The Harris camp is once again trying to goad Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump into accepting another debate, after news dropped Thursday that Kamala will do a CNN town hall on the date they had offered to host a second (third, depending on who's counting) 2024 POTUS debate. It will take place on Oct. 23rd, which would have been far too close to Election Day. In any case, CNN added that it also offered a town hall event to Trump, but did not get an answer from his camp.
Here was the spin from Team Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, who thinks we're stupid enough to buy this:
“Donald Trump’s refusal to join Vice President Harris on the debate stage again is a disservice to the American people."
They deserve to see the candidates side-by-side one more time before casting their ballots for one last look at their vastly different visions for America.”
The candidate herself took the opportunity during a speech in Las Vegas Thursday, in that fake Southern accent for no reason at all, to disseminate misinformation about Trump and future debates before the election:
Vice President Harris: Y’all might have seen that just last night, Donald Trump officially ruled out any more debates. I think it's a disservice to the voters. I also think it's a pretty weak move pic.twitter.com/lh5XVCCIh7
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 11, 2024
More Cackling in Maricopa County:
Kamala Demonstrates Why She's Losing Black Men and People Across All Demos With Remarks in Arizona
No, Trump did not decide officially on Thursday. He said no to the notion weeks ago--on Sept. 12, to be exact. And we know that because here are the receipts RedState's Bonchie gathered on the spot. Readers likely are also old enough to remember Trump rejected another smear job opportunity at the hands of legacy media hacks CNN, as happened in former Pres. Trump's debate with President Joe Biden.
Trump Shuts Down Any Future Debates, Releases Scathing Hit on Kamala Harris
Friday brings a new announcement. This time, it's Trump signing on to do a new town hall--but on Fox News Channel. As I hinted, that's both good news and bad news, from a conservative/libertarian viewpoint. Here's what Fox has shared so far in a press release
FOX News Channel’s (FNC) Harris Faulkner will present a town hall with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump focusing on issues impacting women ahead of the election and news of the day at Reid Barn in Cumming, Georgia. The event, which will be held with an audience entirely composed of women, will pre-tape on October 15th and air on October 16th on The Faulkner Focus (11 AM-12 PM/ET).
According to a September 2024 FOX News poll, the top issues impacting female voters are economy, abortion, immigration and health care. During the pre-taped one-hour town hall, Trump will discuss these concerns and others facing female voters as well as how he would address these issues.
(The poll mentioned was taken from Sept 13-15; you can see the results here.)
Fox, like CNN, says it made the same offer for Harris to have a stand-alone town hall event.
Now, you probably don't need the good part of this spelled out. It's Fox News, not one of the networks that have truly shown they won't honor any agreements made to a Republican candidate--whether that's a debate or some other earned media opportunity.
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Another good aspect is the nearness of the date: It's set to happen on Oct. 16th (give or take, five days).
The bad news is that it's Fox News, and the producers included some fine print: The town hall will focus on women's issues, whatever that means--and will have an all-female audience. But there's still a silver lining in the bad bit, since a town hall format has an in-person audience. That's the sort of atmosphere in which Donald Trump thrives, when he has his druthers. We'll see shortly.
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