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Donald Trump appears to be backing away from taking part in a second debate with Kamala Harris, claiming that he won Tuesday night’s debate and therefore shouldn’t have to have a “rematch.”
“In the World of Boxing or UFC, when a Fighter gets beaten or knocked out, they get up and scream, ‘I DEMAND A REMATCH, I DEMAND A REMATCH!’” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Well, it’s no different with a Debate. She was beaten badly last night,” he added. “Every Poll has us WINNING, in one case, 92-8, so why would I do a Rematch?”
On Wednesday afternoon, Trump was even more erratic when asked about a second debate. (Tuesday’s debate was the only one that both candidates have agreed to.)
Speaking with reporters in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the former president said he would participate in debates on NBC and Fox News — before immediately saying he wasn’t so sure. “I would do NBC, I’d do Fox, too ... but right now we have to determine whether or not we’d want to do it,” Trump said.
Trump’s claim that he won Tuesday’s debate is, well, very much up for debate. Reporters and pundits largely declared Harris the victor, contrasting her nimble attacks and her temperament with his frenzied lies and his dearth of policy proposals. Early polls also suggest that voters came away with similar conclusions.
Trump’s claim that he won Tuesday’s debate is, well, very much up for debate.
The Republican nominee clearly struggled onstage against Harris, and he bristled at being fact-checked by the moderators. Late Tuesday on Truth Social, he criticized the ABC News moderators as unfair — a tactic he often resorts to when his most egregious lies are challenged.
Just minutes after the debate wrapped, the jubilant Harris campaign called for a second debate, while Trump — who had boasted in March that he was up for a debate “ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE” — began waffling almost immediately. He refused to commit in the spin room afterward, and he later told Fox News: “If you won the debate, I sort of think maybe I shouldn’t do it. Why should I do another debate?”