've ever seen him was during tonight's debate," said Kimmel. "What would your reaction be right now? You'd be in shock. The Republican party would have to close their headquarters and turn them into a Spirit Halloween store.

"How is it possible that half of this country thinks that it's a good idea to give the guy who tried to overthrow our government another chance to run our government?" he concluded. "Like if someone poisoned all the jalapeño poppers at TGI Fridays, you wouldn't interview them to be the chef!"