Donald Trump thinks it’s “too late” to have another debate with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris — but his own debate history says otherwise.
Trump on Thursday promised “there will be no third debate” this year. He argued there is no need to face Harris again because he won their first debate, and it’s “too late” to face off since Alabama began mailing out absentee ballots to some voters earlier this week.
That flies in the face of not just presidential debate history — which has often featured debates just weeks before Election Day — but Trump’s history as well: His first five general election debates, in 2016 and 2020, all happened in late-September and October, when some states already mailed out ballots and early voting had begun.
Trump’s reversal on debating comes after wide agreement — from flash polls, political analysts, the media, and even some Republicans — that Harris was more effective and performed better in the Tuesday debate. Harris successfully baited Trump into going on tangents and personal attacks instead of focusing on policy issues, as his advisers and Republican elected officials reportedly wanted him to do.
