Donald Trump has challenged Kamala Harris to a debate on Fox News next month, but the Democrat nominee for now prefers to try and portray the GOP nominee as afraid to debate her:
Our statement on Donald Trump backing out of the debate he already agreed to pic.twitter.com/r8VrZRI0q8
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 3, 2024
The last guy Trump debated got trounced so badly while making it clear he was unfit for office that he stepped aside (or more accurately was shown the door) and now isn't running for reelection.
Keep in mind that Trump never agreed to debate Harris. But the Harris campaign knows much of the media will help carry their water as usual. Here's Politico's headline about Trump saying he wouldn't do the ABC Debate.
Trump calls off ABC debate, suggests Fox News face-off instead https://t.co/UINUSNOzib
— POLITICO (@politico) August 3, 2024
In reality, Trump didn't call off the debate that was agreed upon -- Biden did.
Politico's story starts this way:
Former President Donald Trump pulled out of the only scheduled debate with Democratic frontrunner Kamala Harris, proposing a new debate on Fox News on his terms.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social late Friday night, Trump wrote that the originally planned Sept. 10 debate on ABC was “terminated,” citing President Joe Biden ending his campaign and his legal conflicts with the network. Trump had been noncommittal about the ABC debate since Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 race.
"Trump pulled out of the only scheduled debate" with Harris? No, Biden dropped out so that particular debate agreement became null and void. But the Dems will again slap a media outlet on the back for giving them a narrative assist.
This is a lie.
— Sunny (@sunnyright) August 3, 2024
There is no agreed ABC debate unless Joe Biden still plans to show up. https://t.co/uYtYpHqMKF
Biden called off the ABC debate.
— 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗠𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 (@txsalth2o) August 3, 2024
The media just can't bring themselves to make that the lede.
There was no Trump/Harris debate ever scheduled... This is misinformation @CommunityNotes
— Blue Collar Executive (@A_Sober_Drunk) August 3, 2024
This is false. Not only false, but nefarious. https://t.co/mplyBh78vl
— Knecht/Amick '24 (@TheRobertoUTVol) August 3, 2024
False and nefarious sums up the state of the media nicely. Oh, and there's one other problem with Politico's headline:
Trump didn't "suggest" fox news debate.
— David D. Chapman (@davidchapman141) August 3, 2024
Fox News offered it and he accepted the offer. https://t.co/eWhjsMPuLn
Politico will be awarded ten social credit points for their spin, but Harris might still show up for the ABC event that Biden backed out of when he quit running for reelection:
A campaign official also told me, “It is our understanding that ABC intends to provide the airtime to whichever qualifying candidates show up - even if it is just her.”
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) August 3, 2024
Yes, please let the Harris campaign agree to give her all that time to herself, provided it's unscripted. But ABC would probably allow Harris to deliver a scripted speech from a teleprompter.
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