Former US president Donald Trump on Thursday recommitted to debating US Vice President Kamala Harris after recently backing out, holding a lengthy news conference in which he taunted his new rival, boasted of his crowd on Jan. 6, 2021, and lashed out at questions about the enthusiasm her campaign has been generating.
As the Republican presidential nominee addressed reporters at his Palm Beach, Florida, estate, ABC announced that Trump and Harris, the Democratic presumptive nominee, have agreed to a Sept. 10 debate, setting up a widely anticipated face-off in an already unparalleled election.
Trump said he had proposed three debates with three television networks next month.
Photo: AP
Trump again wrongly insisted there had been a “peaceful transfer” of power in 2021 and renewed attacks on Republicans like Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, whom Trump has harshly criticized since Kemp refused to go along with his false theories of election fraud.
In taking questions from reporters for more than an hour, Trump tried to draw a contrast with Harris, who has not held a news conference since US President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race.
Trump’s decision to go on ABC sets up a high-stakes moment in an election where Biden’s catastrophic performance in the last debate set in motion his withdrawal.
Just five days earlier, he had said he would not debate on ABC and said his agreement with the network had been “terminated.” He wrote on his social media site that if Harris would not appear on Fox News on Sept. 4 instead, “I won’t see her at all.”
On Thursday, he announced a change of heart — and tried to pressure Harris to agree to two more debates next month on Fox and on NBC.
Asked what he would do if a Harris only agrees to the ABC debate, he said: “I don’t know how that’s gonna work out. We’d like to do three debates. We think we should do three debates.”
A few hours after the news conference, Harris told reporters she was “glad he has finally committed” to debate her on ABC on Sept. 10, the date that had originally been set for a Biden face-off against Trump and which her campaign has long stuck to.
“I’m looking forward to it and hope he shows up,” she said.
Thursday’s event was Trump’s first public appearance since Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Trump called Walz a “radical left man.”
“Between her and him, there’s never been anything like this,” Trump said. “There’s certainly never been anybody so liberal like these two.”
He repeatedly suggested Harris was not intelligent enough to debate him. Harris, for her part, has tried to goad Trump into debating and recently told an audience in Atlanta, Georgia, that if he had anything to say about her, he should “ say it to my face.”
Trump grew visibly perturbed when pressed on Harris’ crowds and newfound Democratic enthusiasm, dismissing a question about his lighter campaign schedule as “stupid.”
When asked what assets Harris possessed, Trump said: “She’s a woman. She represents certain groups of people.”
Trump has repeatedly — and falsely — accused Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, of previously downplaying that she is black.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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