The new presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, taunted GOP nominee Donald Trump at a rally on Friday after he withdrew from a presidential debate originally scheduled with President Joe Biden for September 10 on ABC News.
Harris told the crowd: “Donald, I do hope you’ll reconsider meeting me on the debate stage. Because, as the saying goes, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.”
Trump said on Friday night that he has agreed to debate Harris on September 4 with the contingency that the debate is run by conservative-leaning Fox News. Harris’s team said on Saturday that no agreement has been made for a new Fox News debate on Sept. 4.
.@KamalaHarris, Donald may be afraid of you, but I'm not. I have plenty of things to say – face to face. All you have to do is say when and where. I'll be there ready to debate. https://t.co/So0Qc49Vtr
— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) August 1, 2024
Speculation about the second presidential debate abounds, but no proposed scenario includes candidates other than Harris and Trump. That’s to the consternation of the Green Party’s 2024 presidential nominee, Dr. Jill Stein, who is among other also-rans like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who can’t get on the big stage.
Stein, who describes herself as “the only anti-war, pro-worker, climate action candidate with a path to the White House,” replied to Harris on X by writing: “Donald may be afraid of you, but I’m not. I have plenty of things to say – face to face. All you have to do is say when and where. I’ll be there ready to debate.”
Stein’s post has received backlash from political pundits on both sides of the aisle including former Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) who replied, “Who are you?” and former FBI Agent and Yale Law professor Asha Rangappa who also questioned Stein’s political standing by asking, replied, “And you are…?” (Stein may be persona non grata for Dems, but some people know who she is, which may be why she gets responses — she took votes from Hillary Clinton in 2016.)
The influential Anonymous account on X chimed in with sarcasm: “LOL – Who are you?” and added, “Jill Stein would be a great candidate – the issue is the US voting system is rigged as a two party system…Until that changes, the USA is always going to be stuck with voting for ‘the lesser of two evils.'”
