No more presidential debate with Harris, says Trump

Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee – that has advised the Harris-Walz campaign on economic messaging – said that Trump’s decision was a “double favour” to the Harris campaign

The possibility of a second meeting between the two US Presidential candidates before election day was dashed on Thursday when former President Donald Trump announced he would not take part in another debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.

He asserted that he won Tuesday’s debate with Harris despite some polls showing otherwise.

“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH’. Polls clearly show that I won the debate against Comrade Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ Radical Left Candidate, on Tuesday night, and she immediately called for a Second Debate,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

The former president claimed that subjects like immigration and inflation were covered “in great detail” both in Tuesday night’s discussion with Harris and in his June debate with President Biden.

Trump, in a strong attack on the Biden-Harris administration, said that they have ‘destroyed’ the country.

“She and Crooked Joe have destroyed our country, with millions of criminals and mentally deranged people pouring into the USA, totally unchecked and unvetted, and with inflation bankrupting our middle class. Everyone knows this, and all of the other problems caused by Kamala and Joe. It was discussed in great detail during the first debate with Joe, and the second debate with Comrade Harris,” the former US President said.

“She was a no-show at the Fox debate and refused to do NBC & CBS,” Trump said in his post, adding “KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD. THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”

Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are the official presidential candidates of their respective parties, after they accepted the nomination at the conventions earlier this year.

The US presidential elections are scheduled to be held on November 5 this year.

Notably, the first presidential debate was held in June between President Biden and Trump, where the former’s performance expressed concerns over his age. Following this, Biden made an exit from the race and endorsed Harris.

Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee – an organisation that has advised the Harris-Walz campaign on economic messaging – said that Trump’s decision was a “double favour” to the Harris campaign.

“Voters will have a lasting impression of Kamala Harris as looking presidential and standing on their side,” he said. “That will probably do her very well. Another debate would potentially help Harris, but could also shake up the existing glow that surrounds her,” Green added.

Jeremy Petersen, an independent voter from Utah, said that he was not surprised by Trump’s decision. “If [Trump] doesn’t feel like he can score some social media soundbites, there’s no benefit for him to show up,” said Mr Petersen, who added that he would probably support Harris after the Philadelphia debate.

“He felt that Harris wouldn’t have the type of performance she did and now he’s running scared,” Petersen added. “He can’t stop her momentum via debate so he needs a new angle.”

Televised debates date back to 1960, when John F Kennedy faced off against Richard Nixon.

There are traditionally two or three presidential debates happening in most election cycles, along with at least one vice-presidential debate.

That tradition, however, was upended in July, when Joe Biden withdrew from the election weeks after a disastrous performance against Trump in the first debate.

The subsequent debate between Harris and Trump followed weeks of back and forth over whether it would go ahead, and under what conditions.

Trump previously suggested additional debates on Fox and NBC News, although Harris only agreed to ABC.

In his Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump said his rival “refused” to do the additional debates.

Statistics from media analytics firm Nielsen show that 67.1m people watched the debate, a significantly higher figure than the 51.3m who tuned into the June debate between Trump and Biden.

Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama praised Harris’ debate performance and said everyone saw who has he vision and strength to move this country forward instead of dividing it.

“Tonight, we saw firsthand who has the vision and strength to move this country forward instead of dividing us. @KamalaHarris will be a president for all Americans,” he stated on X.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama also heaped praises on VP Harris and said there should be no doubt or further room for discussion, that the “only candidate in this race who is ready to be President” is Kamala Harris.

“After tonight’s debate there should be no doubt – no room for discussion -@KamalaHarrisis the only candidate in this race who is ready to be President,” she stated in a post on X.

“I am once again urging everyone to roll up their sleeves and DO SOMETHING – phone bank, knock on doors, talk to any and everyone you know and urge them to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Every vote will matter in what will be a close race. We cannot afford to have anyone sitting on the sidelines. There’s simply too much at stake,” she added.

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