Former President Donald Trump said he will not appear for another debate this election season, an announcement that comes two days after he debated Vice President Kamala Harris for the first time—a faceoff most voters believe Harris won according to a new poll.
Former President Donald Trump insisted there will not be another debate in a Truth Social post on ... [+]
Trump said “all of the problems caused by Kamala and Joe (Biden)” were discussed in the first debate with President Biden and Tuesday’s debate with Harris, so he will not be doing a third—likely referring to the fact that he has already debated twice this season.
Trump claimed, without evidence, that Harris “was a no-show” at a Fox debate and refused to do NBC or CBS debates, possibly referring to his offer last month to debate on Fox and NBC, though Harris’ campaign said at the time it was “happy to discuss further debates” after the ABC faceoff Tuesday night.
After Tuesday’s debate—his first with Harris—Trump questioned why he would debate her again and said he was “not inclined” to do another after he “won” Tuesday’s debate.
Trump adviser Jason Miller, however, implied Wednesday was open to another debate, saying “the onus” would be on Harris to show up for a second debate between the candidates.
When asked about Trump’s post, the Harris campaign pointed Forbes to Harris’ previous comments calling for another debate.
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It’s possible Trump will backtrack. Weeks before the ABC debate, he announced he was canceling the faceoff.
Tuesday night’s debate hosted by ABC was the first time Trump and Harris met, and the pair debated major topics including abortion rights, ongoing wars in Ukraine and Israel and the economy. Pundits largely praised Harris’ performance, saying she successfully baited Trump into getting off topic—in part by making comments about the size of his rally crowds and his legal ongoing troubles—and defending himself rather than addressing the topics. Trump’s performance was noticeably different than in the first debate of this year, in which he was largely seen as the winner over Biden, leading to calls for the president to end his campaign. More than 67 million people watched Tuesday’s debate, according to data from Nielsen, which was an increase of about 18% compared to Biden and Trump’s June debate.