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Trump Campaign Provides Another Update on the Debates

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  July 26, 2024 9:00 AM

On Thursday night, the Trump campaign released a statement providing an update on debates between former and potentially future President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. It was an update that certainly had people talking. Harris is not yet officially the nominee, and there may be disarray from fellow Democrats who are looking for someone else to replace President Joe Biden after he dropped out of the race on Sunday. The Trump campaign thus won't be committing to debates at this time.

"Given the continued political chaos surrounding Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, general election debate details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee. There is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party - namely Barack Hussein Obama - that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone 'better.' Therefore, it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds," read a statement from Steven Cheung, the Trump Campaign Communications Director.

Harris reacted on Thursday night by sharing a post from Sam Stein about the announcement, wondering "What happened to 'any time, any place'?"

There are actually plenty of reasons why Trump should not commit to any debates with Harris at this moment. A debate had been announced for September 10 with ABC News, but that debate was between Trump and Biden. There had already been a debate between the two of them on June 27 that was moderated by CNN. It was so disastrous for the president that such a performance led to increased calls for him to withdraw from the race, which he ultimately did after considerable pressure. 

Harris may currently have enough support from delegates to be the presumptive Democratic nominee, per an unofficial AP survey. She's not yet the official nominee, though. As Cheung's statement mentioned, there are also concerns from fellow Democrats, including former President Barack Obama.

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The Obamas endorsed Harris earlier on Friday morning, after Cheung’s statement came out. A previous report from The New York Post had spoken to concerns from the former president that Harris couldn't win. 

Despite how Harris received the coveted endorsement, it doesn’t change that the party screeching about protecting democracy has engaged in a rather undemocratic process. 

Biden was forced out of the race and through a process that top Democrats, like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), have been tight-lipped about. Even the president himself, in a speech from Wednesday night, wasn't exactly forthcoming about his reasons. Unsurprisingly, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had little to offer about the topic during Thursday's press briefing, even though she was asked multiple times.

Another issue is that Harris herself never received a vote in the primaries, not for 2024 and not even when she ran in 2020, given that she dropped out of the race in early December 2019, before any primary contest took place.

In a matter of hours since Harris posed such a question, there were tens of thousands of replies and quoted reposts pointing out such reasons. Cheung himself even chimed in. 

The Trump campaign has made other recent calls about the debates. Last week, just days before Biden withdrew from the race, the campaign released a statement indicating that Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Trump's running mate, would not commit to debating Harris. It looked certain even then that Harris would not be the nominee for vice president and such a person was not and still is not known.

Plenty of X users also chimed in.

During a press call on Tuesday, Trump himself indicated that he'd be open to debating Harris on multiple occasions, though he took issue with ABC News for being "fake news." 

Perhaps most importantly, though, Trump also reminded that he had yet to agree to any debates.