Berliner Abendpost - Trump offers three September debates against surging Harris

NYSE - LSE

CMSC	0.29%	22.085	$
JRI	-0.15%	13.01	$
BCC	5.02%	76.06	$
NGG	0.33%	82.59	$
CMSD	0.31%	22.38	$
AZN	-4.01%	171.61	$
BTI	-0.03%	60.02	$
BCE	0.28%	21.38	$
RIO	1.16%	90.54	$
RBGPF	0.52%	67.35	$
GSK	0.59%	52.78	$
RELX	1.14%	32.44	$
BP	1.66%	39.2	$
RYCEF	1.95%	19.46	$
VOD	11.14%	14.72	$

Trump offers three September debates against surging Harris

POLITICS 08.08.2024

Trump offers three September debates against surging Harris / Photo: Brendan Smialowski, ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS - AFP/File

Donald Trump proposed three September debates against Kamala Harris Thursday as he sought to wrest back some of the attention lavished on his rival since her blockbuster entry into the US presidential election.

Text size:

Harris has ignited the Democratic ticket in the last 18 days, pulling in record fundraising and obliterating the Republican ex-president's polling lead to open up a much broader path to victory than her party would dare to have hoped for just a month ago.

The country's first female, Black and South Asian vice president heads into her party's national convention in Chicago in mid-August on the back of a series of packed rallies that have won plaudits for a positive message that has reenergized the Democratic base.

Meanwhile Trump -- who addressed journalists at his oceanfront estate in Florida -- has found himself on unfamiliar ground as something of a bystander, eclipsed by Harris's rise as he has scaled back his own campaigning.

"I hope she agrees," Trump told journalists, after he said he had arranged debates with television networks on September 4, 10 and 25.

Trump revived a series of familiar attacks on his opponent -- repeatedly questioning the intelligence of the former state attorney general and US senator, in an event punctuated by falsehoods.

- 'Same policies' -

Trump made untrue claims on all manner of topics around the election and his record in office, from the price of gasoline to his crowd sizes, US military deaths in Afghanistan and the 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol by his supporters.

He assured reporters there would be a peaceful transfer of power after the November 5 vote -- but questioned whether the election would be honest and claimed that the last transfer had been peaceful, despite the deadly Capitol riot.

Trump also rejected a suggestion that he would need to recalibrate his campaign to take account of his new opponent after Harris replaced President Joe Biden on the ticket on July 21.

"It's the same policies, open borders, weak on crime. She is, I think, she's worse than Biden," he said.

The rival campaigns had sparred over Trump backing out of a previously scheduled ABC presidential debate on September 10. The network said Thursday both candidates have now agreed to the face off.

Trump-friendly Fox News would host the first of the three debates while NBC would take the final slot. There was no immediate word those dates from the Harris campaign.

The former president's debate with a dismally performing Biden in June spelled the end of the president's reelection campaign, but Trump had been reluctant to face Harris on neutral territory.

The 78-year-old has been struggling to come up with effective attack lines to define Harris while delivering a series of increasingly confounding nicknames for his opponent.

- 'True strength' -

The news conference was his first public appearance since Harris -- a generation younger than Trump at 59 -- announced running mate Tim Walz and embarked on a tour of closely fought election battlegrounds.

She and Walz appeared Thursday in Michigan ahead of a trip to the racially diverse "Sun Belt" states of Arizona and Nevada for rallies on Friday and Saturday.

"The true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you beat down. It's based on who you lift up," she told a crowd of around 170 supporters in Detroit, at a much smaller event than her recent arena rallies.

Sabato's Crystal Ball, a leading election forecaster, shifted three of its ratings in favor of Democrats on Wednesday, moving Minnesota and New Hampshire from "leans Democratic" to "likely Democratic" and Georgia from "leans Republican" to "toss-up."

Meanwhile Marquette University Law School released a nationwide survey showing that, among likely voters, Harris now leads Trump by six points -- 53 percent to 47 percent.

Despite her intensive campaign schedule, Harris has taken almost no questions from reporters since entering the race and Trump had been seeking to turn her lack of media exposure into an election issue even before Thursday's news conference.

"She hasn't done an interview -- she can't do an interview, she's barely competent... But I look forward to the debates, because I think we have to set the record straight," he said in Florida.

A.Graf--BlnAP

Featured

Iran declares Hormuz strait closed, US military insists traffic flowing

Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was closed on Sunday while the United States insisted it remained open, after the confrontation over the vital waterway again sparked US and Iranian strikes.

Ukraine's Zelensky orders government reshuffle, new PM

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a major reshuffle of the government on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and the heads of some law enforcement agencies.

Iran, US trade more strikes as fighting escalates

Iran said Sunday it was closing the Strait of Hormuz and launched missiles and drones at Gulf neighbours after the US carried out a new round of strikes as their conflict escalated.

Noosha Aubel and Potsdam: The trust placed in her has been squandered

Noosha Aubel: a €33.4 million budget deficit in the state capital Potsdam, around €500,000 spent on external consultancy, revised austerity plans at the expense of children – and a shameful case involving a severely disabled toddler as part of a nursery scandal: Noosha Aubel inherited some of these crises, but the leadership deficit is now entirely her own. A 72.9 per cent share of the vote is not a mark of leadership; it is merely a vote of confidence. Noosha Aubel (50) received an exceptionally high level of this confidence in October 2025 – and has squandered it in a surprisingly short space of time. The hope for a fresh start has given way to bitter disillusionment, which is by no means limited to political opponents. After just 100 days, observers were already finding no clear direction whatsoever; in June 2026, media circles openly reported on unsettled supporters, unilateral actions and a lack of majorities. The yardstick is simple: is Potsdam functioning better? Are the finances in order, decisions properly prepared and the most vulnerable protected? So far, the answer is: no. Potsdam wanted a fresh start. It got a mayor who all too often confuses management jargon with leadership and is unable to get a grip on problems in the state capital. Added to this is a shameful scandal involving a toddler with multiple severe disabilities, for whom Aubel is personally responsible, and which raises questions about morality and decency. It is particularly shameful that media enquiries are not being answered by the head of the press office at Potsdam Town Hall, Jan Brunzlow – even though Noosha Aubel has demonstrably been contacted personally. Instead of answering the questions posed in a transparent and comprehensible manner, Brunzlow, according to the available documents, is pushing for a ‘personal conversation’, thereby apparently attempting to shift the communication into a non-public, informal setting. Should this course of action indeed contravene the applicable obligations to provide information under press law, a fundamental question arises: Is Noosha Aubel fit to hold the office of Lord Mayor of the state capital, Potsdam?