Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg thinks former President Donald Trump is likely not looking forward to a future presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.
During an appearance on CNN’s “The Source” on Tuesday, Buttigieg told anchor Kaitlan Collins that he believes Trump is “afraid” to debate Harris because “she’s going to be so effective, and she’s going to lay bare his inability to talk about anything but himself and his past.”
When Collins noted that Trump had said on Tuesday that he would “absolutely” debate Harris, Buttigieg pointed out the timing of Trump’s initial complaints about the debate.
The Trump campaign had previously agreed to two presidential debates leading up to the November election. The first debate was held on June 27, and the second is set for Sept. 10, with ABC News hosting.
But hours after Biden dropped his bid for reelection and endorsed Harris as the new Democratic nominee shortly afterward on Sunday, Trump took to Truth Social to complain that his campaign has had to “start all over” with the time and money it spent fighting Biden. He also called for the debate to be held on Fox News instead.
“Now that Joe has, not surprisingly, has quit the race, I think the Debate, with whomever the Radical Left Democrats choose, should be held on FoxNews, rather than very biased ABC,” Trump wrote.
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“What changed?” Buttigieg asked Collins. “From when he said he was ready to do an ABC debate and when he now says he’s not. ABC didn’t change, Donald Trump didn’t change, but there’s a new candidate, and clearly, he hesitates to debate her on the exact same terms.”
Buttigieg said he’s excited for Americans to see the contrast between Harris and Trump.
“She’s going to be very effective in reminding Americans that issue after issue, they already agree with us. They already agree with her and Democrats,” he said before referencing issues such as reproductive rights and Democratic policies on taxes and gun violence.