Vice President Kamala Harris led the crowd at her packed rally Tuesday night in Atlanta in jeering former President Donald Trump for reneging on his promise to debate in September.
"So, the momentum in this race is shifting," said Harris. "And there are signs that Donald Trump is feeling it. You may have noticed. So last week, you may have seen he pulled out of the debate in September he had previously agreed to." The crowd booed.
"So here's the thing," she said. "Here's the funny thing about that. So he won't debate, but he and his running mate sure seem to have a lot to say about me. And by the way, don't you find some of their stuff to just be plain weird? Well, 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, say it to my face."
The crowd erupted into a lengthy applause and cheers as Harris finished her sentence.
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Trump originally agreed to two debates with President Joe Biden, the first taking place in June. That debate was broadly considered a disaster for Biden, whose low-energy and inconsistent performance led to a flurry of fears amid members of his own party that he lacked the fitness to run another full campaign — which ultimately led to Biden withdrawing from the race and endorsing Harris to replace him as nominee.
After Harris became the presumptive nominee, however, the Trump campaign backed out of his agreement to participate in the originally scheduled debate in September, claiming that they will debate the Democratic nominee but that it is "inappropriate" to honor the original commitment while they could still theoretically change their mind about nominating Harris.
Harris, for her part, has vowed she will attend the debate whether or not Trump does, raising the possibility she could debate his empty podium, a stunt that then-Senate candidate Jon Ossoff deployed to great effect in 2020 when Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) declined to show up for a debate.
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