Donald Trump rules out further debates against Kamala Harris
13 September 2024, 09:14
Both campaigns have framed their candidates as the winner of Tuesday night’s debate in Philadelphia.
Donald Trump has ruled out another presidential debate against Kamala Harris as her campaign announced a massive fundraising haul in the hours after the two candidates met on stage.
Mr Trump, the Republican nominee, posted on Truth Social that “There will be no third debate!” following Tuesday’s debate against Ms Harris and his June debate against President Joe Biden.
In rejecting another debate, the former president suggested that a “prizefighter” who loses a bout is always the one to call for a rematch.
A day earlier, he had said “I just don’t know” to the question of whether he would meet Ms Harris for another debate.
Some Republicans, including senator John Thune, have urged Mr Trump to debate against Ms Harris again.
While he could still change his mind, his announcement means that Tuesday’s meeting will probably be the only time voters will see the two debate each other before the November election.
More than 67 million people watched the Trump-Harris debate.
Ms Harris, the Democratic nominee, said during a rally in North Carolina on Thursday she believes that she and the former president “owe it to voters” to debate again.
Meanwhile, her campaign revealed that it had raised 47 million dollars from nearly 600,000 donors in the 24 hours after her Tuesday debate against Mr Trump.
“This historic, 24-hour haul reflects a strong and growing coalition of Americans united behind vice president Harris’ candidacy that knows the stakes this November, and are doing their part to defeat Donald Trump this November,” campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said.
The Tuesday debate was the first time that Mr Trump and Ms Harris had met, and the vice president largely controlled the tenor, goading Mr Trump into agitated responses that contained exaggerations and mistruths.
It came two months after Mr Trump’s debate against Mr Biden, whose unsteady performance and meandering answers led him to end his re-election bid and endorse Ms Harris as his replacement on the ticket.
Mr Trump raised doubts earlier in the campaign as to whether he would debate Ms Harris at all. The two eventually agreed on the Tuesday debate on ABC.
Mr Trump called Ms Harris a “no-show” for a debate date that had been proposed earlier this month. Instead of an event with Ms Harris, Mr Trump ended up going on Fox News for a solo meeting with host Sean Hannity.
Fox News has issued invitations to both campaigns for a debate in October.
