The biggest moments from Kamala Harris and Donald Trump's first — and maybe only — debate

• Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are debating for the first — and maybe only — time in Philadelphia.
• It's the highest-stakes moment of the presidential campaign yet.
• Here are the biggest takeaways from the debate so far.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump met for their first debate on Tuesday night.

The high-stakes face-off, taking place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, may be the two candidates' only debate of the election — they have not yet agreed to meet for a second time.

Here are the biggest takeaways from the debate so far.

Kamala Harris made a point to shake hands with Trump

For the first time since 2016, the two presidential candidates shook hands on the debate stage.

It was Harris who made the first move, crossing the stage toward Trump to greet him at the outside of the debate.

"Kamala Harris, good to debate with you," the vice president could be heard saying.

Harris often sneered at Trump as he spoke

Despite the Harris campaign's best efforts, each candidate's microphone remained muted while the other was speaking. But that doesn't mean that the Vice President didn't communicate with viewers as Trump spoke.

Harris could often be seen on the split-screen staring over toward Trump with a bewildered look, narrowing her eyes and shaking her head at times. When Trump dubbed her a Marxist, she even appeared to laugh, placing her hand on her chin.

That's a choice, given the performative aspects of a high-stakes presidential debate. Harris is betting that showing active disdain for Trump will play well with viewers.

Harris successfully baited Trump over his rallies

Roughly 25 minutes into the debate, Harris said something unusual: She urged viewers to attend one of Trump's rallies, noting that he often speaks of fictional characters while claiming that attendees often leave early. That visibly angered Trump.

"People don't go to her rallies, there's no reason to go," Trump said, claiming that Harris pays people to attend her rallies. "People don't leave my rallies."

From that moment on, Trump's tone took a noticeable turn, with more frequent yelling and hyperbole.

Trump refused to say whether he would veto a national abortion ban

One of the most intense exchanges of the debate was over abortion, when Harris delivered intense remarks on the consequences of state-level abortion bans.

Trump insisted that he would not sign a national abortion ban, saying that the overturning of Roe v. Wade was sufficient. But when Trump was pressed on whether he would veto such a ban, he repeatedly declined to say, despite Sen. JD Vance declaring he would do so in a recent interview.

Trump blamed Democrats for the assassination attempt

During a heated exchange over Trump's legal cases, the former president went where hasn't quite gone before, seemingly blaming Democrats for Thomas Matthew Crooks' attempt to assassinate him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

"I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things they say about me," Trump said.

Trump previously suggested as much as much at a rally in Atlanta."Remember the words they use: 'They are a threat to democracy,'" Trump said at the rally, according to the Washington Post. "I think I got shot because of that, okay?"

Harris attacked Trump over his election denialism

Democrats have long pointed to Trump's criticism of the 2020 election process to argue that his reelection would be a threat to democracy — a theme long that had repeatedly been pressed by President Joe Biden.

Harris took it a step forward and poked at Trump over his 2020 election loss as she sought to make the case that his conduct on January 6, 2021, was unworthy of a commander in chief.

"Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people, so let's be clear about that, and clearly he has had a very difficult time processing that," the vice president said. "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 the street and fair elections."

Harris made it clear to Trump that she's his opponent — and not Biden

Trump repeatedly invoked Biden during the debate, arguing that his onetime rival — who stepped aside as the presumptive nominee in July — was pushed out of the presidential race "like a dog."

The former president since Biden's withdrawal has said that the incumbent president was treated unfairly by Democrats and has frequently brought up the current commander-in-chief at his campaign rallies.

But on Tuesday night, Harris emphatically told Trump that she was his opponent — and not the retiring president.

"First of all it is important to remind the former president, you're not running against Joe Biden, you are running against me," she said.

Harris told Trump that Putin is "a dictator who would eat you for lunch"

During an exchange over the war in Ukraine, Trump insisted that he hoped to see the war ended via a "deal," declining to explicitly say that he wanted a Ukrainian victory.

"I want the war to stop," Trump said. "I want to save lives."

When it was Harris' turn, she went for the jugular as she argued that if Russian President Vladimir Putin were to succeed in his invasion of Ukraine, he would seek to invade Poland next. And she brought it back toward American politics.

"Why don't you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up, for the sake of favor, and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch?" Harris said.