The morning after Donald Trump’s debate failure against Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat’s campaign wasted little time in issuing a fresh challenge: She wanted to debate the former president again.
Initially, there was some confusion in the Republican’s camp about Trump’s intentions. On the one hand, one of the former president’s senior advisors told CNN the morning after the debate that the GOP candidate “is going to do three debates.” Around the same time, Trump appeared on Fox and said, “I don’t know that I want to do another debate.”
Complicating matters further, the former president spoke to reporters hours later and said that he would, in fact, participate in additional debates on NBC and Fox News, before adding moments later, “[B]ut right now we have to determine whether or not we’d want to do it.”
So, what’s Trump’s actual plan? A new piece published to his social media platform offers at least some clarity about the Republican’s plans. Reuters reported:
Republican Donald Trump said on Thursday he would not participate in another presidential debate against his Democratic rival Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 election, as several polls showed that she beat him. “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” the former president wrote on social media site Truth Social, after participating in a debate against President Joe Biden in June and Vice President Harris earlier this week.
In other words, as far as Trump is concerned, the presidential debate process for the 2024 cycle has run its course. Presumably, an upcoming vice presidential debate is still on track, though given recent events, it’s difficult to say with certainty.
Barring a dramatic change of course, this will be the first year in the modern era in which the major-party presidential nominees only met for one televised debate. (That said, there were no presidential debates at all in 1964, 1968, or 1972.)
For her part, Harris responded to her opponent’s missive, saying, “Two nights ago, Donald Trump and I had our first debate, and I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate because this election and what is at stake could not be more important.”
Stepping back, it’s certainly been a rollercoaster ride. For months, the GOP candidate was so excited about the possibility of presidential debates that he routinely declared, “ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE.” Trump also suggested he’d like to see 10 debates, rather than the usual three. Then President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign, at which point Trump became noticeably less eager to get on the stage. This week, Harris dominated the Republican nominee, leaving him embarrassed, while leaving his party hoping he’d be able to avoid further embarrassment. It’s against this backdrop that Trump is bowing out of additional debates, indifferent to how pitiful and scared it makes him appear.
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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