Topline
Former President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday he will debate Vice President Kamala Harris now that she is the presumptive Democratic nominee—though Harris responded Thursday and accused Trump of “backpedaling” on his commitment to a September debate.
Former President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday he thinks “debating is important for a … [+]
Key Facts
Trump told reporters Tuesday he “would be willing to do more than one debate” with Harris, who will likely be the Democratic nominee now that President Joe Biden has left the race, multiple outlets reported.
The former president said he believes the Republican and Democratic nominees “have an obligation” to debate,” adding “debating is important for a presidential race.”
On Thursday, Harris took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to say she’s “ready” to debate Trump but accused him of “backpedaling” after agreeing to a Sept. 10 debate with Biden.
Harris added she thinks “the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists on a debate stage.”
Trump previously agreed to two debates with Biden, the first of which, on June 27, saw a poor performance from Biden that began the deluge of concern about his age and ability to govern and calls for him to leave the race.
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What We Don’t Know
The details of a Harris-Trump debate. The second debate Biden and Trump agreed to was set to be hosted by ABC and scheduled for Sept. 10. It’s not yet known whether Harris and Trump will keep that debate date, change it, or keep it and add another before or after—though Harris’ tweet indicates she is ready to keep that date. Trump said on the campaign call Tuesday he was “not thrilled” the second debate was set to be hosted by ABC and he would prefer it be hosted by Fox, The New York Times reported. The former president also said Fox should host the debate on Monday in a Truth Social post, saying he thinks the debate “should be held on FoxNews, rather than very biased ABC.”
What To Watch For
Whether Trump tries to change the terms of the debates. He reportedly said the terms he previously agreed to only applied to debates with Biden.
Key Background
Trump and Biden agreed to two debates in mid-May. Trump’s team had been pushing for debates for months, and Biden agreed, eventually telling Trump over social media “make my day, pal, I’ll even do it twice.” The June debate ended up being disastrous for Biden, who lost his train of thought and had to correct himself at the start of the debate. The performance didn’t get better and Biden addressed it over the next few days, saying he knew he doesn’t debate as well as he once did but that he still believed he was the right candidate to beat Trump. After weeks of calls for him to leave the race, however, Biden announced Sunday he was ending his bid for reelection and endorsing Harris as the nominee.
Big Number
51.3 million. That’s how many people watched the first debate between Biden and Trump. The viewership marked a decrease of about 30% from the pair’s first debate in 2020.
Further Reading
Israel and Hamas. Previously, she has covered a range of topics from Donald Trump’s legal battles to Taylor Swift’s path to becoming a billionaire. She joined Forbes in April 2022 and is based in Colorado. Prior to joining Forbes, Bohannon covered local news and spent time at the Fort Collins Coloradoan and the Arizona Republic. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Creighton University and has an MA in investigative journalism from Arizona State. Follow Bohannon for continued coverage of pop culture, politics and updates on the war in Gaza.
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