So it was a one-off debate, with no possibility of a rematch. The former president yesterday rejected the idea of a second televised debate in the context of the American presidential race next November. “The great showman has just turned his back on tens of millions of viewers,” the channel points out. CNN.
“There will be no third debate,” the Republican nominee said on his Truth Social platform, counting his televised exchange in June with then-candidate President Joe Biden in addition to his Tuesday showdown with the vice president. The former president said he didn’t need a rematch after winning Tuesday night’s debate, despite overwhelming criticism from the press and his own camp, saying he failed against “a vice president who outplayed a former reality TV star.” “When a boxer loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT ONE LAST MATCH,’” he wrote. Asked whether Trump was ruling out a debate, a spokeswoman responded in an email: “You heard the man!” The Wall Street Journal.
Conversely, Kamala Harris, on the contrary, judged that “the voters deserved a second debate”, during a trip to North Carolina (southeast), a state where she counts on the votes of African-Americans and young people. The former president also declared on Wednesday that the moderators of the ABC News debate had been unfair to him. Several polls carried out after the debate nevertheless showed that a majority was in favor of Harris’ performance, with a margin of around 20 percentage points, notes the Los Angeles Times.
Limit the damage
Republican heavyweights have not been much help to Trump in recent days, preferring to “deny Trump’s performance,” he observes. The Washington Post. “Speaking to reporters Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson focused entirely on the failed government funding plan, the newspaper reported, walking away from reporters when they asked him what he thought of Trump’s debate performance.”
CNNon the other hand, offers another plausible explanation for Trump’s refusal to debate again. “Trump, who usually can’t resist the urge to dominate the small screen, doesn’t want to relive a showdown in which he was unprepared and unfocused and squandered his best chance to defeat his opponent in a suspenseful election,” writes a columnist for the network. “The former president may be right to limit the risk; after all, polls show him tied with Harris,” the same article observes.
A debate between running mates
Will Trump maintain his refusal to debate Harris again, after nearly 67 million Americans watched the first one? Donald Trump has consistently given contradictory answers about his willingness to participate in a debate, including before the two campaigns agreed on the one in Philadelphia on Tuesday, he notes. The Wall Street Journal. Asked about CNNBryan Lanza, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, insisted that it was a tactical decision. “It’s not about fear, it’s about priorities as we get closer to the end of the election,” he said. “We have a better opportunity through the one-on-one interviews, through our rallies, through going into those states and having that impact, than we do through a debate that’s going to work against President Trump.”
The fact remains that a forthcoming debate will still take place, this time between the running mates of the two candidates. Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance will meet on Tuesday, October 1 in New York for a duel organized by CBS News.