Afraid To Debate? As Harris Surges, Trump Offers Excuses, Not Dates
Two days after Vice President Kamala Harris entered the race for the White House, Donald Trump said that he would “absolutely” face her in a debate. In fact, he told reporters he was “willing to do more than one debate actually.”
But that attitude didn’t survive a week in which Harris hit the ground running, raising huge amounts of funds and enthusiastic volunteers. Only two days after Trump said “absolutely,” he produced excuses for why he wouldn’t debate Harris. He wouldn’t, he said, because former President Barack Obama was “holding out for someone ‘better.’” But that excuse came less than a day before both Barack and Michelle Obama gave their full endorsements to Harris.
Harris then challenged Trump again, telling him to “say it to my face” by joining her in a debate. But Trump’s campaign only redrew the line, saying he wouldn’t agree to debate her because she wasn’t the Democratic nominee. It was a ridiculous argument then, and it’s even more ridiculous now that Harris has officially secured the delegates to be the nominee.
But on Friday, Trump went on Fox Business Network to give an excuse so twisted that just reading it may cause brain damage.
Speaking with host Maria Bartiromo, Trump first claimed that he wanted to debate Harris—only that’s when it gets weird.
“Well, I want to. And we’re leading in the polls it seems by quite a bit still,” Trump claimed. “She’s better than he is, but I think ultimately she’ll be worse than him.”
Presumably, this means that Harris is both better and worse than President Joe Biden in some way known only to Trump. But that’s far from the worst of what he had to say. Noting that Biden’s team had challenged him to an earlier debate, Trump made an astute observation.
“If I didn’t do the debate, they’d say, ‘Oh Trump’s not doing the debate.’ It’s the same thing they’ll say now,” Trump said.
When he’s right, he’s right: If he doesn’t do the debate, people will say he’s not doing the debate. You know, because he will not be doing the debate. But Trump at least seems to be done providing any excuse except that he doesn’t think a debate would be good for him,
“I mean right now I say, why should I do a debate?” Trump said. “I’m leading in the polls. And, everybody knows her, everybody knows me.”
He wants to debate. Except … why should he? That might be a valid response for someone miles ahead, but that’s not where things stand now.
The latest Civiqs poll for Daily Kos puts Harris ahead of Trump 49 to 45 percent among registered voters nationwide. A new Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll shows Harris surging to a massive lead in Michigan. Harris has even taken the lead over Trump on the online betting platform PredictIt. And currently, 538’s national polling average has Harris marginally ahead of Trump, with her at 45.0 percent and him at 43.6 percent. All the momentum is in her direction.
Whatever polls Trump’s handlers are showing him are no doubt cherry-picked, because out in the real world, he is no longer enjoying a comfortable lead. What’s left when all the excuses are wiped away is the simple truth: Trump is afraid.
As Reuters reports, the Democratic National Committee is launching new ads that are holding Trump’s cowardice up for all to see. Those ads, which launched on Friday, taunt Trump over his refusal to debate. The digital ads are targeted at homepages of news outlets in states where Trump has planned upcoming rallies, so voters in the area will get a fresh reminder that he’s afraid to face off with Harris. They deliver a simple message: "the convicted felon is afraid to debate.”
Because, after all, he is.
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.
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