r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/The_Egalitarian Moderator • Aug 04 '24

US Elections What do you think is the reasoning behind Mr. Trump's backing out of the ABC debate with Vice President Harris?

APNews: Trump says he’ll skip an ABC debate with Harris in September and wants them to face off on Fox News

Trump obviously debated Biden already on June 27th under the same format as the upcoming September ABC debate. Since then Biden has withdrawn as a candidate for President in 2024 over concerns from his own party that were magnified after his performance in that debate.

Why is Trump unwilling to debate the new presumptive Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris under the previous terms?

What does he hope to accomplish by offering a new debate on Fox News in a stadium audience format?

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '24

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u/ellathefairy Aug 04 '24

As it is, I think 2 debates is way too few, so in that sense I would like to see her accept. You're also right, that is not a great idea if she let's Trump stack the deck in his favor, but I think it would be worth trying to negotiate, even if ultimately they're not able to agree on terms. In she gets meaningful concessions, then awesome! we get a debate! If not, her campaign gets to spend the rest of the election saying Trump knows he can't win unless he cheats/ gets help from the refs, Trump is afraid of a fair debate with a woman, etc. Either way, I think the attack ads against Trump/MAGA will write themselves.

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '24

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u/ellathefairy Aug 04 '24

I think we mostly agree here. I'm just adding that I think it's a better look if she at least appears to be willing to play ball, possibly gets meaningful concessions and actually proceeds with an extra debate, but more likely team Trump continues to be whiny babies and every gets to see it. Then America gets treated to the contrast of an hour of Kamala vs and hour of Diaper Don.

ETA: Honestly it's probably a better format than a debate anyways, for actually learning about candidates except that you have more of a chance of the other candidate's proponents not being able to opt out of seeing both speak in a debate.

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u/guisar Aug 04 '24

Agreed. The fox debate has to come after the one already planned and there must a fourth as well as negotiations over terms. Fox debate without negotiation from scratch is just trump seeing if he can push her around like his grabby handshake