Former President Donald Trump said he will not participate in another presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH,’” Mr. Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social. “Polls clearly show that I won the Debate against Comrade Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ Radical Left Candidate, on Tuesday night, and she immediately called for a Second Debate.”
He said he won on the issues, including inflation and the border, when debating President Biden in June and Ms. Harris on Tuesday.
“She was a no-show at the Fox Debate, and refused to NBC & CBS,” Mr. Trump said, adding in all capitals, “Kamala should focus on what she should have done during the last almost four year period. There will be no third debate!”
Shortly after Trump’s post, Ms. Harris told supporters at a rally in North Carolina that she was open to another debate.
“I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate because this election and what is at stake could not be more important,” she said.
After Tuesday’s debate in Philadelphia, the Harris campaign called for a second debate. Fox News offered to host it.
Mr. Trump said he was “less inclined” to do another presidential debate in an interview Wednesday with “Fox & Friends.”
“I am not inclined to do it because I won the debate by a lot,” he said. “But I think we let it settle, and let’s see what happens.”
He also was skeptical about another debate in a Truth Social post on Wednesday in which he used the boxing analogy.
“She was beaten badly last night. Every Poll has us WINNING, in one case, 92-8, so why would I do a Rematch?” he said.
A CNN flash poll after the debate found that 63% of debate watchers said Ms. Harris did better, while 37% said Mr. Trump had a better performance. A Fox News voter panel had 12 people say Ms. Harris was the winner of the debate, while five said it was Mr. Trump.
Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has now become one of Mr. Trump’s supporters, said Wednesday on Fox News that the former president got “distracted” in the debate and Ms. Harris was the winner.
“I think President Trump did not tell his story, which is a very, very good story about his presidency, and I think that he didn’t convey that as well as he could,” he said.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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