Donald Trump will not take part in another debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, the Republican candidate announced on his Truth Social platform on Thursday.
“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH,’” Trump wrote. “Polls clearly show that I won the Debate against Comrade Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ Radical Left Candidate, on Tuesday night, and she immediately called for a Second Debate.”
“She was a no-show at the Fox Debate, and refused to do NBC & CBS,” he added. “KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD.
“THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”
This comes as the former president is continuing to battle the fallout from the debate, which he was widely believed to have lost after allowing himself to be baited by the Democrat into ranting about Haitian immigrants eating domestic pets and post-birth abortions — which he repeated at a rally in Arizona on Thursday afternoon.
Three major snap polls of viewers conducted in the aftermath of the contest suggest Harris came out comfortably on top by a combined margin of 23 percentage points.
Key Points
- White House hits out at Trump’s ‘eating pets’ slur against Haitians: ‘Our country deserves better’
- Ohio’s GOP governor hits back at Trump and Vance’s ‘crazy’ claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets
- Trump says there will be ‘NO THIRD DEBATE’ in social media rant
- Merrick Garland vows Justice Department won’t be used as a ‘political weapon’ as Trump’s threats fuel harassment
- Marjorie Taylor Greene is ‘denouncing’ Laura Loomer
Watch: ‘She whooped him so badly that he’s afraid to come back'
04:45
Oliver O'Connell
Girdusky: She pretended that she barely knew anything that the Biden administration is doing.
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 13, 2024
Jones: She was too busy whooping your boy all over the stage. She just didn’t beat him. She humiliated him. She whooped him so badly that he’s afraid to come back pic.twitter.com/v7Ml72Yel0
Jones: This is a woman who can deal with any man Putin, Donald Trump, or anybody else. And she established that pic.twitter.com/9Dog2lsM2f
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 13, 2024
Watch: Buttigieg says Trump won’t debate Harris again because he’s embarrassed about losing
04:15
Oliver O'Connell
Trump doesn't want to debate again because he doesn't want to lose again. pic.twitter.com/98c2paFboH
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) September 13, 2024
George W Bush’s attorney general torches Trump as ‘threat to the rule of law’ in op-ed endorsing Harris
04:00
Oliver O'Connell
George W Bush’s attorney general has slammed Donald Trump as “the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation” in a scathing op-ed, adding himself to the growing list of Republicans endorsing Kamala Harris for president.
Alberto R Gonzales, who served as Bush’s White House counsel from 2001 to 2005 when he then became the US attorney general from 2005 to 2007, penned an op-ed in Politico explaining, unabashedly, why he plans to vote for Harris in November following her debate against Trump.
In it, he warned of the dangers he believes Trump poses to the country’s “rule of law,” pointing to the state of the other governmental branches, the former president’s role on January 6 2021, and his ongoing legal woes.
Watch: 9/11 advocate says Trump running to stay out of jail, not capable of solid thought, ‘I don’t like him'
03:51
Oliver O'Connell
Feal: Donald Trump's not running for president. He's running to stay out of jail. I don't care what anybody says. The man is not capable of a solid thought. I don't like him. I don't think he cares about the American people. pic.twitter.com/PDWP1SBjlx
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 13, 2024
Roy Cohn: Ruthless McCarthy lieutenant-turned-Trump mentor so universally loathed he was ‘a new strain of sonofab****’
03:45
Sheila Flynn
He was a lawyer with a two-syllable name, a colourfully complicated personal life and a Rasputin-like grip on United States politics – especially in New York.
The very mention of Roy Cohn during his four decades of headline ubiquity could spark anything from anger to hatred to fear; his shadowy legend persists nearly 40 years after the death of a man dubbed a “new strain of sonofabitch” – by his own autobiography co-author, no less.
Now those that missed Cohn’s infamous antics the first time around will meet him in a new film, The Apprentice, by director Ali Abbasi, which will be released in theaters in October. Pop culture darling Jeremy Strong from Succession stars as Cohn, the Joseph McCarthy lieutenant who created the blueprint that Donald Trump followed all the way to the presidency.
Watch: Walz gives his assessment of Trump-Harris presidential debate performance
03:27
Oliver O'Connell
While Donald Trump spent nearly every minute of the debate whining about himself and his problems, @KamalaHarris did what she always does – she talked about you. pic.twitter.com/1C3eq34DNL
— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) September 13, 2024
Hakeem Jeffries slams Trump for bringing Laura Loomer to 9/11 ceremony
03:00
Gustaf Kilander
Hakeem Jeffries rips Donald Trump for bringing Laura Loomer, who called 9/11 an “inside job,” to the remembrance ceremony Tuesday:
— The Recount (@therecount) September 12, 2024
"It was shocking. and irresponsible. and offensive to the thousands of people who lost their lives on September 11." pic.twitter.com/CFc5gF0vqf
Watch: Lincoln Project releases new post-debate ad eviscerating Trump over debate performance
02:30
Oliver O'Connell
Trump claims he's open to taking a cognitive test in the future, not knowing he just had one in front of the nation on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/dHKuvs2oI5
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 13, 2024
Jimmy Kimmel ridicules Trump over reaction to Taylor Swift’s Harris endorsement
02:15
Inga Parkel
Jimmy Kimmel took aim at Donald Trump and JD Vance over their reactions to Taylor Swift’s public endorsement of Kamala Harris following Tuesday’s (September 10) fiery presidential debate.
During Wednesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the late-night host celebrated Swift’s surprise Instagram post announcing that she would be voting for Harris in November.
“She signed it with a shot at JD Vance: ‘With love and hope, Taylor Swift Childless Cat Lady’,” Kimmel shared, quipping: “Good work JD, you really screwed the sofa bed with this one.”
Hank Azaria responds to Trump’s Springfield pet eating claims as Chief Wiggum from The Simpsons
01:55
Oliver O'Connell
Hank Azaria, who voices Police Chief Clancy Wiggum in The Simpsons, has responded in character to Donald Trump’s wildly false claim that people are eating pets in a town called Springfield.
The former President made the bizarre statement during his first presidential debate with Kamala Harris on Tuesday.
Kevin E G Perry reports.
Grieving father tells Trump and Vance to stop using son’s death ‘for political gain'
01:30
Gustaf Kilander
In Springfield, Ohio, a grieving father of an 11-year-old urges Trump and Vance to apologize after they "used his death for political gain" to attack immigrants:
— The Recount (@therecount) September 12, 2024
"I will listen to them one more time to hear their apologies." pic.twitter.com/DgBOslNVF8
Trump’s Chicago hotel ruled public nuisance after thousands of fish die
01:22
Oliver O'Connell
A federal judge has ruled that Trump Tower in Chicago, Illinois is a public nuisance and an environmental hazard.
Last year, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and environmental activists asked the Cook County Circuit Court to rule on their case against the Trump International Hotel and Tower in downtown Chicago, arguing its operators had failed to comply with environmental laws.
Now, a judge has ruled that Trump Tower is a public nuisance and that its cooling water intake system has killed thousands of fish from the Chicago River, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Maybe he’ll blame Haitian migrants?
Katie Hawkinson has the story.
Trump yet again repeats false claims states are murdering babies
01:05
Oliver O'Connell
Speaking in Arizona on Thursday afternoon, Donald Trump yet again doubled or tripled down on false claims that mothers are murdering babies after they are born in some states.
The former president made the remark even after being humiliatingly fact-checked during Tuesday’s presidential debate about the very topic in front of an audience of more than 67 million people.
Continue reading...
GOP strategist refuses to give straight answer about Trump’s ‘racist’ comments about migrants in testy CNN segment
Friday 13 September 2024 00:45
Katie Hawkinson
A conservative political analyst sparked a heated conversation on CNN after refusing to give a straight answer about Donald Trump’s debunked conspiracy theory targeting Haitian migrants.
The exchange happened during a CNN panel on Wednesday, during which participants discussed the debunked right-wing claim that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating pet cats and dogs. The unfounded claim, which Trump and his running mate JD Vance have amplified, appears to have originated from a post describing a fourth-hand account on a Springfield Facebook group.
There is no evidence to support the theory and city officials have rejected the claim.
Things became heated when political commentator Ana Navarro asked Scott Jennings, a conservative political analyst, his thoughts on the theory.
Marianne Williamson is back...
Friday 13 September 2024 00:30
Oliver O'Connell
Marianne Williamson has denied backing Donald Trump’s claim that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are eating people’s pets, after saying the unverified reports should not be dismissed out of hand and that “voodoo is real.”
Katie Hawkinson reports.
Friday 13 September 2024 00:20
Oliver O'Connell
In less than 24 hours, Taylor Swift drives 400,000 people to voter registration site
Friday 13 September 2024 00:10
Oliver O'Connell
Taylor Swift’s Instagram call for voter registration drove more than 400,000 visitors to the vote.gov website in under 24 hours.
The pop superstar, 34, posted a custom URL to her Instagram Stories shortly after endorsing Kamala Harris in November’s upcoming Presidential election.
In a statement to Variety the General Services Administration, which runs the vote.gov site, said they received 405,999 visitors referred directly from the link the singer posted.
In the week prior, the site had averaged around 30,000 visitors per day.
Kevin E G Perry reports.
Trump merch team undeterred by the Taylor Swift snub
Friday 13 September 2024 00:00
Gustaf Kilander
Taylor Swift may have endorsed Kamala Harris for president but the Trump merch team seems happy to use her aesthetic nonetheless.
NEW MERCH
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) September 12, 2024
Calling all Swifties for Trump
Get your Trump Era shirt today https://t.co/HkA7LwHhIC pic.twitter.com/gqqITeCOFb
Watch: Trump wonders where ‘illegal Haitian migrants’ come from
Thursday 12 September 2024 23:55
Oliver O'Connell
Probably Haiti? They’re also here legally.
Oh my god.
— Spiro’s Ghost (@AntiToxicPeople) September 12, 2024
1) He repeats the racist lie/attack again that has caused bomb threats and other threats towards Haitans in Springfield. The city has invited them there since 2014.
2) They are from Haiti but nobody knows where they come from?! #DementiaJTrump https://t.co/cNa1TTbJxq
Trump says Harris’s crowds are ‘zero’ — do our eyes deceive us?
Thursday 12 September 2024 23:48
Oliver O'Connell
.@Victorshi2020 just post this pic of the “zero crowds” at MVP Harris’ rally TODAY, in North Carolina. #TrumpLies https://t.co/rp9RZk1TgD pic.twitter.com/FUaRURVXyU
— JerriLynn (@Jerri_Lynn25) September 12, 2024
Georgia judge throws out two more criminal charges against Trump in Fulton County case
Thursday 12 September 2024 23:45
Oliver O'Connell
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s election interference case in Georgia has dropped two more of the charges against him.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has once again slightly narrowed the scope of a sweeping indictment against the former president and more than a dozen of his allies, who are accused of joining a criminal enterprise to overturn his election loss in 2020 through a pressure campaign mounted against state officials and election workers.
Judge McAfee had dismissed three other counts against the former president earlier this year.
Alex Woodward has been following the case from the outset for The Independent.
Watch: Trump says ‘no third debate'
Thursday 12 September 2024 23:35
Oliver O'Connell
Trump: Because we've done two debates and they were successful, there will be no third debate. pic.twitter.com/Grh8wTo9kw
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 12, 2024
Germany taunts Trump in scathing fact-check of his energy claims during debate: ‘We also don’t eat cats and dogs’
Thursday 12 September 2024 23:30
Ariana Baio
Fact-checking Donald Trump during the presidential debate did not end with the moderators. On Wednesday, the German Foreign Office posted on X mocking the former president while clarifying a statement he made about energy in Germany.
On Tuesday evening, Trump criticized Harris’s clean energy approaches like reducing fracking and fossil fuel emissions. He claimed those policies do not work and cited Germany as an example.
“You believe in things like we’re not going to frack, we’re not going to take fossil fuel, we’re not going to do things that are going to make this country strong whether you like it or not,” Trump said.
“Germany tried that and within one year they were back to building normal energy plants. We’re not ready for it. We can’t sacrifice our country for the sake of bad vision,” Trump added.
Watch: Trump mixes up whose brother endorsed him
Thursday 12 September 2024 23:25
Oliver O'Connell
Huh?
[It was vice presidential nominee Tim Walz’s brother]
Trump: But I was very happy because I got the endorsement of the Vice President's family. And I got the endorsement of the Vice President's brother. Barack Hussein Obama’s brother endorsed me pic.twitter.com/vkPiRbr3qF
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 12, 2024
Trump, RNC go after Michigan and Nevada over ‘election integrity’
Thursday 12 September 2024 23:15
Oliver O'Connell
Republicans are not giving up their push to change local election laws and procedures after Donald Trump’s 2020 defeat to Joe Biden.
On Tuesday, the RNC unveiled two lawsuits targeting Democratic secretaries of state in Nevada and Michigan. Both lawsuits seek to alter local election procedures.
John Bowden has the details.
Marjorie Taylor Greene slams Trump pal Laura Loomer for ‘extremely racist’ post about Kamala Harris
Thursday 12 September 2024 23:00
Josh Marcus
MAGA stalwart Marjorie Taylor Greene called out far-right agitator Laura Loomer on Wednesday, accusing the failed congressional candidate of racism and misrepresenting the Republican party for a post about Kamala Harris featuring racist stereotypes about South Asians.
On September 8, in response to a post from Harris featuring photos from a childhood visit to India, Loomer, a self-proclaimed “proud Islamophobe” who was once kicked off Twitter for anti-Muslim remarks, claimed: “If @KamalaHarris wins, the White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center and the American people will only be able to convey their feedback through a customer satisfaction survey at the end of the call that nobody will understand.”
Fact check: US presidential debate
Thursday 12 September 2024 22:30
Full Fact
Over the last week, Full Fact and much of the rest of the world have been looking at what is happening in US politics.
In advance of the first live head-to-head debate between Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump, we took a look at the misinformation circulating online.
There was the false claim that California did not assign any delegates to Ms Harris at the Democratic National Convention (actually it assigned 482); the claim that US fact checkers had found she lied 113 times in her convention speech (this was false, the fact check in question analysed only five claims); and claims that Ms Harris is not eligible to be president, based on her parents’ citizenship when she was born — this is not true, Ms Harris was born in California and is eligible to run.
Watch LIVE — Trump delivers remarks from Arizona
Thursday 12 September 2024 22:16
Oliver O'Connell
Former Trump staffer says ‘any national Republican’ could’ve done better in debate against Harris
Thursday 12 September 2024 22:10
Gustaf Kilander
Alyssa Farah Griffin, the former White House director of strategic communications in the Trump administration, wrote on X on Thursday afternoon that “A lot of Republicans who’ve been told Trump is sharp and tough saw with their own eyes that he’s not as sharp as he once was, he’s angrier, he’s receiving bad information, and he can’t answer basic policy questions.”
“This isn’t Joe Biden 2.0,” she added. “The GOP won’t walk away from him. Republicans will largely publicly say he did well. But the reality is Tuesday night was an unmitigated disaster for Trump with Independents and moderate R’s who could determine the election.”
“Any Republican being honest with themselves will privately tell you that any other national Republican could have performed substantially better than Trump did against Harris,” she concluded.
Watch: Kamala Harris challenges Donald Trump to second debate
Thursday 12 September 2024 22:04
Lucy Leeson
Watch as Kamala Harris calls for a second live presidential election debate against Donald Trump.
The Vice President said she and Trump “owed it” to voters to go head-to-head again following Tuesday night’s live debate.
Speaking at a rally in North Carolina on Thursday (12 September), Harris said. “This election and what is at state could not be more important.”
The Vice President said the Democrats are focused on bringing down the cost of living, protecting reproductive freedom, and keeping the nation safe and secure, before accusing Trump of having the “same tired playbook”.
Trump insiders reveal he did more prep for poor Harris debate than for Biden showdown: ‘They were stunned’
Thursday 12 September 2024 21:50
Gustaf Kilander
Trump insiders reportedly said that the former president did more to prepare for the debate with Vice President Kamala Harris than he did ahead of his showdown with President Joe Biden.
Even some conservative commentators have admitted that former President Donald Trump had a bad night on Tuesday, as he let Harris, who remained very much on the offensive throughout the debate, get under his skin.
Trump repeatedly fell for Harris’s bait, ranting about debunked rumors that Haitian migrants are stealing and eating pets in Ohio and growing visibly angry when she made a jab about the size of his rallies, claiming supporters have been leaving “out of exhaustion and boredom.”
Republican defends Trump connection to far-right activist
Thursday 12 September 2024 21:41
Gustaf Kilander
Senator Markwayne Mullin appeared on CNN on Thursday defending former President Donald Trump for spending time with far-right activist Laura Loomer.
“President Trump is really good about surrounding himself with people that give him positive advice and information that is useful to him,” he said.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin on CNN defends Trump spending so much time with Laura Loomer: "President Trump is really good about surrounding himself with people that give him positive advice and information that is useful to him." pic.twitter.com/dNDQkEr1vz
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 12, 2024
But some Republicans are concerned about Loomer and the effect she may be having on Trump.
Watch: Attorney general grows emotional during speech about DOJ values
Thursday 12 September 2024 21:30
Gustaf Kilander
Merrick Garland gets emotional during a speech about the values of the DOJ and the United States more broadly pic.twitter.com/f9082zy9jf
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 12, 2024
Harris calls for another debate as Trump declines to participate
Thursday 12 September 2024 21:28
Gustaf Kilander
It is like a rock concert in Charlotte for Kamala Harris, and the crowd erupts when she calls for another debate. Democrats are obviously feeling good. pic.twitter.com/Vpp2GnoeqV
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) September 12, 2024
Iran hawks still skeptical as Blinken unveils sanctions for Tehran’s ballistic missile sales to Russia
Thursday 12 September 2024 21:14
John Bowden
The Biden administration rolled out another round of sanctions this week targeting the military partnership between Iran and Russia, the latter of which has relied upon Tehran to provide equipment to supply its stagnating invasion of Ukraine.
But some on Capitol Hill remained skeptical that the new measures — which mirror a number of largely similar actions taken over the past several years — will do much to halt the Iranian weapons trade with Moscow.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in the UK at a press conference alongside foreign minister David Lammy that Russia had recently acquired new ballistic missiles from Iran and would likely use them in the war against Ukraine in the coming weeks. The US, he said, would repond with a round of sanctions, while a number of European countries including the UK would announce their own measures.
Can Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump? Latest poll updates
Thursday 12 September 2024 21:10
Alicja Hagopian
In less than 54 days, Vice President Kamala Harris will go head-to-head with Donald Trump as Americans cast their votes in the 2024 election.
The candidates faced off Tuesday night during the presidential debate in Philadelphia, the first since President Joe Biden stepped down from the Democratic ticket in July.
But polls taken just before the debate show that overall, more voters hold an unfavorable opinion of the two candidates; and will the debate succeed in pushing the needle for Harris?
White House hits out at Trump’s ‘eating pets’ slur against Haitians: ‘Our country deserves better’
Thursday 12 September 2024 21:02
Andrew Feinberg
The White House has condemned the bizarre accusations that former president Donald Trump and his allies have leveled against Haitian immigrants in an Ohio town, calling the claim that they are eating cats and dogs “bizarre” and “hateful.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, herself an immigrant from Haiti, was asked if the Biden administration has a message to residents of Springfield, Ohio, where municipal buildings have become targets of bomb threats in the wake of former president Donald Trump making the ridiculous and baseless claims during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday.
During the 90-minute session, the ex-president ranted about the false conspiracy theory in response to something Harris had said about the sizes of crowds at his rallies.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs — the people that came in — they are eating the cats. They’re eating … they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” he said.
Georgia judge dismisses two criminal counts against Trump
Thursday 12 September 2024 20:57
Gustaf Kilander
A judge in Georgia has dismissed two cri
