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Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign gave Donald Trump a new nickname after the former president, once again, refused to commit to debating her: “Duckin’ Don”.
On Monday evening, Trump told Fox News that he would “probably” end up debating Harris but said he could also “make the case for not doing it” – a slightly different approach to participating in the customary televised event than the one he had with President Joe Biden.
While Trump challenged Biden to debate “any time, any place”, he has taken a softer approach with Harris saying he is willing to debate her because it is the responsibility of a candidate. But he has also expressed apprehension about debating her on ABC and before she is the official Democratic nominee.
After his Fox News appearance, the Harris campaign sent out a press release taunting “Duckin’ Don” with accusations of being “scared”.
“Why won’t Donald Trump give a straight answer on debating Vice President Harris?” Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said.
“It’s clear from tonight’s question-dodging: he’s scared he’ll have to defend his running mate’s weird attack on women, or his own calls to end elections in America in a debate against the vice president,” Moussa added.
The press release is the latest prod at Trump regarding the debate.
Last week, Harris trolled the former president on X, mocking him for agreeing to debate Biden but not her after it was reported Trump was backing out of the debates.
The former president has said he wants to debate Harris and believes it is the right thing to do as the Republican candidate, but he has stopped short of outrightly declaring he will debate the vice president on September 10th.
When Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked the former president about debating Harris, he responded that the public “already know everything” and “know where [Harris] is.”
Trump re-directed attention to his campaign leading in the polls and boasted about how well he debated President Joe Biden in June – the inciting event that ultimately led to Biden dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
When Ingraham pressed him for a clearer answer, Trump said, “The answer is ‘yes’ but I can also make a case for not doing it. Also, I don’t like rewarding fake news. I don’t like rewarding the people that – they’re going to make tens of millions of dollars with this debate.”
The next presidential debate is set to occur on September 10th moderated by ABC.
“Donald Trump can show up, or not,” the Harris campaign wrote.
The Independent has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
