Wilmington:

Donald Trump on Saturday rejected a second debate against Kamala Harris before the November 5 election, saying it was “too late” with early voting already underway in some states. Earlier on Saturday, Harris’s campaign said she had accepted an invitation from broadcaster CNN to participate in a debate on October 23. It would have been the candidates’ second debate, after a September 10 encounter that most pundits said she had won.

“The American people deserve another opportunity to see Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate before they cast their ballots,” her campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. 

“I hope (Trump) will join me,” Harris posted on X.

Trump claimed during a campaign rally in the battleground state of North Carolina that he would like to debate — calling it “good entertainment value” — but the start of early voting in some states had taken the air out of the idea.

“It’s just too late, voting has already started,” he said.

He added, to a large and enthusiastic crowd of supporters, that while CNN had been “very fair” when he debated President Joe Biden in June, “they won’t be fair again.” 

Vice President Harris replaced her boss at the top of the Democratic ticket after the 81-year-old Biden’s disastrous performance against Trump.

His exit from the race left Trump, 78, now the oldest-ever presidential nominee, against a much younger Harris, 59.

Voting underway

Saturday’s announcement came as some states have already begun early voting in what is an agonizingly close race.

The result is expected to hinge on seven battleground states, including North Carolina.

Trump addressed the crowd in the port city of Wilmington from behind bulletproof glass, following an apparent second assassination attempt against him.

A gunman was discovered on his golf course in Florida last Sunday, with security agents foiling any plan to harm the former president.

In July, Trump was struck on the ear by a bullet at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, after a gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop. The US Secret Service — tasked with protecting the candidate — on Friday admitted to “deficiencies” and “complacency” in the shocking security breach.

Anti-immigrant rhetoric

Trump won North Carolina in the 2020 election against Biden. 

But Harris is aiming to flip the southeastern state for Democrats, on the strength of her support from African Americans and young voters.

Trump’s speech on Saturday reinforced the hardline anti-immigrant rhetoric that has become a centerpiece of his campaign, falsely claiming migrants were “attacking villages and cities all throughout the Midwest.”

He also promised the crowd that the United States would “reach Mars before the end of my term.”

The former president was facing a new challenge in North Carolina after a bombshell report on Thursday revealed that Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor whom Trump has endorsed, had called himself a “Black Nazi” and made other incendiary comments on a porn website message board more than a decade ago.

Robinson has denounced the CNN report as “salacious tabloid lies.”

The presidential race remains neck-and-neck and every vote will count in the election, whose result Trump has once again refused to say he will accept if he loses.

Trump faces criminal charges for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 result, after which his supporters violently stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would not participate in another election debate against his rival Vice President Kamala Harris.

“THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” he wrote on Truth Social, after participating in a debate against President Joe Biden in June and Harris earlier this week.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Donald Trump and Taylor Swift
| Photo Credit: AP/Reuters

Donald Trump took aim at Taylor Swift for endorsing Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race, during a “Fox & Friends” interview. Swift, who formally endorsed Harris shortly after their first debate, praised the vice president’s leadership and commitment to key issues such as LGBTQ+ rights and women’s health.

Trump, however, responded dismissively, stating, “I actually like Mrs. Mahomes much better. If you want to know the truth. She’s a big Trump fan. I was not a Taylor Swift fan.” He referred to Brittany Mahomes, wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, in contrast to Swift. Trump added that Swift “always endorses a Democrat” and predicted that she would “probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.”

The former president’s remarks highlight a potential cultural clash, as Swift has become politically outspoken, while Brittany Mahomes, a known Trump supporter, has maintained a public friendship with Swift. The two women were photographed together earlier this month at the U.S. Open, sparking controversy online.

Swift’s endorsement of Harris emphasized her belief in the vice president’s calm leadership, contrasting it with the “chaos” she associates with Trump’s tenure. Swift’s statement concluded with a call for unity and progress under Harris’ leadership.

People watch a presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris
| Photo Credit: GABRIELLE LURIE

The entertainment world erupted with support for Vice President Kamala Harris following her highly anticipated debate with Donald Trump on Tuesday night. Just moments after the debate concluded, pop icon Taylor Swift voiced her endorsement for Harris, setting the tone for what would be a night of widespread Hollywood applause.

Among the first to weigh in was Mark Hamill, known to many as Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, chimed in by poking fun at Trump’s rant.

The actor’s lighthearted comment was followed by praise from Avengers alum Mark Ruffalo, who took a more serious tone. Ruffalo admitted feeling anxious before the debate but was impressed by Harris’ composure and intelligence.

Scandal star Kerry Washington, who expressed her admiration for Harris’ performance in the ABC News-hosted debate. Washington, a longtime political advocate, endorsed Harris-Walz by donning a “Madam President” sweater.

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel also joined the chorus, using Pixar-referenced humor to underscore the emotional rollercoaster many viewers experienced. Kimmel’s remarks teased the contrast between the two debaters, with Harris’ calm standing in stark contrast to Trump’s erraticism.

Not all reactions were lighthearted, though. Former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama threw their full support behind Harris.

Michelle Obama made a powerful call to action, urging voters to take to the streets and the phones to ensure Harris’ victory, saying, “There’s simply too much at stake.”

President Joe Biden also applauded Harris, emphasizing her leadership and readiness to guide the country.

The debate may be over, but the overwhelming Hollywood support for Harris suggests that she remains a formidable frontrunner in the race for the White House.

US media gave the edge to Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris in her heated debate with her Republican rival Donald Trump. In sharp contrast to President Joe Biden’s performance during his July debate, Harris was visibly confident and focused at the prime-time debate held in Philadelphia.

ABC News, which hosted the debate, focused on the falsehoods and conspiracies that Trump resorted to in a desperate attempt to outshine Harris. He was put on the defensive early in the debate as Harris didn’t waste time in attacking Trump, it said.

Check highlights of the debate here

Politico declared Harris the winner of the debate – and said it wasn’t even a close victory. She repeatedly baited him and knocked him off balance, it said.

The New York Times said Harris “owned much of the night” as she used her skills as prosecutor to put Trump on the defensive.

Vice President Harris was expected to defend the Biden administration before her rival Trump, but NYT pointed out the Republican was left defending his own record as President rather than picking on hers.

Read | Trump Vows To End Russia-Ukraine War. “Putin Would Eat You,” Says Harris

Trump looked “miserable”, resorting to crowd sizes and conspiracies – which captured his difficult night, the NYT said. Harris was well prepared in leading him astray, it added.

Washington Post said Trump often strayed from facts and resorted to debunked theories about the 2020 presidential polls that he lost and immigration.

Harris called out Trump’s “same old tired playbook, a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling”, declaring the Republican has no plan for the people and is more interested in defending himself.

The Post said Harris was able to deliver her case against Trump in a way that Biden struggled to do in July. She was ready with retorts to most of Trump’s charges, it added.

Read | How Tables Turned Between Biden vs Trump And Harris vs Trump

CNN said Trump took every bait that Harris used to throw him off his game. The Vice President was well prepared and her every retort was designed to enrage Trump, who was often out of control, it said.

Trump nearly choked on Harris’ baits, it reported, pointing out that he went on a bizarre spell insisting that migrants eat Americans’ pets.

Fox News tried a balancing act, but focused on Trump having to spar with the ABC News’ debate moderators for fact-checking him.

Trump and Harris faced off in their first televised debate on Tuesday.

Trump was initially leading in national polls, but the entry of Harris changed the game. Latest polls suggest the two leaders are neck and neck with the Democrat maintaining a marginal lead over her Republican rival.

If Harris wins the November polls, she will become the first woman president of the US.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Democrat counterpart Kamala Harris will participate in the crucial US Presidential debate being hosted by ABC Networks globally. The presidential debate comes exactly 8 weeks ahead of election day across the United States.

The US presidential debate may prove to be a game-changing moment for either candidate with the most recent polls showing Kamala Harris and Donald Trump neck-and-neck in the high-stakes battle for the top post.

The debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be their first, and most-likely, only debate. The clash could prove pivotal for either participant in the pitched battle for the White House.

Tens of millions of views in the United States and several million more across the world will tune in to the debate at 9 pm Eastern Time or ET (01:00 am GMT, 06:30 am IST).

The significance of the debate and its timing can be ascertained from the fact that early voting will begin in quite a few states just days after the televised debate. The battle is so intense that even a small faux pas could result in a major swing in either direction.

The encounter is particularly crucial for Kamala Harris as latest opinion polls have suggested that more than a quarter of likely voters across the United States feel they do not yet know enough about the Vice President, in contrast to former President Donald Trump.

THE BATTLE

The globally televised debate offers Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor, the chance to make her case and corner Donald Trump, whose felony convictions, outspoken backing for supporters convicted of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and frequent falsehoods all offer plenty of fertile ground.

In the last few weeks, Donald Trump has also indulged in personal attacks on Kamala Harris, included racist and sexist insults.

Kamala Harris, 59, who enjoys a significant advantage among women voters according to the most recent polls, is expected to press Donald Trump on reproductive rights after he made a number of seemingly contradictory comments recently on abortion rights.

Donald Trump, 78, will meanwhile try to corner Kamala Harris, the current vice-president on issues like the economy, immigration, and inflation.

The ABC News debate is scheduled to last for 90 minutes and will be held without an audience. There are also some established rules for the debate.

THE CANDIDATES, THE PREPARATION

Kamala Harris is America’s first female, Black and Indian-American Vice President. Ms Harris arrived in Philadelphia a day before the debate after isolating in a hotel in Pittsburgh for five days amid intense practice sessions.

Donald Trump’s team has claimed that he has taken a more relaxed approach ahead of his seventh presidential debate, choosing to arrive in Philadelphia just hours before and keeping his preparations limited.

The debate will certainly see a contrast in styles of both candidates, but is likely to be a quiet one with the rules stating that the two candidates’ microphones will be muted when they are not speaking. This was done on the Trump team’s request.

While Donald Trump has been part of six previous Presidential debates, this would be the first one for Kamala Harris.

The 90-minute debate will take place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
 

Washington:

When it comes to hostile exchanges between prosecutor and felon, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are old hands.

But Tuesday’s high-stakes debate will be new territory for the Democratic vice president and her Republican rival, due to meet for the first time in front of a prime-time television audience of millions.

“The striking thing about this debate is, it’s the first time in history where we’ll see a prosecutor and convicted felon facing off against each other,” Andrew Koneschusky, a PR expert and former press secretary for US Senate leader Chuck Schumer, told AFP.

“That’s an incredible contrast. I wouldn’t expect a lot of intricate policy discussion. I expect we’ll see more style than substance.”

Students of debating technique identify Trump, who is 78, as an avid proponent of the “Gish Gallop,” named for Duane Gish.

Gish, who defended as literally true the Biblical account of the world’s creation in six days, would overwhelm opponents with a dizzying torrent of rapid-fire falsehoods, distortions and distractions.

Trump — who is not known to have a granular grasp of policy — owes much of his success to this kind of filibustering, as he packs conspiracy theory, anecdote and aside into an arcane, rebuttal-proof word salad.

“It’s very hard to debate someone who is quickly changing topics and not fully or truthfully answering the questions,” said Flavio Hickel, a politics professor at Maryland liberal arts school Washington College.

But while the “Gish Gallop” may be good at putting opponents on the back foot, it is a risky strategy for someone trying to look presidential, analysts warn.

‘Certainty and strength’

“As a debater, Trump brings energy, conveys certainty and strength, and never admits error, which translates for many people into presidential qualities,” said Donald Nieman, a political analyst and professor at Binghamton University in New York state.

“Of course, they are likely to be coupled with transparent lies, wild exaggerations, unseemly ad hominem attacks and loopy digressions that have the opposite effect, especially on the few undecided voters.”

Harris rose to the top of the Democratic ticket after 81-year-old President Joe Biden’s dismal debate performance against Trump led to him dropping out of the race amid questions around his advanced years.

Analysts expect the 59-year-old Californian — “Kamala the Cop” to her admirers — to lean into her experience as a district attorney and press Trump on his role in the deadly 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol, as well as his multiple criminal cases.

“Harris is a sharp prosecutor,” said Keith Gaddie, a politics professor at Texas Christian University.

“She showed her chops debating Biden and others in 2020, and will likely lean into a combination of tricks used by prosecutors to control witnesses, while also cultivating ‘jury sympathy.'”

Since Harris’s ascension, Democrats’ messaging has evolved from presenting Trump as a powerful and existential threat to democracy to minimizing him as “weird” and small.

Koneschusky expects to see more of this in the debate, but warned that Harris faces a balancing act between going after her opponent and using her precious airtime to make her own pitch for the Oval Office.

Former prosecutor

“On the one hand, this is a chance for Harris to define herself, and she needs to fully capitalize on that opportunity,” he said.

“On the other hand, it’s also important that Harris prosecutes the case against Trump in this debate, and she’s well-equipped to do so as a former prosecutor. This is something Biden failed to do in the last debate.”

One of Harris’s standout debate moments came against Biden, ironically, in the 2019-20 Democratic presidential nominating contest, when she took her then-rival to task for his opposition to using federal funds to desegregate schools through busing.

“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me,” Harris said, in a moment that immediately went viral.

But her short-lived 2020 bid for the White House also illustrated weaknesses, as when she allowed herself to be rattled by former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who savaged Harris over her record as a prosecutor.

Gabbard has switched sides and Trump has been using her in his debate prep.

The use of muted microphones during the Trump debate may meanwhile deprive Harris of another strength — her ability to shut down rivals when they try to interrupt.

Harris deployed this to full effect when Mike Pence tried to cut her off during their 2020 vice-presidential debate and she stopped him dead with an ice-cold, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

The US presidential race remains neck-and-neck according to polls released Sunday, two days before Kamala Harris and Donald Trump hold their first — and potentially only — televised debate.

The latest polling confirms that Trump retains locked-in support from about half of voters, despite the Republican’s historic status as a convicted felon and his role in instigating the unprecedented attempt to overturn his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.

Harris, who only jumped into the race after President Biden abruptly quit in July, has rapidly transformed herself from a little-noticed vice president into a serious contender. However, the polls show she has not made a major breakthrough, leaving the race a toss-up.

A New York Times/Siena poll found that 78-year-old Trump is leading Harris nationally by 48 to 47 percent, well within the margin of error.

US presidential elections are decided by tallying the results of state-by-state contests, rather than an overall national popular vote, meaning that a tiny handful of swing states typically decide the balance.

The poll found Harris, 59, narrowly ahead in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania and tied in four other swing states — Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona.

A CBS News/YouGov poll put Harris ahead by one percentage point in Michigan and Wisconsin and tied in Pennsylvania.

The election is already chaotic, with 81-year-old Biden dropping out amid concerns over his age, Trump narrowly surviving an assassin’s bullet at a rally, and fears mounting that Trump will again refuse to concede if he loses in November.

However, the latest numbers confirm that each candidate retains a remarkably stable base of loyalists, almost evenly splitting the country.

One game changer could be Tuesday’s ABC News debate, the only one scheduled between the two.

Trump will be under pressure to rein in his characteristic use of insults and intimidation as he stands next to a mixed-race candidate vying to become the first female president in US history.

Harris will need to use the huge viewership to connect with Americans in a way that she was unable to as vice president and has had little time to accomplish in her super-condensed campaign run.

With Trump now the oldest presidential nominee in US history, she is pitching an optimistic, forward-looking message in contrast to Trump’s apocalyptic claims that the country faces terminal decline without him in the White House.

Sexist taunts

At the same time, Harris will have to solve the conundrum of how to debate Trump, who habitually makes false statements on nearly every topic and loves to get under his opponents’ skin. Biden, in his only debate against Trump before dropping his candidacy, found himself entirely unable to cope.

Already, Trump has been subjecting Harris in his speeches to racist and sexist taunts, deliberately mispronouncing her name and calling her “crazy” and a “Marxist.”

“It will take almost superhuman focus and discipline to deal with Donald Trump in a debate,” Harris supporter and current transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN.

The Harris campaign announced it would “barnstorm battleground states” after the debate, beginning in North Carolina, then Pennsylvania.

Trump held a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday where he appealed to his mostly white, working class base with a dark speech claiming that he is struggling against a “rogue regime” where Democrats “imported murderers, child predators and serial rapists from all over the planet.”

On his Truth Social platform, he warned that once back in the White House he would impose “long prison sentences” on all those he said were planning “cheating” in November.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

“Donald Trump does not need traditional debate prep but will continue to meet with respected policy advisers and effective communicators like Tulsi Gabbard,” a spokesperson said. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Gearing up for his debate with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump has brought in the former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to help sharpen his attacks, the New York Times reported citing two people aware with Trump’s schedule.

She joined the former president Trump’s practice session at the latter’s private club and home, Mar-a-Lago. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are set to face off in the ABC News debate on September 10.

Ms. Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party after her 2020 presidential run and has rebranded herself as a celebrity among Mr. Trump’s base of support, has long been friendly with Mr. Trump and was also speculated to be his running mate for some time.

Also Read: Trump season: On the 2024 U.S. Presidential election

Ms. Gabbard’s involvement in Mr. Trump’s debate preparation was partly because of her own performance in a 2019 Democratic presidential primary debate, when Ms. Gabbard eviscerated Ms. Harris in a memorable onstage encounter.

Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, confirmed Ms. Gabbard’s involvement in an email, NYT reported. Ms. Leavitt said the former President has “proven to be one of the best debaters in political history as evidenced by his knockout blow to Joe Biden. He does not need traditional debate prep but will continue to meet with respected policy advisers and effective communicators like Tulsi Gabbard, who successfully dominated Kamala Harris on the debate stage in 2020.”

Though Mr. Trump says he “doesn’t need to” prepare for debates, the former President has spent more time this year practising for debates than he did in either 2016 or 2020, the New York Times reported citing advisers who have worked with him. He still doesn’t do traditional debate prep. Nobody played Mr. Biden in his sessions ahead of their CNN debate on June 27.

Ahead of his CNN debate with Mr. Biden in June, Mr. Trump sat with advisers for blocks of time or informally on plane trips and discussed potential topics and lines of questioning. In more formal sessions at Mar-a-Lago, aides have sat in chairs opposite him, playing the role of moderators. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida asked especially combative questions, according to a person in the room.

Also Read: Healing a nation: On Kamala Harris and the U.S. Presidential race

Other lawmakers, including his eventual running mate, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, have also spent time with Mr. Trump on policy topics. Joe Biden’s halting and disjointed performance in his June debate with Mr. Trump ultimately led him to him dropping out of the race. Mr. Trump’s aides are expected to handle preparations similarly for his debate with Ms. Harris, scheduled for September 10, NYT reported.

Notably, Ms. Gabbard brings some key qualities to Mr. Trump’s role: She’s a woman, at a moment when Mr. Trump is for a second time facing a woman as his general election rival; she’s a former House member, giving her policy experience; and, perhaps most importantly for Mr. Trump, she has been on a debate stage with Ms. Harris and delivered a stinging attack against her record as a prosecutor, New York Times reported.

However, Ms. Gabbard’s attacks on Ms. Harris in the July 2019 debate, all came from the left. She alleged that Ms. Harris, when she was a district attorney in San Francisco, “put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.” She also accused Ms. Harris of having obstructed evidence that could have let an innocent man leave death row, doing so only when a court “forced her to.”

Ms. Harris, on the other hand, replied that she was “proud of making a decision to not just give fancy speeches, or be in a legislative body and give speeches on the floor, but actually doing the work.” Following the debate, Ms. Harris mocked Ms. Gabbard’s low standing in the polls. Eventually, Ms. Harris dropped out of that race in December 2019, and Ms. Gabbard did the same months later, in March 2020.

This combination of file pictures created on August 3, 2024 shows US Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaking on March 26, 2024, in Raleigh, North Carolina; and former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking in the first presidential debate with US President Joe Biden in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, 2024. ABC will host a presidential debate between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris on September 10, the US television network confirmed on August 8.
“Vice President Harris and former President Trump have both confirmed they will attend,” the network said on X.
| Photo Credit: AFP

ABC says both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have agreed to a September 10 presidential debate, setting up a face-off between the Republican and Democratic nominees.

The announcement on Thursday (August 8, 2024) came shortly after Trump told a news conference that he had proposed three presidential debates with three television networks, saying he agreed on certain dates in September.

Trump is rejoining the ABC debate days after posting on his social media network that he would not appear on the network, citing a lawsuit he has filed. His decision sets up a highly anticipated moment in an election where the first debate led to a massive change in the race — with Democratic President Joe Biden ending his reelection bid and endorsing Harris.

“I think it’s very important to have debates,” Trump said Thursday. “I look forward to the debates because I think we have to set the record straight.”

The Harris campaign had no immediate comment.

Trump had teased an announcement about the presidential debate earlier this week after pulling out of an ABC News debate scheduled for September 10 after President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign. Trump had said he would prefer that Fox News sponsor the debate, but on Wednesday was showing willingness to reconsider ABC.

Trump also echoed criticism from his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, that Harris has not held a news conference or sat down for interviews since Mr. Biden’s withdrawal last month and she entered the race.

Ms. Harris has a travelling press pool with her on Air Force Two for all trips. Trump does not have a set travelling press pool that regularly accompanies him on his plane when he goes out to campaign.

Mr. Vance has journalists flying with him, and he campaigned this week in states where Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz had their own events scheduled. That included on Wednesday, when Mr. Vance’s plane and Air Force Two ended up on the same tarmac in Wisconsin. Mr. Vance started walking toward the Democrats’ plane but did not reach it before a motorcade carrying Ms. Harris, Mr. Walz and the travelling press pulled away.