Vice President Kamala Harris said that former President Donald Trump was "fired by 81 million voters" in the 2024 election during an exchange in the debate on the latter's continuing refusal to acknowledge he lost.
"I got almost 75 million votes, the most votes any sitting President has ever gotten. I was told if I got 63 which was what I got in 2016 you can't be beaten in the election. People should never be thinking that an election is fraudulent," Trump said when asked by moderators to explain his recent statements in which he had seemingly acknowledged losing the 2024 election.
"We need two things. We have to have borders, and we have to have good elections. Our elections are bad, and a lot of these illegal immigrants are coming in, they're trying to get them to vote. They can't even speak English. They don't even know what country they're in, practically. And these people are trying to get them to vote, and that's why they're allowing them to come into our country," he added.
"Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people," Harris said, when asked by moderators to respond to the former President. "So let's be clear about that, and clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that. But we cannot afford to have a President of the United States who attempts, as he did in the past, to upend the will of the voters in a free and fair election. And I'm going to tell you that I have travelled the world as vice president of the United States and world leaders are laughing at Donald Trump," she further said.
She added, looking at Trump: "I have talked with military leaders, some of whom work with you, and they say 'You're a disgrace'. And when you then talk in this way in a presidential debate and deny what over and over again are court cases you have lost because you did, in fact lose that election, it leads one to believe that perhaps we do not have in the candidate to my right, the temperament or the ability to not be confused about fact that's deeply troubling, and the American people deserve better."
Trump pushed back arguing he has heard from foreign leaders such as Hungary's Victor Orban that the world needs a strong leader like Trump. He said quoting Orban, "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."
(With inputs from IANS)
