If one goes on ABC News 538 and looks at the swing states in the presidential election it will pull your stomach down to the driveway looking at the number of swing states, from Nevada to North Carolina, that are all within one point for both candidates, or tied. The race simply could not be closer with Harris winning 55 times out of 100 and Trump winning 45 out of 100. Those numbers are meaningless because the race is tied, period. In such a race the candidates should probably do everything to squeeze another point out. And yet one candidate has decided to crater himself. Donald Trump turned down a Fox News invitation to a second debate at the end of this month. Fox!
This is the second time in turning down another debate following Kamala Harris’s boot-stomp on September 10th. Trump had said that he would welcome another debate if it was hosted by Fox News and he wanted two of the nighttime hosts that are so good to him. Instead, Fox News picked Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum . It would otherwise seem perfect, right?
No. For reasons that might pass understanding had we not watched the last debate, Trump turned it down while CNN has issued a deadline on their proposal. But if he turned down Fox, he ain’t accepting CNN. Instead, he went on Truth Social to “Trum-splain the decision:
I WON THE LAST TWO DEBATES, ONE WITH CROOKED JOE, THE OTHER WITH LYIN’ KAMALA. I ACCEPTED THE FOX-NEWS INVITATION TO DEBATE KAMALA ON SEPTEMBER 4TH, BUT SHE TURNED IT DOWN. JD VANCE EASILY WON HIS DEBATE WITH TAMPON TIM WALZ, WHO CALLED HIMSELF A KNUCKLEHEAD! I AM ALSO LEADING IN THE POLLS, WITH THE LEAD GETTING BIGGER BY THE DAY – AND LEADING IN ALL SWING STATES.
We really ought to stop here for a moment and look at the above because it informs the ridiculous below. Yes, Trump probably won the first debate with Joe Biden because it was literally a knockout. Biden’s performance was dispiriting even to us. He dropped out. But there is no question that Kamala Harris dropped Trump in the only debate between the two. If anyone won the vice-presidential debate it may well have been JD Vance because Tim Walz seemed awfully nervous. But no one cared nor will they ever care.
This is about Trump and Harris and the fact that they are tied – both should be looking for a way to bang out that next point. There is one exception – a candidate flattened so badly that the campaign consultants are saying, “Absolutely not” – and that must be Trump because he’s absolutely not doing another debate. But he wants to complain and huff and puff. See below:
THE FIRST THING A PRIZEFIGHTER DOES WHEN HE LOSES A FIGHT IS SAY THAT HE “DEMANDS A REMATCH.” IT IS VERY LATE IN THE PROCESS, VOTING HAS ALREADY BEGUN – THERE WILL BE NO REMATCH! BESIDES, KAMALA STATED CLEARLY, YESTERDAY, THAT SHE WOULD NOT DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT THAN JOE BIDEN, SO THERE IS NOTHING TO DEBATE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! DONALD J. TRUMP
Right, but wrong. The first thing a prizefighter does if he or she has won a match decisively and been paid handsomely is to be all-too-open to a rematch. Harris has accepted that CNN invitation and would likely accept the Fox one.
The fact that voting has already started is true. But it certainly won’t stop! This race is 50-50 and will come down to late voting and provisional ballots. Besides, there will be early ballots sent between October 24th and October 27th, the two dates Fox offered, never mind Election Tuesday.
Last, Kamala Harris is definitely her own woman (I love writing that, might do so… ) she is absolutely her own woman and no matter how close she is to Joe Biden she is going to bring her own vision to the presidency. So there damn well is something to debate. And Trump says he kicked Biden around, so what’s he talking about anyway?
The all-caps thing is very very persuasive as it always is on the internet. Shouting certainly informs people as to just how right you are. Pffft. No – the entire post above does nothing but scream “I cannot withstand another debate, the last one sent her rocketing up,” which is both true and the right thing to do. But I actually have written that if I were his campaign manager I would hide the bastard… I would keep him on the golf course, run him on his record while saying; “I am comfortable where things stand, I am the better candidate and the American people know it.”
In such a scenario he would at least get out of his own way. I would also slam his phone onto the sidewalk, turn it into 100 particularly sharp pieces, but that’s just me. Actually, it should be just him, too. If he just shut up for once and calmly went about things, he might be less scary to those independent voters who think he’s best on immigration or something. Alas, we need not worry – Trump is going to Trump.
The other thing he won’t do is a second debate and that surely informs those same moderates that he’s too weak. The fact that he loses either way is his problem. And he apparently knows it given the screams echoing out.
God Bless. i can be reached at [email protected] and @JasonMiciak
It’s kind of funny that, given how much Trump openly despises the notion of both early (in-person) voting and mail-in voting, he would be concerned in the least that “voting has already begun” in determining whether or not he should accept another debate.
It might not be the literal definition of the term but it would certainly fit Alanis Morissette’s explanation of “ironic.”
I would appreciate it if writers would stop saying that non-stop lying wins these debates! How can you honestly call one side a winner when they never present truth or facts? Based on chutzpah? Aggression? I still don’t believe that qualifies. DonOld did not win the debate with Biden. He spewed all lies and insults, name calling, fact-free. While Biden’s ‘performance’ was sub-par, at least he presented facts, information. Same with Vance/Walz. So what if Walz was nervous. He wasn’t a lying sack o’sh*t. Lies versus facts? I’ll take the fact guy every time.
Trump isn’t very bright and he’s an @$$hole and rich, everything his supporters would like to.be. He is a racist, a misogynist, and a braggart. In other words he’s just like them (except for the rich part).
Calling a ‘fly in your wine’ and ‘rain on your wedding day’ as ‘ironic’ is not evidence that Ms Morrissette is an expert on irony. In the first example you aren’t drinking fast enough…the second just means check with the weather channel. Trump is a pathological liar. Who cares what the hell he says except when he parrots Hitler…that we should pay attention to. The fact this race APPEARS close is an indictment on our hypocritical materialistic culture.
Always like your comments, Scott. Yeah that song…not even evidence that Ms. Morrissette has a rudimentary understanding of irony. A better title might be “Shit you wish wouldn’t happen that sometimes still does”…