Trump tells FoxNews why he won't debate Harris

Trump's not avoiding a debate though. He had a debate arranged with Joe Biden on ABC in September. Joe withdrew from the race. Trump fulfilled his obligations. If there are going to be debates between Harris and Trump, the two sides need to agree on the venue, rules, etc all over. That's the stage we're in right now. Trump was obviously willing to debate, so I am not sure why it's even a question. But he shouldn't do so on Kamala's terms. That being said, Trump should have the upper hand in negotiations, because he held up his end of the bargain. You'll just have to accept the DNC are getting into unchartered waters with the candidate swap and Trump is under no moral, ethical or professional obligation to go along with it, nor should he.

 

I’m not going to dignity that with a response.

 

Revisionist nonsense. Not only was it apparent that Biden shouldn't be the guy well before the debate, many didn't want Biden to be the nominee back in 20. Most dems didn't want him to run again. It was apparent here on the board and beyond.

 

The Dems got it right . . . finally. Biden screwed it up by stubbornly trying to run again.

 

I have to say I keep hearing this and I find it a bizarre string of logic. I get it coming from the usual MAGA apologists but now I’m starting to hear it even from the normie-ish republicans.

As usual, hardly anybody runs against the incumbent. Then the debate happens and it is much clearer than before Biden isn’t up to 4 more years, and voters and D party officials rally to get him replaced. It’s not much different than had he gotten sick after the primaries.

There is nothing in the constitution that states the parties must select the candidate based upon primary voting. Before the 70s it was normal for the parties to pick who they wanted.

Also, it isn’t as if the D voters were robbed of their preferred choice. Polling showed overwhelmingly D’s wanted Biden replaced by about 80%.

Ultimately the process worked. It got the unfit candidate out. I do think there is room for criticism of Biden and his handlers how it was able to get that far, but ultimately the system worked. Compare that to Republicans who keep doubling down on Trump no matter how obvious it is that he is unfit - on multiple levels.

So help me understand why people like you are parroting this refrain? I truly don’t get it.

 

Yes, that is why the DNC is playing from behind on these debates. Because they trotted out an unfit candidate. So they don't get any favors when it comes to anything. Their bed. They will lie in it.

 

Biden is the leader of the Democratic Party. Many prominent Democrats openly supported Joe Biden up until his debate, with many remaining loyal all the way up to his withdrawal from the race. Speaking of revisionist history, you are sure working hard to erase the record.

 

I agree that if Trump is leading, or thinks he would look bad in the debate, it’s in his narrow self interest to avoid the debate. I also think that we should never let it be in any candidate’s self interest to avoid a debate. Just like how it could help a candidate to threaten the family of his or her opponent, but we the voters would not reward such a candidate with our votes (I hope). It’s just out of bounds.

 

How? One could easily argue that such a late change is a disadvantage.

 

If there is no question of him avoiding the debate, that’s excellent, and my discussion can be taken as hypothetical. I don’t think that Biden stepping down should impact the calculus at all though. If we agree that a debate helps voters to make an educated decision, this should be true regardless of who is running on either side.

 

What do you not get?

People on the left are attacking the thought of Trump not debating because it is a move of fear (which I agree it is), BUT it was a democratic move of fear that got us here.

What is hard to understand about that point?

Dems were fearful that allowing Biden to continue could harm their chances and a debate won by Trump caused that. Yet they are calling out the fear of the other side?

 

So what? As of now the race is Trump vs Harris. Put up or shut up for the big talking orange guy. Biden dropped out, get over it.

 

I tend to agree, but not sure how we enforce it without a law in place.

But i think its a slippery slope when a party can just swap out a weak candidate late in the process. What is to keep a party from switching monthly until they catch lightning in a bottle?

Frankly our whole system has gotten off the rails and we likely agree on much of what is needed to fix it

I am purely arguing on the basis of current reality.

 

Devils advocate:

So what? As of now the race is Trump vs Harris. Put up or shut up for the "Biden is fine" crew. We already debated your agenda and won, get over it.

 

Because Biden was going to get trounced.
Generally I would agree with you about that... But in a case like this, the young bullpen arm is much stronger than the old washed up starter that just walked the bases loaded in a close game

 

So it is your contention that if the Democrats were strong they would have stuck with a feeble aging candidate and accepted certain defeat?

Of course Democrats feared defeat, as well as fearing 4 years of a D president that wasn’t up to the job. They did the right thing, made a switch, arguably later than they should have but still did the right thing.

So are you saying Ds should have stuck with Biden, even after the debate?

Calling out a candidate for not debating is fair political game. It was fair against Biden, and fair against Trump. Whether the calling out has any impact is a matter of politics.

 

That would be the first time she’s talked seriously about anything.