Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he would not participate in another election debate against his rival, Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” he wrote in all caps on his social network, Truth Social.
Trump participated in a first debate against US President Joe Biden in June, which led the president to end his re-election campaign after a disastrous performance. The second debate took place this Tuesday, where analysts and television commentators declared Harris the winner.
The Democratic campaign had called for a third debate after this week’s meeting in Philadelphia, but Trump had already downgraded expectations for another face-to-face debate before the Nov. 5 election.
On Wednesday, at an event honoring the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Trump said he would have to “think” about whether another debate was necessary because he felt he won against Harris and had a “good night.”
Justifying his decision to skip another debate on Thursday, he told Truth Social that “the polls clearly show” he won the verbal duel, and in all caps he added: “KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING FOR ALMOST THE LAST FOUR YEARS.”
“When a boxer loses a fight, the first thing he says is ‘I WANT REVENGE,'” said Trump, who claimed that since he didn’t lose, he doesn’t need another one.
Tuesday’s debate between Trump and Harris, watched by more than 67 million viewers, will become the only televised face-off between the candidates before the election and the only opportunity for voters to directly compare their proposals.
For her part, the Democratic candidate responded to Trump’s announcement via social media. “Two nights ago, Donald Trump and I had our first debate. We owe it to the voters to have another debate,” she said in a message on the social network X.
