Trump Allies Don’t Want Him to Debate Harris Again: ‘Bad Idea’
Earlier this year, former President Donald Trump boldly declared that he was willing to debate Joe Biden “ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE.”
Biden’s public collapse during the June debate was a dream come true for Trump’s campaign, which waltzed into the Republican National Convention in a cloud of overconfidence. Biden’s exit from the race — and Vice President Kamala Harris’ rise to the candidacy — threw a bucket of cold water over the elation in Trump’s camp.
Tuesday night’s presidential debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was critical to both candidates — and Harris clearly triumphed.
Throughout the 90-minute debate, Trump fell for obvious traps laid by Harris, raged at his opponent and the moderators, and broadcast lies and misinformation to a national audience. The Harris campaign quickly decided that they would love for the vice president to have another opportunity to dismantle her opponent on live television, and put out a call for a second debate minutes after the first one concluded.
In the hour directly following the debate, Trump allies and aides who flooded the media area near the venue were eager to suggest that Trump was ready and game for any and all opportunities to take on Harris face-to-face again — anytime, anywhere, anyplace right?
“Last I checked, we’ve already said yes to NBC on Sept. 25,” Brian Hughes, a Trump senior adviser, said in the spin room shortly after the debate wrapped on Tuesday. “Beyond that, we’ll have to look at it … I’m not gonna jump into this … We’ll look at it, but I know that NBC had offered [their debate] … It’s interesting [Team Harris] couldn’t say yes earlier.”
However, as the hours passed, the tune changed.
By early Wednesday morning, multiple Trump aides were telling Rolling Stone that their boss did not perform as well as they wished, that Harris had exceeded expectations, or simply that — in the words of one of the sources — getting Trump onstage for another debate against Harris is “not a priority” for the campaign and its candidate right now.
A person close to Trump who was in Philadelphia on Tuesday simply told Rolling Stone Wednesday morning, “bad idea,” when asked if Trump should debate Harris another time. This source wouldn’t elaborate, but it was clear that there’s an understanding within the upper ranks of Trumpland that the debate was not the knockout blow for “defining” the vice president for which they had wished.
The former president himself has been adamant that only losers request rematches, and maintained — despite every indicator to the contrary — that he was Tuesday night’s victor. “We thought it was our best debate ever — it was my best debate ever,” Trump told reporters in the spin room following the debate. “She wants a second debate because she lost.”
He told Fox News on Wednesday, “I don’t know that I want to do another debate,” and then a few hours later wondered on Truth Social, “Why would I do a rematch?” noting how UFC fighters only want a rematch when they get knocked out.
He continued with the fighting metaphor while speaking to the press after an event commemorating 9/11. “When you don’t win it’s like a fighter, when a fighter has a fight and gets knocked out or loses a fight — the first thing he says he wants a rematch,” Trump told reporters. “Are we going to do your rematch? I just don’t know.”
Trump had previously expressed openness to participating in two additional debates — one on Fox News, and one with NBC News. When asked if he was still willing to participate in a debate with NBC, Trump replied that he “would do NBC, I’d do Fox, too.”
“Right now, we have to determine whether or not we even want to do it,” he said.
Trump may be lightly teasing the idea of another debate, but his allies don’t seem to think he should get in the ring for another round.
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