GOP nominee Donald Trump is already chomping at the bit for the next presidential debate, even though he doesn’t officially know who his opponent will be just yet.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden announced he would be dropping out of the race. And while his vice president, Kamala Harris, is presumed to be the person who will take his place atop the Democratic Party ticket, that’s hardly a sure thing at this point.
With the change in political opponent, Trump said over the weekend that he believes the network that hosts the next presidential debate should change.
As he posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday:
“My debate with Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the history of the United States, was slated to be broadcast on Fake News ABC, the home of George Slopadopolus, sometime in September. Now that Joe has, not surprisingly, quit the race, I think the Debate, with whomever the Radical Left Democrats choose, should be held on Fox News, rather than very biased ABC. Thank you!”
Biden’s withdrawal from the race had been anticipated for a few weeks now, ever since he had a disastrous performance in the first presidential debate against Trump. Many leaders in his party were pushing for him to drop out, but he held on initially, refusing to step down.
It wasn’t until Sunday that Biden finally caved to their wishes. After making the announcement that he would step aside, he also gave his full and official endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement.
As he said in a statement:
“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.”
The first presidential debate was hosted by CNN at its studios in Atlanta. There was not a live studio audience present for that debate.
The second debate was initially scheduled to be moderated by ABC News on September 10. Now that Biden is no longer in the race, though, Trump wants the schedule for debates to be modified.
Trump had already signed up to participate in two debates on Fox News during this election cycle. A presidential debate is scheduled for October 2, while a debate between the vice presidents was agreed to, although no formal date has been announced.
In the moments following Biden’s announcement, Trump immediately went on the offensive against Democrats and Harris.
Speaking with CNN, he said Harris would be easier to defeat at the polls than Biden would.
Then, he posted on Truth Social that his campaign was “forced to spend time and money on fighting Crooked Joe Biden” before the president dropped out.
He continued:
“Shouldn’t the Republican Party be reimbursed for fraud in that everybody around Joe, including his doctors and the Fake News Media, knew he was not capable of running for, or being, President? Just askin’?”
