Kamala Harris is once again challenging Donald Trump to a debate. This time, the vice president wants to duke it out on CNN on October 23rd, over a month after early voting has already started.
She made that announcement on social media, quoting a post from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
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Everyone knows what this is. CNN, which has already done a debate this cycle, didn’t just randomly decide to offer another debate after Harris already refused to show up for the Fox News and NBC News debates on offer. Networks do not normally host two presidential debates in one cycle anyway.
This is a coordinated gambit cooked up by CNN and the Harris campaign. The former wants a mulligan for all the criticism it got for supposedly going soft on Trump (i.e. being fair and not constantly interrupting him) in the debate against Joe Biden. No doubt, Dana Bash is salivating at the opportunity to show she can be a complete hack as well. Meanwhile, Harris wants another chance to throw some highly scripted punches just before election day to build a little last-second hype.
Thankfully, Donald Trump has done the smart thing and told the vice president where she can put her challenge. According to the former president, there will be no third debate.
There are several reasons why this is the right call. For one, Trump has already done two debates. No voter in America is ignorant of where he stands on the issues. He’s the most over-exposed candidate in political history, and a debate does nothing to broaden his appeal at this point. At best, it’s a chance for him to put in a better performance and land a few blows no one will remember in two days. There’s just no big payoff available given the risk posed.
Aside from that, why in the world should CNN be given another debate? We are talking about the lowest-rated major cable news network. CNN shouldn’t be hosting any debates, much less getting two presidential debates in one cycle. Republicans have to make clear that they aren’t going to be pushed around anymore. The debate on ABC News was the most biased and unproductive in recent memory, even topping the Candy Crowley debacle from 2012. Enough is enough.
Besides, as I noted above, Harris already ducked out on two prior debate opportunities. She doesn’t get to dictate to her opponent this way. If she wanted a second debate, she should have shown up on Fox News. Lastly, Trump is right that it’s “too late.” Voting has started. The time for debating is over. It’s all about the ground game now, not helping a failing network like CNN boost its ratings.
