Washington: Former US President Donald Trump made a U-turn on doing a second presidential debate with his Democratic rival Kamala Harris on Friday after previously saying there 'won't be a third debate', saying that he may reconsider doing a second debate if "he is in the right mood'. Trump said he could do a second debate with Harris "tomorrow" if he wishes.
Leaving the door open, Trump claimed he was "leading in every single" post-debate poll, although most of them have given the edge to Harris. "I wouldn't need anything. I could do it tomorrow. I've done two debates. Everything was crooked in the second one," he told Fox News on Friday.
"I did great in the debates, and I think they've answered everything. But maybe if I got in the right mood, I don't know," he added, striking a different tone from the one he had in a Truth Social post declaring that the prospects of a third debate were effectively dead. "When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH," he said in the post on Thursday.
Trump rules out second debate with Harris
“THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform, calling her the Democrats’ “Radical Left Candidate”. Trump had participated in a debate against President Joe Biden in June before his debate against Harris on Tuesday. “She and Crooked Joe have destroyed our Country, with millions of criminals and mentally deranged people pouring into the USA, totally unchecked and unvetted, and with Inflation bankrupting our Middle Class,” he said in the post.
“Everyone knows this, and all of the other problems caused by Kamala and Joe - It was discussed in great detail during the First Debate with Joe, and the Second Debate with Comrade Harris. She was a no-show at the Fox Debate, and refused to do NBC & CBS. KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD,” Trump further said.
ALSO READ | 'There will be no third...': Trump declines another debate with Kamala Harris as she leads in polls
'Chicken Man': Kamala Harris, Democrats troll Trump
After Trump's refusal to do a second debate with Harris, her campaign taunted the Republican candidate as 'chicken'. Harris' campaign chairman, David Plouffe, mocked Trump in a post on X, saying, "At long last we discover his spirit animal. The Chicken." He added, "Let’s see if chicken man excises Hannibal Lecter out of his speech tonight. If he does, demonstrates he was humiliated on that point on Tuesday night. If he doesn’t, well, that would be awesome. Classic win, win."
Harris, meanwhile, continued to press for their second meeting and third debate of the presidential campaign following President Joe Biden’s disastrous display in June that led to him to drop his re-election bid. “The vice-president is clear she believes there should be another debate and we do not consider this to be the last word from him,” Brian Fallon, a spokesperson for Harris, told Politico.
Kamala Harris leading in polls
Kamala Harris is leading Trump 47 per cent to 42 per cent in the race to win the US presidential election after a strong performance in the 90-minute debate hosted by ABC News on Tuesday, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. Among voters who said they had heard at least something about Tuesday's debate, 53 per cent said Harris won and 24 per cent said Trump won, with the rest saying neither had or not answering. Several observers said he fell for Harris' baits and appeared defensive, unprepared, and obsessed with the past.
Trump is still under fire for his unsubstantiated claims about Haitian immigrants eating pet animals in Ohio, with some allies blaming the influence of the conspiracy theorist and rightwing extremist Laura Loomer, whose recent racist remarks against Kamala Harris sparked outrage in the US. Loomer, who called the 2001 terrorist attacks on the US “an inside job”, received scorn from Republicans as well after she was reportedly a part of his debate preparation team and accompanied him to a 9/11 commemoration on Wednesday.
While some Republicans including JD Vance and Marco Rubio stood by Trump's claims and criticised the ABC moderators for fact-checking the former President, some party members acknowledged that his performance was poor. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a prominent Trump ally, was one of the few party leaders to publicly talk negatively about his performance, calling it a 'missed opportunity'.
ALSO READ | Pope Francis slams Trump, Harris for 'anti-life policies', urges Catholics to vote for 'lesser evil'
ALSO READ | US: Trump calls Laura Loomer 'free spirit', distances himself from her 'racist' remarks on Kamala Harris
