Some Republicans have begun to pressure former President Donald Trump to agree to a second debate against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, after what they say was a performance that cost him key opportunities in their first meeting, something the candidate ruled out on Thursday.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a leading Trump defender, also welcomed the idea of another debate. “I think it would be an opportunity,” Scott said. “If I were in Trump’s position, I would do it.”
For his part, Senator Mitt Romney, a frequent critic of Trump, said the former president could benefit from a second debate, provided he can stay focused. Romney praised Harris’ performance in the first debate, describing her as “smart” and “capable.”
“I think Trump could probably benefit from a second debate,” Romney said, though he expressed doubts about whether Trump “has the discipline to stay on message” and confront Harris more clearly.
Senator Thom Tillis agreed that Trump missed a “huge opportunity” in the first debate.
“It makes a lot more sense to talk about 1.5 million people who have escaped than to talk about cats and dogs,” Tillis said, referring to migrants who have evaded Border Patrol, criticizing Trump’s drift toward topics such as a conspiracy theory about Haitian migrants.
“Huge failure”
Former New Jersey Governor and vocal Trump critic Chris Christie, meanwhile, called Trump’s debate a “huge failure” during an interview with ABC News immediately after the debate, saying the former president “spent more time talking about people eating their pets, people at his rallies and whether he had more or less, than he did about the economy.”
Christie warned that for Harris “nothing great can happen in a second debate,” but that Trump, on the other hand, could do better.
Despite these views, other Republicans have expressed caution. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., suggested Trump should not debate again on liberal outlets like CNN or ABC.
“I would never debate in a liberal environment again,” Mullin said, suggesting that an upcoming debate be moderated by Fox News, which has already proposed dates for October.
Meanwhile, Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign, confirmed that the former president is willing to participate in another debate. “His team has already agreed to a debate hosted by NBC on September 25,” Miller told CNN, although the final decision has not yet been announced.
However, the idea of another debate seems to have been put on hold today, after Trump himself said that there will not be a third debate, after the first one against President Joe Biden and the second one against Harris.
“KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD. THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” Trump wrote in all caps in a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday.
Continue reading:
– CNN snap poll gives Kamala Harris the winner in the debate
– Five confrontations that marked the first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump by ABC News
– “They eat dogs and cats”: Trump’s accusation against migrants surprises Harris