Trump ditches upcoming ABC debate, agrees to Fox News debate instead
By: NBC News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Aug. 3, 2024, 4:32 PM UTCBy Alexandra Marquez and Yamiche Alcindor
Former President Donald Trump on Friday said he would no longer participate in a September debate on ABC, opting instead to accept Fox News' offer to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 4.
The former president said the ABC debate was agreed to when President Joe Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee "but has been terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant."
Trump also cited his active defamation lawsuit against ABC and the network's anchor George Stephanopoulos — but that lawsuit was filed in March and the Biden-Trump debate on ABC was announced in May.
Fox News formally invited Trump and Harris to debate on its network in September just days after Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris.
The network pitched two of its anchors, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, as moderators, which Trump agreed to in his Truth Social post.
Trump added that the debate would take place in Pennsylvania, with a full arena audience.
A representative for Fox News did not immediately respond to requests for comment about whether the debate would feature an audience.
A June debate between Trump and Biden was held in a CNN studio in Atlanta and did not include an audience.
Michael Tyler, the Harris campaign communications director, told NBC News in a statement: "Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out. He needs to stop playing games and show up to the debate he already committed to on Sept 10."
"The Vice President will be there one way or the other to take the opportunity to speak to a prime time national audience," he added in the statement. "We're happy to discuss further debates after the one both campaigns have already agreed to. Mr. Anytime, anywhere, anyplace should have no problem with that unless he's too scared to show up on the 10th."
The Harris campaign has consistently called out Trump for backing away from the Sept. 10 debate, launching a digital campaign to pressure the former president.Eric Baradat / AFP - Getty Images file
A campaign official also told NBC News that "it is our understanding that ABC intends to provide the airtime to whichever qualifying candidates show up — even if it is just her."
Trump's Friday Truth Social post came the same day Harris' campaign criticized Trump online, taking out digital ads in local newspapers and accusing the former president of being scared to debate because of his ties to Project 2025, a conservative action plan written by Trump allies for the next Republican presidential administration.
In a tweet posted Saturday, the vice president said, "It's interesting how 'any time, any place' becomes 'one specific time, one specific safe space.' I'll be there on September 10th, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there."
Her tweet referenced Trump's refrain during debate negotiations with Biden that he would debate "anytime, any place."
On Saturday afternoon, Trump doubled down on his original post, criticizing Harris and reiterating that he would only participate in a debate on Fox.
"I'll see her on September 4th or, I won't see her at all," the former president wrote in a Truth Social post.
The digital ads match messaging from the campaign at a rally in Atlanta earlier this week.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who spoke at the Harris rally, said Trump was "too scared" to debate the vice president.
In response, the thousands of people in attendance started chanting, "He's scared. He's scared. He's scared."
Later that evening, Harris herself took the stage and addressed the former president, saying, "Donald, I do hope you'll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage. Because as the saying goes, if you got something to say."
The rally crowd yelled back at Harris, "say it to my face!"
Trump's post also came just hours after Fox Business aired a pretaped interview with Trump in which he told host Maria Bartiromo, "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."
Alexandra Marquez
Alexandra Marquez is a politics reporter for NBC News.
Yamiche Alcindor
Yamiche Alcindor is an NBC News Washington correspondent.
Tags
Who is online
571 visitors
He wants to be able to have his brain damaged followers cheer him on.
He most likely doesn't want questions given to the Harris campaign in advance.
The bottom line it is that is a way out for the Harris campaign, which really doesn't want candidate Harris to answer any questions.
It is far more likely that Fox would give Trump questions in advance.
I dont know whether Trump is afraid of Harris , he is too narcissistic to be afraid of another human being in a war of words, but his campaign is afraid. Trump is extremely vulnerable to someone with the skills of an experienced prosecutor. Kamala Harris put both Bill Barr and Brett Kavanaugh on their heels in questioning she did of them in the Senate, and can certainly do the same to Trump.
If that is what he thinks then he should have not agreed to the debate in the first place.
Trump backed out because he now has to face Harris.
Fox has never done such a thing, but the left has:
V eteran Democratic operative Donna Brazile finally admitted that she used her former position as a CNN commentator to relay questions ahead of debates to Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primary.
For months, Brazile has avoided confirming that hacked emails from the campaign showed her forwarding the questions, which were asked at separate debates. But in a new essay for Time magazine looking back on the hackings, she said it was true.
Donna Brazile finally admits she shared debate questions with Clinton campaign - Washington Examiner
The debate he agreed to was with BIDEN. Didn't Harris agree to a VP Debate. I'm sure she won't be honoring that.
Trump backed out because he now has to face Harris.
Trump can demand the same thing Biden once demanded: TERMS.
The Harris campaign is protecting her like no candidate has ever been protected. I'm still waiting for her to stop looking into a teleprompter and answer questions on her "policies."
You said it - the former 'president' convicted felon and rapist backed out/refuses to debate Harris' - and he himself said it - "She's a prosecutor - I'm a convicted felon' and I won't debate her' because I'm a chickenshit bully coward
He was right, this time!
Yes, Vic, that is what I have stated repeatedly. So now that he must face Harris, Trump backs out.
I dont think there is going to be any debate. Consider the date of the proposed Fox debate, Sep 4. If Harris doesnt go to that Trump will use that as his excuse for not going to the ABC debate six days later.
This is insane. Her "questioning" of Kavanaugh, in particular was memorable for only how incompetent and dishonest it was. She made a big production of insinuating she had evidence of Kavanaugh discussing the Mueller investigation with a law firm. He denied it and she insinuated he perjured himself.
Of course, it turned out she had zero evidence of anything. She just wanted to dirty him up .
Unsurprising that is what some Democrats value in her. She has no problem making up accusations and lying.
You wouldn't mind proving your statement would you? I would love for some evidence that Trump actually said that.
Though she was obviously paraphrasing him, Tessy accurately summed up the sentiment of Trump's lameass excuses...
You can't back out of something you never agreed to. Spin it as you will but the fact is no one ever agreed to debate Harris other than Vance. If Trump wants different terms that is up to him.
It is like if you agreed to buy a corvette and when you got to the dealer to pick it up they told you that they don't have a corvette but since you agreed to but a car you must buy the Malibu they have on the lot.
I might accept that except she put in the words
so I would love for her to actually provide some proof that he said those exact words. She has a history here of tossing stuff out without any evidence to back it up. Paraphrasing someone doesn't usually include the words 'he himself said it'.
But as she liked your posting and even replied to it with a heart, I suspect she has no intention or ability to provide any proof.
So what exactly did he say that would make the paraphrasing accurate?
Proof or just made up
Fox News CEO Roger Ailes tipped off Trump about a 2016 debate question, report claims — the same thing he attacked Hillary Clinton and CNN for
Report: Fox News CEO Ailes Tipped Off Trump About 2016 Debate Questions - Business Insider
BULLSHIT. Your New Yorker story says "MAY HAVE" while citing zero evidence.
As a matter of fact they put this right in the story:
A Fox News spokeswoman directed Business Insider to a denial of the allegations it issued to the New Yorker, and to on-the-record comments by Kelly, where she said that Ailes "did not oversee" her preparation for the debate, and that she and others "wrote our own questions."
Is this the kind of stuff you read?
Only in the world of Sergey Kirov.
and you believe Fox News ?
A bizarre comment.
and you believe The New Yorker even after they say he may have?
Hey jbb - at one of his rallies - he did say exactly that - 'She's a prosecutor, I'm a convicted felon' - 'That's their campaign - I don't think people are going to buy it'
Kamala Harris
'I approve this message'
Then all you have to do is prove it. Otherwise it's just something you pulled out of thin air.
Nope, it is far more likely that Fox would give Trump the answers in advance.
This is likely to not wind up being a good look for tough guy Trump.
Sep 10 was already set. If he wanted a Fox News debate it should have been in October. Obviously they are not going to have two debates six days apart so there will probably end up being none.
And the Harris campaign is free to rail on Trump for obviously being intimidated by Harris.
Nope...Trump agreed to two debates with Biden, agreeing to Biden's terms and conditions.
This time around Trump should set the conditions and network for any debates with Harris.
If she chickens out and is afraid to be moderated by Bret Baier and Martha McCallum and have to answer some tough questions it would amount to a sign of weakness on her part. Trump seems to relish going into hostile surroundings.
There is no getting around the fact that the ABC debate was scheduled and Trump backed out simply because he must now face Harris instead of Biden.
Clearly he is intimidated by Harris.
And he should be.
Once again, he agreed to a debate with Biden,on Biden's terms. Now that Biden is gone, don't you think it's only fair the next debate should be on Trumps terms? And if not, why not? What is she afraid of?
I can assure no one is intimidated by Harris. She is even less of a threat the beating Trump than Biden was.
The ABC debate was scheduled to be against Biden. Biden is no longer the candidate. Trump accepted the terms of the two debates with Biden.
He should be able to lay down the terms of at least one of his debates, no matter who it is against…….and will beat anyway.
Repeating yourself does not change the likelihood that Trump is using this as an excuse because he is intimidated by her.
You have no means to assure anyone about what Trump is thinking. You can opine as I have, but you have no special knowledge of Trump's mind.
We can analyze the circumstances. The circumstances are that a debate was scheduled and Trump backed out simply because his opponent is now Harris. He was fine with the venue when it was Biden but now that it is Harris there is a problem.
The only change was Harris instead of Biden. The logical conclusion is that Trump is intimidated and wants the protection of a safe space (Fox).
I can ASSURE you that my remarks are sound as posted.
We as a country have seen the trainwreck that is Kamala Harris and for some reason, 35 percent of the country still like her. I guess some enjoy punishment of an idiotic administration.
I can also ASSURE you that Trump does not look at Fox as a safe space, no matter how you want to spin it. He has criticized Fox nearly as much as the left leaning channels.
Do you think Harris will not agree to moving to Fox because she looks at ABC as a safe space for her? Hint……it is.
After all, the original proposal was Trump/Biden, not Trump/Harris. Different candidate, different circumstances.
Right, if Trump were intimidated he wouldn't even offer a debate.
Fuck Democrats for thinking they always get to set the rules.
Trump has every right to set the conditions for the debate just like Biden did.
Interesting 'logic' you offer. A more sound analysis is:
Trump is very likely intimidated by Harris.
Yup, Vic said so himself - the former 'president' convicted felon - backed out/refuses to debate Harris because he's a chickenshit bully coward
He's scared shitless by intelligent and decent and competent WOMEN, especially Kamala Harris.
Some are so cocksure aren't they?
Listen to them make the excuses for the wussy.
An honorable and decent man would debate Harris.
What debate with harris did he back out of. In the real world biden backed out of a debate with Trump by quitting
Now that is textbook spin.
Nope.
It is factually correct
Why would he need to re-set the conditions? The time was all cleared up on his calendar. He has more than enough time to prepare.
He was willing to go after Biden “anytime, anywhere, anyplace”, why this reluctance to meet another challenger? Hmmmm?
Trumps ego will not allow him to think anyone is better than him at anything. The thought he is intimidated by Harris is laughable.
"What is she afraid of?"
Five letters, T R U M P./s
That's hilarious!
The venue was perfectly acceptable to Trump and the only change now is Harris instead of Biden. And you pretend that Trump is not backing out because he must now face Harris??
How is proposing to move the date forward backing out?
Nevermind, it occurs to me to me, that she might need an extensive prep as well....
The venue was negotiated and scheduled. Refusing to debate Harris on that date per the scheduled venue is backing out.
Your comment pretends that all Trump did was request a schedule change. That is flat out false; pure spin.
Sure, if you say so....
Fixed it for you.
Yeah that's pretty much what he did. And Kamala said no......
Anything keeping Biden from honoring his debate agreement?
Then you have entirely missed that fact that Trump wants to change the rules, change the host, and change the location; not just a change of date.
The debate was agreed to was with Biden, you seem to keep ignoring that fact. I am sure Trump would have stayed with that commitment. Oh yea, Biden backed out of it.
I understand Trump is willing to debate her. I also think if Bret Baier were the moderator it would be a fair debate. Why would Kamala have an issue with that?
I am not ignoring that the debate was with Biden. I have emphasized that I think the reason Trump backed out is because he must now face Harris instead of Biden.
The presidential debate was scheduled, all the terms agreed to. The only difference is Harris.
Trump backed out because he is intimidated by Harris.
Obviously.
But Trump supporters will attempt to defend Trump no matter how feeble their 'argument'.
****************************************
*****************************************
Pretty big difference.
You can't back out of something you never agreed to.
I understand Trump is willing to debate her so the theory of him "backing out" because he is intimidated by Harris is bullshit on two fronts. I also think if Bret Baier were the moderator it would be a fair debate. Why would Kamala have an issue with that?.
Obviously
The key to understanding all this is the date that was picked for a Fox News debate, Sep 4. It is too close to the Sep 10 date to have both of them, and it is also BEFORE the ABC debate, which means that unless Harris goes to Fox Trump will use that as a reason not to go to the ABC debate. It looks like no debate at all.
There has been no debate agreed to between Trump and Harris. The key to understand this is the simple fact Biden and Harris are two different people and not interchangeable.
Harris is perfectly capable of saying yes to a fox debate, especially since no other agreement between the two currently exists.
Your pathetic excuses are only going to appeal to Trump supporters. So what do you expect to accomplish with this nonsense?
The optics are that Trump backed out of a planned debate because he is now facing Harris rather than Biden. He is intimidated by Harris. No amount of excuses will change that.
Weasels gotta weasel and Trump is the weaseliest weasel...
What happened to any time, any where, any place,....? or does that only ascribe to when he wants to meet women and grab em, buy the short hairs....?
Hell, with all the adjetated adverbial adjectives, N a few anti pro nouns as well as improper ones as well, Why can't he just debate her with half his intelligence tied behind his back cause accordingly to Trump she is dumber than a talking rock star shooting craps and not nhittin shit, cause as usual, ole Trumppy's bit off more than he can spit in the face of reason without one to imagine his image appearing on the opposite side of the refractive convextrapolating cave, where he doust dwell, when home away from Hell' make a good swell guy, tioll the swelling and he go down like Jared on a foot long with Ivanka letting Trump take it up the rear, admirably....
Can't refute my post so throw around accusations and an opinion that only trump haters will agree with but not based on any facts. Yea, that sounds about right.
No matter how many times I refute your ridiculous excuse, you will pretend otherwise.
Trump backed out of a debate merely because Harris has replaced Biden. He is obviously intimidated. Your feeble excuses will not change that.
No matter how many times you ignore or deflect from my comments and repeat your opinion it will not make your opinion a fact.
If trump were so intimidated why offer a debate on fox? Why won't kamala agree to it?
He should have kept the ABC one and promoted the idea of one on FOX, that way he would have been in the stronger position. But by backing out of the debate that was already on his schedule he gave the Harris campaign cover for saying it is because he is frightened. That was a mistake on Trumps part and was made because he is used to playing from the position of power. The dynamic has shifted and he does not hold all the power anymore. I think that if Trump continues on the current path of racial slurs he will start to see his pole numbers slump and within weeks.
C'mon, Trumpy! Let fly with the DEI!
Yes, another stupid move by Trump.
As his chances for election dim, he and his supporters are unraveling.
Your opinion is received....but rejected as false
No, it's not a good look and it's incredibly stupid of Trump to try to back out of the ABC debate. To me it doesn't matter that the Dem's changed the lead of the ticket. Hell, after the first debate they needed to. Trump needs to debate Harris. IMO Harris has a weakness in unprepared events and I think Trump sticking to the agreed to debate schedule would show a strength in him that is needed for his campaign.
In fact if I were in charge I would try to get two changes made. First I would add another debate to the schedule, perhaps in late August, so they can have two debates in before any early voting starts in late September. Secondly I would try to get shock collars attached to both participants so that when anybody doesn't answer a question but goes off onto something else they could be shocked and given a second chance to answer the question. While Trump abused this more than Biden, there were instances by both of them to not answer the asked question but deflect to something else. The American people deserve answers and if asking nicely doesn't work then hit the damn shock button again. I'm willing to bet this would increase the viewership and probably also be a fun drinking game. Win-win-win!!!
I dont think that matters so much. People who are going to vote in September already know who they want.
I think it would be fair to have two, with one of them on Fox. The Fox can go in October.
A second one could be on FOX or any other major channel, I'm not tied to any specific brand. But I think both should be done before any early voting starts as there are still the undecided to be swayed. And seeing them go head to head (provided they actually answer questions and not deflect to their favorite talking points) could be a real help here. You are correct in the people who are going to vote for one or the other have already decided and there's almost nothing that could end that. But there are still undecided and from polling this is a very tight race that will be decided by a handful of "battleground" states.
I think you greatly underestimate Harris.
No, I don't think so. Harris has a record of not fully reading and preparing for public events and blaming staff afterwords for her failures. She has a track record of unscripted events. She's also having to condense the months that campaigns take to get up and running into just a few weeks. Hell, vice-president considerations and vetting normally take months, she's been at the top of the ticket for all of two weeks. Things are being pushed faster and that's when mistakes happen. If anything I think you are overestimating Harris.
The undecided will probably still be there in October.
You are underestimating Kamala Harris, who has changed for the better since 2020. Donald Trump doesnt scare her.
"I think you greatly underestimate Harris"
We know she has done well in life thanks to her privileged upbringing.
But the nation only knows her by her words and actions and ineffectual record as VP.
Is the country ready to elect an extreme socialist as its president?
Seriously? You do realize that Trump (golden spoon in mouth) is her opponent. Talk about ignoring reality.
An "extreme socialist". You actually wrote that. Where has she called for the abolishment of capitalism?
Just like you greatly overestimate her.
She isn't going to get to debate Biden- the only person she has ever been able to tag in a debate.
In 2020 she was done in the Democrat primaries before the Iowa caucus.
Now Democrats are trying to pass her off as the female version of Obama.
Unfortunately Harris has a well documented record of failure as border Czar; and being a hyena whenever in a moderately stressful situation is presented.
Remember when Democrats were talking about replacing Harris on the bottom of the ticket should Biden choose to run again? The internet is wonderful thing.
But yeah, Harris is great./S
A predictable partisan response: D=bad R=good. A comment history of emotive overly negative rhetoric against Ds couple with endless defense of Trump.
Not really. Show me any evidence that she's changed for the better. There are way too many stories about how badly she's prepared for events by her own staff in the White House. She's not really done any better in unscripted events as the VP and we've not seen any unscripted events for her campaign. Every campaign even we've seen have been speeches delivered from teleprompters.
Why do you think she is the same politician she was 4 years ago? These people get better at it the longer they are on the national stage.
Doesn't the former 'president' convicted felon and rapist use teleprompters?
IMO she hasn't shown improvement. Any 'changes' we've see in her since getting to the top of the ticket have come from the campaign and/or compliant friendly media in changing her position on hot-topic issues and hiding her past. But I've not seen any changes from her directly.
Just being in a position for a length of time is no guarantee they get better at the job. I'm confident you've seen that in your life as well.
Sure he does and this is a point for Harris, she doesn't believe she's the smartest person in the room and go ad-lib during speeches (ala Trump). Doesn't mean she's shown me anything to get me to change my mind and vote for her.
Nice idea. And then you could set up a condition that in future debates this would be a requirement. Kind of a political stress test. Hazing of politicians. I imagine there would be legal ramifications, though.
'incredibly stupid of'
SSDD
Yeah, because that's all that matters - that's she's not great at ad libbing.
'campaign and/or compliant friendly media'
Yeah, right
No offense, but try telling that to people where I live down on the border who feel like they have been thrown under the bus repeatedly by Biden/Harris.
She's only gotten worse, now that she is presumptive candidate.
Admit it, she's peaked and has nowhere to go but down.
Well, it certainly would be a great indicator of at least some intelligence....
WTF? Way to completely miss the point of my comment. I said she doesn't do the ad libbing like Trump does. How in the hell can you take that as a dig when it's a fucking complement for Harris.
And trmp didn't have a privileged upbringing?
Trump is trying to pull a power play and appear domininant when in reality he doesn't want to face her in a debate. He knows she is much smarter than he is.
Smart? There's no contest.
The former 'president' is a fucking moron
PWAUK PWAUK PWAUK PWAUK...
In certain lesser elections in America the voters have voted in dogs and a goat into governing positions. It's true, google it and you'll see. Now Trump is giving the public the opportunity to vote in a chicken to be PotUS. The whole world is watching with wonder and anticipation for America to elect a chicken who is scared to debate a woman. HE HAD AGREED WITH ABC'S MODERATING, WHICH MEANS HE ALREADY ADMITTED THAT IT WAS FAIR. I once learned the expression "Fight or Flight" and now I've seen it come to life. The whole world is going to laugh at him, and do Americans really want their nation to be the laughing stock of the world?
I remember when Dubbya inexplicably canceled a Nuclear Arms Treaty with Russia because the Treaty had been signed with and maintained by the Soviet Union which technically no longer existed, except for Russia.
Legally sound, politically stupid.
In 2019 Trump withdrew from the 1987 INF Treaty saying that Russia was not abiding by it or would not allow oversight.
In 2023 Putin pulled out of the last nuclear arms treaty by "suspending it" because Gorbachev had signed it on behalf of the Soviet Union which "technically" no longer existed yet ( but it will
)
In 2024 the WH asked for news organizations to host two debates and "awarded" the debates to the first two responders.
Seems like since Trump agreed somehow and he would be in breach of that agreement now but instead wants to run a different environment that Trump thinks will be more favorable.
ABC certainly still wants the debate they won.
Maybe Harris can sit in the ABC studios or where ever and debate Trump by ZOOM while he hides at the Fox studios.
Of course Harris is scared shitless.
She would be cackling like a hyena at the first serious question posed.
Which is the reason Democrats are insistent on ABC.
Both moderators will spend their time attacking Trump and ignoring Harris.
Other than be a politician and work for the government what has she done?
Made a cop killer in CA very happy by not pressing for the death penalty.
Feel free to read the article further- as Harris then flip flopped on the death penalty because of political expediency in appealing another case.
This is who Democrats want to lead our country. Our enemies can hardly wait.
Other than graduating college and law school and being an Assistant District Attorney, District Attorney of San Francisco, Attorney General of California, United States Senator from California and Vice President of the United States of America Harris's career was unremarkable...
/S
So, be a politician and government employee is it?
No non-government experience?
Nothing the real world?
What experience in government did Trump have before 2016?
So what do you consider the 'real world'?
Citizens who work and pay taxes to support the government and it's employees
What government experience did he need?
Real world experience is better than government time in grade and political positions
Especially to be in the Oval Office. That position requires the experience and ability to manage a great many groups without attempting to micromanage. People can bitch all they want, but Trump had that experience in spades.
Oh please - he is/was a lifelong cheat, thug, grifter, thief
Real world experience
Unreal - you hold him to no standards whatsoever. What a shock.
Just because she allegedly doesn't have 'real world' experience
doesn't mean she's not qualified/cannot do the job.
" lifelong cheat, thug, grifter, thief"
The qualities of most lifelong politicians
So, you insist that additional experience is needed for Vice President Harris, yet gave your guy a complete pass as the most inexperienced person at the business of government to ever become President?
That is so rich...
Not to the level of Trump. Trump stand out as an anomaly even among cheat, thug, grifter and thief politicians.
Don't forget, a 34 time convicted felon awaiting sentencing...
I have experienced Trump as President, He did more that I liked than what I did not like
He's a traitor. People who can accept a traitor as president of the United States should vote for him. I cant.
Traitors are those who do not protect the border from foreigners. I can't accept or vote for them.
Once Biden backed out of the Presidential Debate commision debates, Trump let Biden dictate all the terms of the proposed debates between two, even allowing him to select liberal networks. That was an agreement between the two of them, it was not the traditional Presidential debate commision planned and scheduled debates between the nominees (which Biden refused to participate in).
It's a new situation. Since Democrats no longer want the PDC to act an independent arbiter, it's up to Trump and Harris to work out debates on their own.
But I do believe that they need to debate. In fact I would love to see two debates before any early voting starts. Personally I think Trump should show up to the ABC debate as Harris has stated thru her campaign that she will be there regardless of Trump showing up. And they can have a second debate with another network like Fox. But the public deserves to see the two of them together. Just speeches at rally's are not sufficient to give the public what they need to make a rational choice. All we have right now are voters on both sides who are voting against a party rather than voting for the best candidate for the country.
I agree. And that's where the Presidential Debates Commission served a purpose as acting as an arbiter. But once Biden killed that, there's no real outside force who can moderate and find terms they both can agree to. It's just Harris wanting to set all the terms and Trump doing likewise.
I hope that Harris will show up at the ABC debate even if Trump is a no show. She can answer all the moderators' questions, use the occasion to promote herself, and make it BLATENLY OBVIOUS to all Americans and the rest of the world that Trump did not have the guts to face a woman.