Former President Donald Trump rejected the idea of a second debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, days after announcing his victory in their first head-to-head matchup when the two met for the first time, and has repeatedly lost his composure and poise during clashes with his opponent in the upcoming election.
Trump, who is neck and neck with Harris in national polls two months into his race to replace President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2024, announced Thursday that he was rejecting a second debate on his Truth Social platform.
“When a fighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REBATCH.’ Polls clearly show that I won the debate against fellow Democrat Kamala Harris, the radical left-wing nominee, on Tuesday night, and she immediately called for a second debate,” he wrote, in part.
The former president continued in his post to argue that Biden and Harris have had a negative impact on the country’s economy and immigration. He also said that Harris “did not show up for the Fox Debate and refused to appear on NBC and CBS.” But the candidates have never agreed to a debate on Fox News, although the network has proposed multiple dates for one. NBC News, as have several news networks, has proposed a hosted debate between the presidential candidates; CBS News is sponsoring a vice presidential debate on Oct. 1.
“KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS. THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” Trump wrote in conclusion.
Harris said she would like to have a second debate against Trump, writing on X (formerly Twitter): “Two nights ago, Donald Trump and I had our first debate. We owe it to the voters to have another debate.” On Fox and friends On Wednesday, Trump had already hinted that he could not sustain another debate; at the suggestion of the hosts of a meeting with Harris organized by Fox News, he proposed as potential moderators some of his favorite hosts, including Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham or Jesse Watters.
After Tuesday’s debate, 63 percent to 37 percent said they believed Harris performed better, according to a CNN poll by SSRS. The vice president managed to provoke Trump into several angry rants about nonsense and fake news that he presented as verified facts. On several occasions, moderators had to fact-check his statements on air.