Trump rules out another debate with Harris after polls show he lost the last one by a lot

"THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE,” the Republican nominee said in a Truth Social post

Published September 13, 2024 11:46AM (EDT)

Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks during a campaign event at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on September 12, 2024 in Tucson, Arizona. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks during a campaign event at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall on September 12, 2024 in Tucson, Arizona. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Donald Trump said Thursday that he will not debate Vice President Kamala Harris again.

In a post on his website, Truth Social, Trump continued to insist that he won the debate, despite his disastrous performance, and that because of this he does not need to do it again. “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE,” Trump declared, referencing this week's debate and his earlier showdown with President Joe Biden.

By contrast, the Harris campaign continues to press for another matchup. “We owe it to the voters to have another debate,” she said Thursday.

Experts and several polls — from Reuters, YouGov, and CNN — suggest Harris had a far better showing than the former president. But Trump on Thursday continued to insist he won, twisting Harris’s enthusiasm for another debate into desperation to redeem herself. “When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, 'I WANT A REMATCH,'" Trump claimed

At the same time, the former president sought to excuse his poor performance by claiming he was ganged up on by the ABC News moderators.

“It was three to one,” Trump said during a call with “Fox & Friends,” adding: “It was a rigged deal, as I assumed it would be, because when you looked at the fact that they were correcting everything and not correcting with her,” the Maine Morning Star reported.

Trump reiterated his opposition to another plausible debate at a campaign stop in Tuscon, Arizona. "Because we've done two debates and because they were successful, there will be no third debate. Too late anyway, the voting has already begun," he told supporters, CBS News reported.


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