Donald Trump suggested he might back out of a scheduled Sept. 10 debate with Kamala Harris, and the Washington Post's David Ignatius believes the former president is afraid of appearing alongside her onstage.
The former president has been knocked off balance since Harris took over as Democratic nominee from President Joe Biden after his disastrous showing in a June debate against Trump, Ignatius said. And he told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that the upcoming debate on ABC News is in real jeopardy.
"I think what we've seen in the days before the convention and certainly after is that Trump just doesn't know how to deal with Kamala Harris," Ignatius said. "He doesn't know how to pigeonhole her. His usual language of belittlement, and derision isn't working.
"There is in the country this sense, I think, relief from an election people were dreading between two candidates who have run before, an acrimonious, nasty convention, sense of the country locked with these two older Americans. Suddenly, there was a convention that really was a joyous event and, that said, we've turned a page."
The Republican nominee claimed Sunday on his Truth Social website that ABC News was too biased against him to consider taking the stage with Harris, and Ignatius said that betrays Trump's concerns about the contrast he would strike against the vice president.
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"Trump can't figure out how to turn his own page, I think, as he plans for the debate," Ignatius said. "He has to appreciate she is charismatic and charming on television in a way he fancies that he is.
"The camera loves Kamala Harris. She's learned in the cadence of her speeches, the way she presents herself, to be a formidable TV presence. Donald Trump knows TV. He's smart enough to know he's got a problem here, he needs to figure it out."
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