Trump bludgeons Harris and rules out another debate for good

Donald Trump definitively ruled out facing Kamala Harris in a new debate on Wednesday and redoubled his attacks on his Democratic rival during rallies in Pennsylvania a month before the presidential election in the United States.

“There will be no rematch!”, wrote the Republican billionaire on his network, Truth Social, despite offers from CNN and Fox News to broadcast a face-off between the two candidates.

“Kamala clearly stated yesterday that she would not do anything different from Joe Biden, so there is no point in a debate,” he added.

The tribune had been unsettled by the vice president during their only televised duel on September 10, according to most observers. Mrs. Harris had tickled his ego on many issues – the participation in his rallies, the disaffections of his former political allies, his international reputation -, preventing him from developing his vision for the country.

Mr. Trump, however, repeats over and over again that he won this debate. After several retreats, he ends the suspense.

On Wednesday, the former president preferred to unfold his attacks against Ms. Harris in front of crowds won over to his cause in Pennsylvania, a northeastern state that is shaping up to be one of the most contested in the presidential election.

– “Absolute horror film” –

“She is incompetent, she cannot be trusted and she is completely incapable of being president,” he said at a rally in Scranton, the hometown of his successor in the White House, Joe Biden.

On the home turf of the Democratic president, whom he had largely dominated during their debate at the end of June, the Republican called his former opponent a “pathetic” and “sad” man.

Image combination created on September 9, 2024: Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (l) in La Crosse, Wisconsin, U.S., on August 29, 2024; and Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (r), in Chicago, Illinois, United States, on August 22, 2024 © AFP – KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI, Mandel NGAN

“Our country has just endured four years of an absolute horror movie, we cannot afford four more years,” he hammered home, resuming his dark vision of an America on the brink.

In Reading, another city in Pennsylvania, the tribune pounded Ms. Harris, resuming his violent anti-migrant diatribes.

“Kamala (…) has spent the last four years importing criminals, unvetted refugees and terrorists into our country,” he said, once again lying about official statistics. “I will free Pennsylvania and our entire country from this massive invasion.”

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Anger over Pennsylvania's industrial decline was one of the keys to Mr. Trump's victory in 2016. But in 2020, it was Joe Biden who won the state by a hair's breadth.

U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at an event at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 25, 2024 © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA – JEFF SWENSEN

To win back local workers, Harris is counting on Joe Biden's major job-creating infrastructure projects and the support of unions.

She has also changed her position on fracking, a controversial method of extracting shale gas widely used in the state, which she now supports.

A turnaround that Mr. Trump has tried to exploit. If her rival is elected, “there will be no hydraulic fracturing and that will be the end of Pennsylvania,” he declared.

– Trump at Madison Square Garden –

The Democratic candidate will return to Pennsylvania on Monday, where one of the Democratic Party's top emissaries will also go on Thursday: former President Barack Obama.

She is due to hold campaign meetings in Arizona and Nevada at the end of the week — two other states that will be decisive for the election, organized by indirect universal ballot.

On Wednesday, the vice president described as “dangerous” and “unacceptable” the baseless accusations hammered out in recent days by the Republican camp, and Donald Trump in particular, on the federal government's handling of hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The two candidates remain neck and neck in the polls in key states.

Former President of the United States and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania, on October 9, 2024 © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA – CHIP SOMODEVILLA

And this, despite a series of unprecedented twists and turns in the campaign: Donald's criminal conviction Trump, two assassination attempts against him, and the withdrawal of the candidacy of the current president Joe Biden.

Beyond the key states, Donald Trump is also trying to titillate the Democrats in their strongholds: he is organizing a rally in California on Saturday — known for being very progressive — and announced on Wednesday that he is planning an event in the legendary Madison Square Garden arena in New York.

According to the US elections project, some 2.5 million voters have already made their choice and cast a ballot in early voting operations.

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