By James J. Devine
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign argued that disgraced former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, shared a handful of “toxic positions” on the debate stage earlier this week and suggested he’s avoiding another debate so he doesn’t have to defend them.
Harris has called for another debate after her sharp performance on Tuesday night, but Trump said that he wouldn’t face Harris again, squashing the idea.
“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH,’” Trump posted on Truth Social, asserting that he won Tuesday’s debate with Harris despite widespread opinion suggesting the contrary.
“Kamala should focus on what she should have done during the last almost four year period,” said Trump, who added: “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”
Trump’s running mate, Ohio’s US Senator JD Vance, shared a post on social media in which he cited unnamed “reports” claiming that people in Springfield “have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.”
The baseless and bizarre belief that immigrants are eating stolen pets in Springfield, Ohio, was refuted by the city manager and police department,
Longtime GOP strategist Karl Rove, the mastermind behind George W. Bush’s two runs for the White House, declared that Trump was “crushed” by Harris during Tuesday’s presidential debate, in a withering critique of the Republican’s debate performance, which he said was a “train wreck” for the disgraced former president and “far worse than anything Team Trump could have imagined.”
Rove said Trump “let his emotions get the better of him” and “did a terrible job at his most important task — tying her to President Biden’s failed policies.”
Trump continued to insist that he did not embarrass himself when he appeared at a campaign rally in Tucson, Arizona, hoping to stabilize his failing campaign, which continues to struggle to recalibrate nearly two months after Harris replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.
He was joined by Kari Lake, an election-denying Republican who lost her campaign for governor in 2020. Lake is running against Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is leading in recent polls for the seat that’s being vacated by U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema.
Arizona’s Republican Party posted about a dozen of the billboards in the Phoenix area doubling down on Trump’s false claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating Americans’ pets.
The 2020 presidential election loser said Lake should be running almost exclusively on safety and security issues, not allowing “Illegal Aliens to get anywhere near Arizona” and getting rid of the ones that are already there.
Harris on Thursday afternoon at a rally in Charlotte, N.C. said she believes “we owe it to the voters to have another debate.”
Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump in June instantly fueled questions about his physical and mental abilities to serve another four years in the White House. That spurred a rising chorus of calls from Democrats who wanted the 81-year-old president to end his bid for a second term.
Facing increased pressure from fellow Democrats, Biden, in a blockbuster announcement on July 21, ended his re-election campaign and endorsed Harris. She faced no opposition and quickly sewed up the nomination.
Trump and Harris faced off in a heated debate Tuesday night, sparring about abortion, immigration, Israel, the economy and a range of other issues—but Trump was rattled by the ABC News moderators, who were quick to challenge his lies
Trump later expressed frustration that the moderators failed to conform Harris over what he claimed were distortions, such was her discussion of his earlier comments “it’s going to be a bloodbath,” which the Republicans claim was a prediction of a major economic disaster.
During the debate, Harris raised the fact that he said that and attributed it to the time he incited his fanatical supporters to storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021, but she’s not the only one who considered it a threat.
In fairness, NJTODAY is sharing the entire quote and letting you decide what was intended:
“Now if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s gonna be the least of it,” said Trump on March 16, 2024. “It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it.”
Trump’s complaints about the moderators being unfair is similar to his aggrievement over his multiple indictments but Harris was not corrected because she didn’t lie, and the 2020 election loser’s criminal accusations are not caused by an infringement or denial of rights but in response to the many times that he broke the law.
In any event, Trump’s imagination is running rampant and instead of competing with Harris, he plans to make an appeal to the base of right-wing extremists who believe his lies and are resistant to reality. They are not capable of delivering a majority but they could muster an Electoral College win or mount a violent uprising in the wake of a Harris victory.
With Republicans like former Vice President Dick Cheney bolting from the GOP, it is hard to believe that Trump is not going to suffer another massive defeat in November.
The country won’t have many opportunities to make an objective evaluation of the candidates but one of them is willing to stand up for your inspection. The other is a coward who looks up to Hungarian dictator Victor Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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