A Desperate Donald Trump May Debate Kamala Harris After All

After President Biden backed out of the 2024 presidential election and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris, Donald Trump attempted to weasel out of a previously agreed on debate on ABC News scheduled for September 10. Now Trump wants back in. 

The Washington Post reports that Trump is expected to propose a new debate in the next few days to Harris moderated by ABC News or NBC News with Univision, citing anonymous sources. The move comes after Trump had proposed a September 4 debate moderated by Fox News but was rebuffed by the Harris campaign and criticized by his own supporters. 

Only on Wednesday, the Trump campaign was dodging questions about how the former president and convicted felon ducked out of the previously scheduled debate. This followed a litany of excuses Trump has made since Harris entered the race. He claimed that he couldn’t go on ABC because of ongoing litigation against the network and that he didn’t need to debate because he was already leading in the polls (he wasn’t). His team said that he couldn’t debate someone who wasn’t officially the Democratic nominee and didn’t have former President Barack Obama’s endorsement. Hours later, Obama endorsed Harris. 

The real reason Trump has been hesitant to debate Harris is probably because he’s worried. Trump reportedly thinks it’s unfair that he has to run against Harris, complaining to confidants about the media coverage Harris is getting and about being overtaken in polls. He and his running mate, J.D. Vance, have been struggling to come up with any effective attacks against Harris and Tim Walz, trying out accusations of antisemitism and attacks on Walz’s military record that so far haven’t picked up any traction. 

But in a debate, Trump will have the opportunity to come up with new soundbites and insults, albeit against an opponent sharper than Biden, and he probably wants to do it on a bigger stage than Fox News, even though they would give him a home-field advantage. As Trump would say, the ratings will probably be sky-high.