- Harris’ campaign called for a rematch Tuesday night.
- Trump said he would “have to think about it”
Vice President Kamala Harris wants another debate with Trump, her campaign said shortly after a televised showdown in which she angered Trump with an attack on crowds at his campaign rally and Trump tried to brand her a “Marxist.”
Trump was noncommittal after taking to the “press room” minutes after the contest, saying he would have to think about it.
“Under the bright lights, the American people got to see the choice they will face this fall at the ballot box: between moving forward with Kamala Harris or moving backward with Trump,” Harris’ campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, wrote after the debate. “That’s what they saw tonight and what they should see in a second debate in October. Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?”
Trump had called for three debates last month after President Biden backed off his campaign, having previously negotiated two debates with Biden. His surprise withdrawal from the race sparked a new round of talk about the ABC debate.
But when the candidate sat down with friendly interviewer Sean Hannity of Fox News in the press room after the debate, and did not commit to an additional debate with Harris.
“Why should I have another debate?” Donald Trump said minutes after his debate against Kamala Harris ended on Tuesday
Heading to the spinning room was itself the kind of move candidates sometimes undertake to try to move on after a stage performance.
“I don’t know, I’ll have to think about it,” he said when Hannity told him Harris’ campaign wanted someone else.
“But if you win the debate, I think maybe I shouldn’t do it. Why should I do another debate?” he said. He compared it to a boxer: “That’s what happens when you’re a professional boxer and you lose, you immediately want a new fight,” he said.
Trump admitted that “if it was a fair network” he would do it. He complained that it was “three against one,” referring to the times an ABC moderator intervened to fact-check Trump’s comments.
Trump gave himself a good evaluation, calling it his “best debate yet,” though he complained about the moderators.
At the end of the interview, Hannity pressed him again on whether he would do another debate, and Trump remained unwilling. “The reason you do a second debate is if you lose, and they lost… But I’ll think about it,” he said.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff said his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, won the debate.
Harris put her hand on her chin when Trump called her a “Marxist” during the debate
Trump went into the interview immediately after the debate, with plans to return to Fox on Wednesday morning.
Trump entered the race as the more experienced speaker, having participated in seven presidential debates and a series of primaries. Harris, by contrast, ended her campaign early in the 2020 primary process.
A CNN snap poll taken shortly after the debate showed Harris leading Trump 63 to 37 when viewers watching were asked who won.
One of the most memorable moments came when Harris criticized Trump for his campaign actions.
“People are starting to leave his rallies early, out of exhaustion and boredom,” Harris said. “The only thing you won’t hear him talk about is you.”
Trump demanded to answer even when moderator David Muir attempted to direct a question at him.
“People don’t go to her rallies. There’s no reason to go,” Trump responded. “She busses them in and pays them to be there and then shows them in a different light,” he said, referring to a debunked theory that Harris relied on artificial intelligence to generate an image of a packed rally.
Trump continued to insist that immigrants were eating people’s pets. “In Springfield (Ohio), they’re eating the dogs, the people that came here, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating… they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” which earned him a fact check from the moderator.
“Speaking of extremes…” Harris said, laughing, when asked for her response.