Trump undecided on debate with Harris as 2024 US presidential race heats up

Washington, Aug 2 (PTI) Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday said that he has not yet decided on whether to participate in a debate with his potential Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
     “Well, I want to. And we’re leading in the polls it seems by quite a bit still...She’s (Harris) better than he (Joe Biden) is, but I think ultimately she’ll be worse than him,” Trump told Fox News in an interview.
     “If I didn’t do the debate, they’d say, ‘Oh Trump’s not doing the debate.’ It’s the same thing they’ll say now. I mean right now I say, why should I do a debate? I’m leading in the polls. And everybody knows her, everybody knows me,” said the former president.
     The Harris Campaign slammed Trump for not agreeing to a debate so far. Yet again, he dodged, squirmed, and made excuses for why he’s too scared to face Kamala Harris on the debate stage, the rival campaign said.
     The Harris Campaign has alleged that Trump, who once said he would debate “any time, any place”, is backing down from his commitment to debate. "And it’s no mystery why?"
     The last time Trump faced tough questions at NABJ, he imploded in a “train wreck” of an interview that went “off the rails” seconds after it began and had to be abruptly cut off by his team, it said.
     Given another opportunity to back up his words with action, Trump apparently couldn’t muster the courage to face tough questions -- or his opponent -- on the debate stage, the Harris Campaign alleged.
     “Donald Trump needs to man up. He’s got no problem spreading lies and hateful garbage at his rallies or in interviews with right-wing commentators. But he’s apparently too scared to do it standing across the stage from the Vice President of the United States,” said Harris for President co-chair Cedric Richmond.
     “Since he talks the talk, he should walk the walk and – as Vice President Harris said earlier this week – say it to her face on September 10. She’ll be there waiting to see if he’ll show up,” Richmond said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)