Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has dropped out of a debate scheduled for mid-September, instead offering presumptive Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris an earlier date on his network of choice, Fox News.
"I have agreed with Fox News to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump had previously agreed to a debate rematch with President Joe Biden on Sept. 10. However, Trump claims that, since Biden has dropped out, and he is suing ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos for defamation, the debate is a "conflict of interest."
Instead, Trump is opting to go to a network that has long embraced his political stances and persona, naming scheduled moderators — Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum — who have been historically friendly to him.
"This date is convenient and appropriate in that it is just prior to the September 6th start of Early Voting in the 2024 Presidential Election," Trump said.
The former president also incorrectly insisted that "the Democrats have Unconstitutionally taken a Candidate, who was acknowledged to be defeated, and unceremoniously replaced him with a new Candidate. This has never been done before, and is a Threat to Democracy, but I am totally prepared to acept the results of this 'coup,' and replace Joe on the Debate stage with Crazy Kamala Harris."
The Presidential primary process is mentioned nowhere in the United States Constitution. For most of the country’s history, presidential candidates were chosen at political party conventions. Primaries are a relatively new tradition borne of political parties seeking to get voters (and state party leaders) involved in the process. Primary elections beginning in earnest in the 1950s, and achieved modern form (that is, stretching out the campaigning and fundraising cycle as long as voters can stand) in the 1980s.
"I spent Hundreds of Millions of Dollars, Time, and Effort fighting Joe, and when I won the Debate, they threw a new Candiate into the ring. Not fair, but it is what it is!" Trump complained.
In a statement to Spectrum News, Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler said that Trump’s agreement with Fox News is a sign that he is "running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to" for a network that will "bail him out."
"He needs to stop playing games and show up to the debate he already committed to on Sept 10. The Vice President will be there one way or the other to take the opportunity to speak to a prime time national audience," Tyler said. "We’re happy to discuss further debates after the one both campaigns have already agreed to. Mr. Anytime, Anywhere, Anyplace should have no problem with that unless he’s too scared to show up on the 10th," he added.
The rhetoric among the two leading candidates has grown more heated, especially over the last week. Harris’s has positioned the race as "the prosecutor versus the felon," referring to the vice president’s background as an attorney general and district attorney, as well as Trump’s conviction on 34 felony fraud counts — plus, her campaign has sought to undercut and minimize Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as "weird."
Trump has tried a variety of tactics, including naming Harris as Biden’s infeffective "border czar," responsible for three years of trouble along America’s southern border. Most incendiary, however, began this week, as Trump insisted that Harris has repeatedly positioned herself as Indian and minimized her Black heritage until recently, in the name of political expediency. In recent rallies, Trump has insisted that Harris is "fake."