Donald Trump wants the first TV debate with Kamala Harris to be organized according to his ideas. This is causing an exasperated reaction from Harris’ campaign team.
The campaign team of US Vice President Kamala Harris has called on former President Donald Trump to stop his “games” in the discussion about a TV debate between the two. “Donald Trump is scared and is trying to avoid the debate he has already agreed to and is running straight to Fox News to get out of the jam,” said the Harris campaign’s communications director, Michael Tyler, on Saturday (local time). Trump wants to face Harris on September 4 on the ultra-conservative Fox News channel instead of the debate originally planned for September 10 on ABC, as he explained on his online service Truth Social.
Harris’ campaign team criticizes Trump
In his post, Trump said the debate would take place in the US state of Pennsylvania and would be moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. There would be an audience present. Fox News – a long-time Trump supporter – confirmed that the debate would take place with spectators and would follow similar rules to the first debate between Trump and US President Joe Biden on June 27 on CNN. In that debate, the candidates were only given a pen, a pad of paper and a water bottle. In addition, only the microphone of each speaker was opened, while the microphone of the other was muted during the debate.
Trump must “stop playing games and show up for the debate he has already committed to on September 10,” said Harris’ campaign director in a statement.
Before Biden’s withdrawal from the campaign, another televised debate with Trump was scheduled for September 10 on ABC. This debate was expected to take place with Harris instead of Biden.
At a campaign rally in Atlanta on Saturday, Trump again insisted on the date he had announced. He had “agreed” to the plan with Fox News, Trump emphasized in the same arena where Harris spoke to 10,000 supporters on Tuesday. Trump said there with regard to the TV debate: “We’ll do it with Fox if she shows up.” However, he does not believe that Harris will show up. “She can’t talk,” added the Republican presidential candidate.
Trump taunts Harris
Only recently, Trump declared that he would not have a TV debate with Harris. The 59-year-old then challenged the 78-year-old former president. If Trump has something to say, he should “say it to her face,” Harris said at her campaign event in Atlanta.
For President Biden, his appearance at the TV debate on CNN at the end of June was disastrous. He spoke with a hoarse voice, repeatedly got tangled up in his phrasing and did not finish sentences. The subsequent discussion about his performance and the doubts about his mental and physical fitness ultimately led to the 81-year-old not running for the White House again. Biden then spoke out in favor of Harris as the new Democratic candidate.
Harris has not yet been officially confirmed as the Democratic candidate for the November 5 election, but her party has already announced that it has received enough votes for her official nomination in the ongoing electronic vote of the US Democrats.
The 99-year-old former US President Jimmy Carter also pledged his support for Harris in the November election. “I’m trying to hold out to vote for Kamala Harris,” said the Democrat, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper on Saturday. According to the report, his son Chip Carter had asked him a few days ago whether he hoped to be able to celebrate his 100th birthday on October 1st.
The 99-year-old then replied that he wanted to live long enough to be able to vote for the likely Democratic candidate, his grandson Jason Carter told the newspaper from the US state of Georgia. According to the newspaper, people there can vote on the successor to the Democratic US President Joe Biden from October 15.
