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Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the Detroit Economic Club in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., October 10, 2024.
Trump signals there will be no more debates
“THERE WILL BE NO REMATCH!”posted Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Truth Social on Thursday. Fox News, a conservative-friendly cable TV network, had offered to hostanother presidential debate in the days before the election, but Trump has made clear it’s not going to happen.
Though Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s opponent, will continue to challenge him by suggesting he’s afraid of her, Trump insists he doesn’t care and has debated enough this year. It may be a smart move on his part. He easily won the Republican Party’s presidential nomination without debating any of his rivals, and the latest polling (seehere andhere) suggests his fortunes in the crucial swing states may be improving.
Given the perception that Harris won their previous debate (seehere andhere), Trump may be calculating that the risk of a rematch is not worth the reward. That would also be consistent with Trump’s decision not to sit for an interview with the news program “60 Minutes.”
For now, Trump seems to have settled on a simple closing argument — that she will be just like Biden — based on another Harris interview. When asked on “The View” what she’d have done differently than Biden over the course of his presidency, she firstsaid, “There is not a thing that comes to mind.”
Republican Sen. JD Vance and Democrat Gov. Tim Walz greet each other before they square off during the CBS News vice presidential debate in New York City on Oct. 1, 2024.
Civility wins: Vance and Walz play (mostly) nice, spar on policy
The debate kicked off with the escalating situation in the Middle East, as the moderator asked the candidates whether they would support Israel if it launched a preemptive military strike against Iran. Both candidates said Israel has a right to defend itself, but while Walz dodged answering the preemptive question directly, Vance said it was “up to Israel what it needs to do to keep their country safe. We should support our allies.” He also praised Trump’s deterrence strategy, saying that the world was more stable under his administration – an argument that is becoming more potent as the situation in the Middle East escalates.
Climate change came second, as North Carolina reels from Hurricane Helene, and as Americans across the country are facing more frequent, and expensive, natural disasters. Walz focused on the Biden-Harris administration’s investment in clean energy through the Inflation Reduction Act, pointing out that it created jobs and gave funding for adapting infrastructure to withstand climate change.
Meanwhile, Vance did not explicitly deny that carbon emissions are warming the Earth, straying away from Trump, who has repeatedly called it a hoax. But he emphasized the need for more investments in nuclear and natural gas, and for restoring US energy production and manufacturing, which he claimed was cleaner than producing it overseas.
The discussion about abortion offered Walz one of his strongest moments. He rearticulated that the Harris-Walz campaign stands for restoring Roe v. Wade and for reproductive rights, one of Democrats’ strongest issues heading into November.
Surprisingly, Vance criticized the uneven availability of abortion services and referenced instances where state regulations resulted in medical complications for women. While this concern runs contrary to the times he has said he supports a national abortion ban, viewers unfamiliar with Vance’s previous statements would have heard a candidate who was sympathetic to the need to ensure reproductive care. He even acknowledged that the GOP needed to do a better job in “earning the American people’s trust back” on abortion issues.
On the economy, Vance argued it was better under Trump and highlighted the need to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, expressing unease about the relocation of production to nations like China. Walz didn’t disagree with him on manufacturing and China, but he also highlighted Harris’ plans to create an “opportunity economy” and plans to increase housing.
They both attacked their running mates’ economic records. “Tim, I think you got a tough job here because you gotta play Whac-A-Mole,” Vance said, accusing Walz of having to “pretend” that Biden’s economy didn’t have higher inflation than Trump’s. Walz rebutted that Harris from Day One had been plagued by “Donald Trump’s failure on COVID that led to the collapse of our economy.”
When asked about immigration, Vance called for a strict crackdown at the Southern border, saying the Trump administration would focus its mass deportation efforts on undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. Walz focused his answer on the bipartisan border deal that Republicans tanked in the Senate at Trump’s request earlier this year. He also highlighted the Biden-Harris administration's success in curbing the opioid crisis and took Vance to task on lies he told about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating people’s pets. The altercation, one of the spiciest of the night, led to both men’s mics being muted.
So, who won? With 35 days left before the election, few voters are likely to be swayed by the outcome of this debate. Vance appeared prepared and reasonable and landed significant punches against Walz and Harris that the Minnesota governor struggled to refute. He was also effective in laundering many of the Trump-Vance tickets’ most extreme statements on immigration, abortion, and healthcare to make them sound more appealing to moderates.
Walz struggled out of the gate. It was apparent that he had done fewer press interviews and was less comfortable on the debate stage than his Yale-educated, frequent-cable-news-guest opponent. The governor spent much of the debate with his head down, taking notes. But he ended strong, vigorously pressing Vance on giving a “damning non-answer” to the question about whether he would acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election.
Vance was, in large part, performing for an audience of one: Trump. After a series of recent flubs spurred rumors that the former president might regret his VP choice, Vance knew he needed to win over the boss. While Vance strayed away from Trump’s rhetoric, the former president seemed pleased with the performance, posting on Truth Social in all caps, “GREAT JOB JD.”
Debate Bingo, VP edition: Tim Walz v. JD Vance
Tim Walz and JD Vance are set to face off in their first vice presidential debate of the 2024 US election campaign on Tuesday, October 1. You know what that means: it’s time for another round of DEBATE BINGO!
Tuesday's 90-minute debate will be broadcast live on CBS at 9 PM ET and will be moderated by CBS News anchors Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Garrett. It will take place at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York. As the running mates of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, Walz and Vance could inject fresh momentum into their respective campaigns, which have been in a lull following the Harris-Trump face-off on September 10. We'll soon see whose debate performance proves more effective in swaying voters.
Some tips on DEBATE BINGO: you can make it a competition with your fellow politics nerd pals by printing out GZERO Media's debate bingo cards. Or just screenshot them and share with your friends to compare online. There are four different cards so that each player can have a unique board. Every time one of the candidates says one of these words or terms, X it on your card. The first player to get five across wins. And if you really want to jazz it up, you can mark each of your words by taking a swig of your favorite beverage, doing five burpees, or donating to your favorite charity or political candidate.
Enjoy! Follow our coverage of the debate with us on social media too - we'll be on X @gzeromedia.
Walz Vance Debate Bingo Card 1
Walz Vance Debate Bingo Card 2
Walz Vance Debate Bingo Card 3
Walz Vance Debate Bingo Card 4
Remember, there's more going on in the world than just the US election, so subscribe to GZERO Daily, our newsletter on global politics, and watch our weekly show GZERO World with Ian Bremmer right here and on public television.
- Debate Bingo: Welcome to the 2024 Biden-Trump showdown ›
- Debate Bingo: Kamala Harris v. Donald Trump ›
- Harris wins debate ›
- Harris chooses Walz, Canada makes things 'weird' ›
- What Tim Walz adds to Kamala Harris' campaign ›
- Bloc by bloc: Can Dems win back the working class? ›
- Elon Musk and the Political Power of Young Men ›
Trump says “no” to third presidential debate
There will be no rematch. Donald Trump on Thursday said he would not debate Kamala Harris again after tangling with her for nearly two hours earlier this week.
As he told it in a post on Truth Social, he won the debate, and “Comrade Kamala Harris,” who immediately after the debate called for another encounter, was merely acting like a “prizefighter [who] loses a fight.”
The polls so far say something different. According to several studies cited by the analysis website FiveThirtyEight, nearly 60% of people who watched the faceoff thought Harris came out on top.
It’s unclear how much that will help Harris in either national or battleground races — the post-debate endorsement of Taylor Swift, which caused a tsunami of voter registrations, may prove to have a more lasting impact.
But whatever the effects of the debate were for either candidate, Trump has made it clear: There will not be a round 3.
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris take part in a presidential debate hosted by ABC in Philadelphia, Penn., on Sept. 10, 2024, in a combination of photographs.
Trump takes Harris’ bait in heated presidential debate
Vice President Kamala Harris had two opponents in Tuesday night’s highly anticipated presidential debate: former President Donald Trump and high expectations. She performed well against both.
Harris successfully put Trump on the defensive throughout much of the debate, ripping into him on issues ranging from abortion and his criminal record to Jan. 6 and his refusal to accept the 2020 election results.
“Trump was fired by 81 million people," Harris said in reference to 2020. “Clearly, he is having a very difficult time processing that.”
Meanwhile, Trump used the debate to play his greatest hits, offering doom and gloom messaging about immigration, crime, and the “radical left.” The former president, for example, said that Harris wanted to see “transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison.” Trump also veered into the bizarre and conspiratorial, pushing baseless assertions about immigrants eating pets.
Harris seemed to anticipate this approach and laid into Trump for recycling talking points he’s leaned on for years. “It is important that we move forward – that we turn the page on this same old tired rhetoric,” Harris said.
She explained how military leaders had described Trump to her as a “disgrace.” And when Trump attacked President Joe Biden, Harris fired back, saying, “You're not running against Joe Biden. You are running against me.”
Throughout the debate, Trump struggled to stay on topic and rarely answered questions directly. When asked about the war in Gaza, he focused instead on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – saying it never would’ve happened under his watch (Please note: There was also an ongoing war in eastern Ukraine involving Kremlin-backed rebels throughout his presidency).
Harris also got Trump to veer away from talking about immigration, an issue that’s been the former president’s bread and butter since his 2016 campaign, by suggesting that people leave his rallies early out of boredom. Trump took the bait, going on to boast that he has the “biggest” and “most incredible” rallies in response to a question about his role in killing a bipartisan bill to strengthen border security.
Trump repeatedly came off as unprepared. When asked about health care, he openly admitted he didn’t have a plan, other than wanting to replace Obamacare. “We are looking at different plans,” Trump said. “I have concepts of a plan.”
Though some of Harris’s responses came across as scripted, she largely stuck to one key message throughout the night — portraying herself as a new generation of leadership who would turn the page on a historically divisive era in US politics. That said, the debate often lacked specifics on policy — as both candidates traded barbs and sought to portray the other as a danger to the US. “You believe in things that the American people don't believe in,” Trump said to Harris in his closing remarks, decrying her as “the worst vice president in the history of our country.”
After the debate, Trump allies appeared unimpressed by what they saw from him — with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham describing the night as a "missed opportunity" for the former president.
Whether Harris won over any new voters remains to be seen, but her campaign is clearly feeling energized by the vice president’s performance and has already signaled a desire to participate in a second debate with Trump. In comments to reporters in the spin room on the prospect of another debate, Trump said, “We’ll look at it, but they want a second debate because they lost.”
Ian Bremmersays that Harris won the debate. And Taylor Swift, who endorsed Harris after the debate, seemingly concurs with this assessment. Do you agree? We’d love to hear from you here.
Also, please join our X Space today on the debate. We’ll start at 11 a.m. EST. Set a reminder or join here.
Debate Bingo: Kamala Harris v. Donald Trump
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will face off in their first presidential debate of the 2024 US election campaign on Tuesday, September 10th. That means it is time for another round of: DEBATE BINGO!
Tuesday's 90-minute debate will air on ABC News at 9 PM ET and will be moderated by ABC anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis. It will be held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. This marks not only the first time that Harris and Trump will debate, but also the first time they will meet each other in person.
Some tips on DEBATE BINGO: you can make it a competition with your fellow politics nerd pals by printing out GZERO Media's debate bingo cards. Or just screenshot them and share with your friends to compare online. There are four different cards so that each player can have a unique board. Every time one of the candidates says one of these words or terms, X it on your card. The first player to get five across wins. And if you really want to jazz it up, you can mark each of your words by taking a swig of your favorite beverage, doing five burpees, or donating to your favorite charity or political candidate.
Enjoy! Follow our coverage of the debate with us on social media too - we'll be on X @gzeromedia.
Harris Trump Debate Bingo Card 1
Harris Trump Debate Bingo Card 2
Harris Trump Debate Bingo Card 3
Harris Trump Debate Bingo Card 4
Remember, there's more going on in the world than just the US election, so subscribe to GZERO Daily, our newsletter on global politics, and watch our weekly show GZERO World with Ian Bremmer right here and on public television.
Will Kamala Harris’ momentum last in the race against Trump?
Jon Lieber, Eurasia Group's head of research and managing director for the firm's coverage of United States political and policy developments, shares his perspective on US politics from Washington, DC.
What we're watching in US Politics: Kamala Harris is off to a blazing start since replacing Joe Biden as the Democrats' pick for the presidential race, raking in almost $250 million in just one week. The big question: Can she maintain this momentum in the race against Donald Trump?
Joe Biden drops out of the race last Sunday, unexpectedly, as the oldest candidate ever, instantly making Donald Trump the new oldest nominee in American presidential history. Now he's going to have to run against a Democrat who's 19 years younger than he is, and the sitting Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. She's off to a scorching hot start raising almost $250 million, a quarter of a billion dollars in a single week since Biden announced he was dropping out, and she's picking up a lot of buzz and excitement online.
But the real question is, is her current momentum about Harris? Or, is it just about someone other than Biden? That's really what the rest of this campaign is going to be about. Harris comes in with some strengths that Biden didn't have, namely the fact that three-quarters of the population doesn't think she's too old to be president, but she probably also has some weaknesses where Biden had unique strengths, such as his strength with working-class white voters in the Midwest. On that front, Harris is just kind of an unknown.
We can't really trust what the polls are telling us just yet, because what you'd expect to see after a big event would be a surge in support from Democrats, who are more eager to respond to polls at the moment, so it might be a few weeks before we actually have an understanding of where this race stands in public opinion polling. Then there's the question of Harris herself who hasn't really done much to distinguish herself as vice president and ran a pretty poor presidential primary campaign in 2020 that led to her dropping out and becoming the vice-presidential pick. So is this election going to be about Harris, the person, versus Donald Trump, who Americans know and either love or hate very well? Or is it going to be about Kamala Harris, the meme, running against Donald Trump?
Right now, she's polling as a generic Democrat would, doing two to four points better than Biden would nationally. We don't really have a lot of granularities on what's happening at the swing states, but it looks like this is starting to be a competitive race, and we have to see how Harris holds up once the American people get a better look at her. This is going to happen through her campaign appearances, which will be tight and scripted, but probably the most important event coming up on the election calendar is going to be the debate, where Harris won't have a chance to answer scripted questions or read off a teleprompter and is going to have to face Donald Trump live.
As for Trump, suddenly, this race that was breaking strongly in his favor is now sort of starting to turn against him because of the fact that Kamala Harris now can position herself as the change candidate, and talking about a break from the past, as Trump as the old former president that Americans maybe want to move on from. So very fluid dynamic in the race. Trump is probably still favored, just because he has more paths to victory through the Electoral College, but this could all change drastically over the coming weeks. Thanks for watching, and stay tuned for what we're watching in US politics next week.
- Harris and Trump plot new campaign strategies ›
- Harris makes her campaign debut ›
- What Kamala Harris means for AI ›
- Hard Numbers: The Kamala Harris Edition ›
- With Biden out, can Kamala Harris defeat Trump? ›
- Harris, Trump and the hypocrisy in US politics - GZERO Media ›
- DNC Night 2: Obama set to rally support for Harris - GZERO Media ›
- Harris lays out her vision for America: ‘Write the next great chapter’ - GZERO Media ›
Debate Bingo: Welcome to the 2024 Biden-Trump showdown
Here we are with the first of two presidential debates of the 2024 US election campaign. Thursday night’s debate will mark the first time a sitting US President debates a former one, and it will be the first debate for both in this campaign season.
Trump comes into this debate as a convicted felon in his hush money trial, with more cases on deck. Biden will have the chance to score points, face-to-face, but we can't promise that any slobbing or slurring won't lead to some "poor old Joe" jibes. Trump won't shy away from hitting below the belt, and that’s another reason why the policy of muting candidates' mics remains in place. This will make for an exciting duel... or brawl?
And to make the most of the experience, we've brought it back: DEBATE BINGO! Yes, you can make it a competition with your fellow politics nerd pals by printing out GZERO Media's debate bingo cards. Or just screenshot them and share with your friends to compare online. There are four different cards so that each player can have a unique board. Every time one of the candidates says one of these words or terms, X it on your card. The first player to get five across wins. And if you really want to jazz it up, you can mark each of your words by taking a swig of your favorite beverage, doing five burpees, or donating to your favorite charity or political candidate. Whatever your game is, you can play it with our bingo cards while you watch the debate on CNN at 9 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 27.
Enjoy! Follow our coverage of the debate with us on social media too - we'll be on X @gzeromedia.
Remember, there's more going on in the world than just the US election, so subscribe to GZERO Daily, our newsletter on global politics, and watch our weekly show GZERO World with Ian Bremmer right here and on public television.