Over and over again at last night's presidential debate, Kamala Harris set traps surgically designed to provoke, rattle and enrage Donald Trump.

• Over and over, Trump stepped right into them, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

Why it matters: With just eight weeks until the election, Harris delivered for Democrats on the biggest possible stage — the type of national stage that ended President Biden's political career less than three months ago.

• She did so by being "exquisitely prepared," as former Trump debate coach Chris Christie described her, and by exploiting her opponent's well-documented triggers.
• The result was a firehose of angry rants and bizarre claims by Trump — including a baseless conspiracy theory about immigrants eating pet cats and dogs — that will fuel headlines and Democratic ads for weeks.

Takeaways:

1. Trump takes the bait. About a half hour into the debate, Harris seemed to flip a switch inside Trump by inviting Americans to attend one of his rallies — where she claimed people leave early "out of exhaustion and boredom."

• At that moment, the debate went fully off the rails: Trump vigorously defended the size of his crowds — then baselessly claimed Harris buses and pays supporters to attend her rallies. (The images of buses the right savors online are from distant parking lots or pickup points, just like your standard airport.)
• Trump went on to defend his conduct on Jan. 6, deny he lost the 2020 election, attack Hunter Biden and accuse Harris of wanting "to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison."
• On virtually every topic, Harris knew how to needle Trump. She used some of his favorite words he employs to criticize others — calling him a "disgrace," "weak," and saying other leaders laugh at him.
• She also raised his felony convictions, his praise for authoritarians, Project 2025, and his 2020 election loss: "Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people," she said, twisting the knife by mentioning President Biden's vote total.

2. Truth Social comes to life. The most shocking moment of the debate came when Trump plucked a conspiracy theory about Haitian immigrants out of right-wing social media and unleashed it on national television.

• "In Springfield [Ohio], they're eating the dogs. The people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating the pets of the people that live there," Trump insisted, drawing a fact-check from the moderator. (Axios explainer on "eating the pets.")
• Some Republicans blamed the coterie of online influencers close to the Trump campaign — including far-right activist Laura Loomer, who traveled to the debate with Trump — for polluting his preparation.

3. The "new" Harris. In what many billed as Harris' chance to "reintroduce" herself to the country, the vice president made a clean break with the progressive policies of her failed 2019 campaign and pivoted hard to the middle.

• Harris accused Trump of being soft on China, defended private health care, vowed not to ban fracking, called herself a gun owner and touted the endorsements of 200 Republicans, including former Vice President Dick Cheney.
• "Clearly, I am not Joe Biden, and I am certainly not Donald Trump," Harris said, directing a response to the 28% of Americans who said in a New York Times/Siena College poll that they need to learn more about her.

The bottom line: In an election in which the majority of Americans say they want "change," Harris — the sitting vice president — was remarkably effective at painting Trump as the incumbent.

• It wasn't until his closing statement that Trump delivered his most compelling line of attack: "Why hasn't she done it?" Trump asked about Harris' agenda.

By then, it was nearly two hours late.

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PHILADELPHIA — Last night's post-debate spin room was a mirror image of the Biden-Trump aftermath in Atlanta just 11 weeks ago, Axios' Alex Thompson and Sophia Cai write.

• In Atlanta, Democrats' shock at Biden's performance led only a few Biden surrogates to appear — and not for a half hour after the debate was over. They stuck together and barely took questions.
• Yesterday, Republicans scrambled to put the best face on Trump's angry, rambling performance. There was chaos in the room when Trump himself showed up to do his own spinning and declare victory.

The feeling among Democrats at the presidential debate was unmistakable — Kamala Harris passed the test and they're thrilled they ditched Biden.

• The debate left them feeling increasingly confident Harris can beat Trump in November and help the party win back the House by energizing voters in liberal states such as New York and California, where there are several competitive races.

🔬 Zoom in: In June, Democrats complained about the debate moderators from CNN. This time, Republicans were the ones with grievances, about ABC News' David Muir and Linsey Davis.

• After the June debate, Democrats argued that Biden was right on the substance of his arguments, even if his performance was uneven. Last night, Republicans made a similar defense for Trump.

👀 The intrigue: Trump's surprise appearance in the spin room — a place usually reserved for a candidates' surrogates — was perhaps the most remarkable turn of the debate's aftermath and seemed to reflect Republicans' concern about how the debate played to viewers nationwide.

• Trump attracted a throng of reporters and camera operators, some of whom stood on chairs to catch a glimpse of the ex-president.
• "I think it was the best debate that I have had," Trump proclaimed.

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One of the biggest stories of the night was nowhere near the debate stage:

• Taylor Swift — calling herself a "childless cat lady" — endorsed Vice President Harris minutes after the debate.

Why it matters: Swift's status as a global superstar (perhaps the world's biggest superstar) comes with an enormous base of support, particularly among younger voters.

• Her endorsement — posted on Instagram, where she has 283 million followers — gained 3.3 million likes in about an hour.
• The Harris campaign said it had no idea about the endorsement before it was posted.

🔭 Zoom out: Swift, 34, largely refrained from wading into politics during the beginning of her career.

• During the 2018 midterms, she endorsed two Democrats in her home state of Tennessee — marking her first entry into politics.
• The Biden campaign courted Swift when the president was still the Democratic presidential nominee. She endorsed him in 2020.

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The prediction markets sprang to life last night and declared Vice President Harris the winner of her debate with former President Trump, Axios' Brady Dale writes.

• Before the debate, bettors on the blockchain-based prediction site Polymarket solidly favored Trump.

During the debate, Harris' performance moved the odds to a tie.

• After the debate, Harris shot ahead when Taylor Swift endorsed her.

Get Axios Markets ... Prediction markets explainer.

Brian Fallon, an aide in Vice President Harris' inner circle, captured last night's jubilation among Democrats with the above invitation for a Round 2.

• Why it matters: This opens the possibility of a second Harris-Trump debate to bookend the vice-presidential debate, coming up Oct. 1 (20 days from now!) on CBS in New York City.

Former President Trump, talking live to Fox News' Sean Hannity in the post-debate spin room, didn't give a direct answer about accepting the challenge.

• "The reason you do a second debate is if you lose, and they lost," Trump said. "But I'll think about it."

Conservatives attacked ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis for fact-checking the debate in real-time, Axios Media Trends author Sara Fischer writes.

• Why it matters: ABC's decision to fact-check stood in contrast to CNN, which opted not to hold candidates to account for their falsehoods in real-time on stage in June.

"The moderators might as well be on the DNC payroll. This is ridiculous. This is the worst moderated debate in history," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tweeted.

• Moderators fact-checked Trump at least four times last night:

1. Abortion: "There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born."
2. Claims about Haitian immigrants: "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."
3. Violent crime: "President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is coming down in this country." Go deeper with Axios' Russ Contreras.
4. 2020 election: "We should just point out as clarification, and you know this, you and your allies, 60 cases in front of many judges. Many of them ... said there was no widespread fraud."

Keep reading ... N.Y. Times fact checks (gift link).

At long last, middle-income American households saw rising inflation-adjusted incomes last year, Axios' Neil Irwin writes from new census data.

• Why it matters: It's the first gain in four years.

The median household earned $80,610 in 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau said — up 4% from 2022 after adjusting for inflation.

• After-tax median income rose by 3.7%.

Keep reading ... Get Axios Macro.

New Hampshire's Mud Bowl — a three-day sloppy, muddy mess of a football game — celebrated its 50th anniversary in North Conway over the weekend.

• There's also a Tournament of Mud Parade. More pics.