Former President Trump and Vice President Harris have spent the week exchanging barbs over the prospect of a general election debate, with Harris amping up the pressure on Trump to face her one-on-one.
Trump in recent days has increasingly hedged over the prospect of debating Harris. He first told reporters last week that he would “absolutely” debate the vice president, followed by his campaign declining to commit to a debate until she is the official nominee, and capped by the former president telling Fox News he’d “probably” debate but could make the case not to.
The former president’s reluctance to firmly commit to a debate has given Harris’s campaign an opening to go on offense and get under Trump’s skin, casting him as scared to get onstage with the vice president and former prosecutor.
Officials with both sides say a debate is likely to happen, but acknowledge the timing and format could still change as the two campaigns work the refs.
“I think it’s something that both sides kind of need to do,” said Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University. “Donald Trump can’t afford to be seen running away from one. Kamala Harris has to have one to show folks she will go toe to toe with him in person. There will be a lot riding on it.”
The Trump and Biden campaigns had agreed to a Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC News, but Trump has suggested the change in candidate atop the Democratic ticket has given him room to push for changes, potentially involving the host or format.
He has expressed particular frustration with ABC News and suggested the debate should instead be hosted by Fox News.
“The answer is yes, but I can also make a case for not doing it,” Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham this week. “Also, I don’t like rewarding fake news … They’re going to make tens of millions of dollars with this debate. I don’t like ABC.”
The former president skipped the GOP primary debates because of his sizable lead in the polls, leading some Democrats to wonder whether he could pull a similar move depending on the state of the race with Harris.
Harris rallied an energetic crowd in Atlanta on Tuesday night and called out Trump for “pulling out” of the debate.
“Well Donald, I do hope you’ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage because as the saying goes, if you got something to say, say it to my face,” she said, looking directly at the camera.
The Harris campaign has said she will be at the September debate, regardless of the former president’s attendance. If Trump officially refuses to participate, it would be up to ABC to decide if they did a town hall-format event with Harris or if they would cancel it altogether.
Some Democrats are skeptical that Trump will debate her at the end of the day.
“I just don’t believe Trump’s going to debate Kamala Harris,” said Jamal Simmons, a former communications director to Harris.
He added that Trump “must have believed he was going to avoid seeing another prosecutor after the Supreme Court Aileen Cannon decision but he may find himself facing another tough prosecutor on the world’s biggest stage if he chooses to debate Kamala Harris.”
Republicans have signaled Trump is likely to end up on the debate stage with Harris in some form, acknowledging there would likely be backlash to him backing out and a narrative that he was scared to take on the vice president.
Democrats are prepared to keep hitting Trump over his lack of commitment to debate Harris, arguing that the back and forth from the former president’s campaign is already a win for the vice president.
“The saying is fight or flight for a reason. Trump can’t both make a raised fist the centerpiece of his campaign and then slink away from a challenge—at least not without some political cost,” said Adam Abrams, a communications official on former President Obama’s 2008 campaign.
Abrams, a partner at Seven Letter, added, “The Harris campaign has deftly backed him into a corner. He may try to save face by pushing for a logistical change to the debates, but she’s already won this round.”
The last debate between Trump and Biden upended the presidential race as Biden’s dismal performance led to increasing pressure on him to drop out of the race, which led to his eventual decision to pass the torch to Harris.
But debating Harris poses a different challenge for Trump. She has a background as a prosecutor and first rose to prominence in the Senate for her sharp questioning of GOP nominees.
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While Trump would likely hammer Harris over immigration and the border, the vice president has signaled how she would counter, by blaming Trump for tanking a bipartisan border security proposal.
Trump has struggled at times in previous debates, drawing negative reviews from voters for interrupting his opponents and in 2016 when he lurked behind then-candidate Hillary Clinton on stage during a town hall style event.
“If Trump does debate, there’s no telling what Donald Trump will do at any moment of this campaign,” said Simmons, a Democratic strategist. “Today, he’ll look like he needs to do something dramatic to change the trajectory of the race. There’s no telling what could happen at the debate.”