Trump and Harris exchange civil handshake at joint 9/11 event hours after bitter debate

Less than 12 hours after she quite clearly got under Donald Trump’s skin on a Philadelphia debate stage, Vice President Kamala Harris shook hands with her Republican rival at a 9/11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City.

Trump, who immediately complained at the conclusion of Tuesday night’s matchup about the proceedings being “rigged” and “unfair,” showed up Wednesday morning at the site of the September 11, 2001 terror attack with running mate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, who aped his boss’s style in a matching blue suit and red tie.

Harris arrived at the site about 10 minutes after Trump, and beamed as she was warmly welcomed by the crowd. President Joe Biden stood by Harris’s side for the event marking the 23rd anniversary of the deadliest-ever terrorist strike on US soil; Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, whose firm lost 658 of its 960 employees on 9/11, was next to Trump, with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — who called Trump a “carnival barking clown” in 2020 in response to the then-president’s childish slurs over his height — positioned between them.

Once photographers snapped a raft of pictures of Harris, the VP and Oval Office hopeful chatted with Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat, then reached out to greet Trump with a handshake. Last night, Harris also made the first move to be civil to her opponent, who spent much of the 90-minute debate red-faced and yelling into the mic about nonsensical conspiracy theories involving, among other things, Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating people’s household pets.

Moments after the debate ended, pop star Taylor Swift publicly endorsed Harris. Trump’s performance opposite Harris was “devastating” to his campaign, CNN host Jake Tapper said.