The morning after Vice President Kamala Harris handily defeated Donald Trump in a debate, the Democrat’s campaign announced that she wanted to debate him again. The former president initially expressed reluctance to the idea before declaring a day later that there would be no rematch.
Soon after, however, the Republican seemed to open the door a crack. NBC News reported that Trump left open the possibility of another debate with Harris, saying it might happen if he were in “the right mood.” The comments led some media networks to believe another event might yet happen.
Indeed, CNN invited both major party nominees to participate in an Oct. 23 debate — Harris quickly accepted the invitation — and Fox News offered the candidates an opportunity to debate in Pennsylvania on either Oct. 24 or Oct. 27. (The network described the offer this week as “one final pitch.”)
It’s apparently not going to happen. NBC News reported:
Trump said in an all-caps post on Truth Social tonight that ‘there will be no rematch’ with Harris, referring to a potential second debate. Trump argued that he felt he won the debates against Biden in June and against Harris in September. He also pointed to early voting that’s underway in some states. ‘It is very late in the process, voting has already begun,’ he said.
In fact, the all-caps, 135-word tirade that the former president published to his social media platform was quite weird. Trump insisted that he “won” the previous debate (he didn’t), claimed he’s “leading in all the polls” (he’s not), and concluded “there is nothing to debate” (there’s plenty to debate).
Most notably, Trump added in the same online rant that it’s “very late in the process” and early voting “has already begun.” There’s truth to that, but the GOP nominee neglected to mention that in the 2016 and 2020 election cycles, he was only too pleased to participate in late-October events while early voting was underway.
What’s different in 2024? I obviously can’t read the former president’s mind, but I have a hunch it might have something to do with the fact that Harris beat him badly in their first match-up, and he probably believes, with cause, that the second wouldn’t go any better. At some level, Trump probably realizes this makes him look like a coward, but in the electoral calculus, he’s apparently concluded that it’s better to look weak than to show up on a debate stage and look worse — again. As for the historical context, in every election cycle since 1976, the major party nominees have debated at least twice. Barring a dramatic and unexpected change of heart, this year, they’ll only meet once. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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