DOnald Trump has agreed to a second debate scheduled with Joe Biden for September 10 on ABC News. However, now that Biden has withdrawn from the race, speculation has swirled about whether Trump will agree to debate Kamala Harris – who has announced she intends to run for president – instead.
The confusion began on Monday, July 22, when the author and Democrat Stephen King posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Trump announced he will not debate Kamala Harris.” At the time of publishing, the post had received over 18 million views. King, who has more than seven million followers, was heavily criticized by Trump’s team. “Stephen King is an idiot,” said Trump 2024 campaign spokesman Steven Cheung quoted as saying to Newsweek.
King’s post came after Trump spoken on Truth Social, his own social media platform, about being unhappy with the September debate hosted by the ABC. On Sunday, July 21, he wrote: “My debate with Crooked Joe Biden, the worst president in US history, was scheduled to be broadcast on Fake News ABC, home of George Slopadopolus, sometime in September. Now that Joe, not surprisingly, has dropped out of the race, I think the Debate, with whoever the Radical Left Democrats choose, should be held on FoxNews rather than the very biased ABC. Thanks! DJT.”
Trump reemphasized this view on Tuesday, again misspelling Stephanopoulos’ last name. “ABC, the home of George Slopadopolus, is not worthy of holding a Debate, of which I hope there will be many! MAGA2024,” he said in another post from Truth Social.
But later on Tuesday, during a conference call with the press, Trump told reporters that he “would be willing to have more than one debate, actually.” according to Politico. He is also quoted as saying: “If you are the Democrat[ic] Republican candidate or candidate, you really have an obligation to debate.”
TIME reached out to the Trump campaign for more information and comment.
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