US Presidential Elections | Trump Refuses A 2nd Presidential Debate Proposal | US Election Watch

us Network ABC saying absolutely not ABC has denied allegations that Kamala Harris was given any questions ahead of Tuesday's debate the denial comes after Trump who claims the debate as unfair and and rigged flirted the idea that Harris had been given a heads up on what questions to expect in the leadup ABC's debate rules had spelled out that no topics or questions will be shared in advance with campaigns or candidates now Donald Trump has said that he would not participate in another presidential debate against Kamala Harris ahead of the November elections several polls show that Harris beats Trump in the debate held in Philadelphia earlier this week here's a closer look at why Trump says he won and let's not debate it anymore because we've done two debates and because they were successful there will be no third debate two nights after his dismal performance against kamla Harris Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump entered speculation about debating the Democratic Presidential nominee again meanwhile the Harris team has been rooting for another presidential debate ever since some poll suggested that the incumbent vice president had won the debate Donald Trump and I had our debates you watched it did you watch it and look I believe we owe it to have another debate right we owe it to the voters Reports say that some people in Trump's team are concerned about his performance and that is why they don't want another debate although Trump seems to be telling a different story but she immediately called for a second debate which means that she was like a price fighter that lost a fight we had two debates though I had a debate with crooked Joe Biden right and I had another debate with her through Harris campaign seems to have gotten a boost in the week of the debate the candidate is still wary as debate victories don't guarantee election wins and look we know ours will be a very tight race until the very end we are the underd let's be clear about that we are the underdog and so we have hard work ahead of us during the 2016 election Hillary Clinton was judged as the winner of each of her debates with Trump but it was he who was sworn in as the president while Harris might have expanded her lead over Trump According to some post-debate polls there is a silver lining for the 78-year-old as he still leads Harris in most polls when voters are asked about two of the key elections issues economy and immigration solidifying the argument that the race to the Oval Office is far from over V reports for NTV World Bureau report we're now joined by former advisor to the Biden Administration Nish aaria thanks very much Nish for joining us here we'll take a closer look at all that's happening with the debate Saga Nish some might say bad move by Trump to opt out of a debate of course he could well be calling for a debate on Fox next week we just never know with Trump so let's look at the other side the Kamala Harris side okay great performance in the debate but is that really a oneoff and she may have won the debate but she seems to be really an evolving candidate right so we don't know enough about her policy people say so how much of a disadvantage really is Harris at this point without having a debate rematch so I thank you for having me I think she did an amazing job in the debate uh I think she actually won uh on substance as well as on style uh not only keeping him on the defensive but also uh answering certainly more of the policy questions than he did uh I think it's too bad that he has declined to have another debate simply because in the US process uh it goes on for a very long time uh the system is is set up so that you focus on your base voters early on during the nomination process and then need to focus on the general election only from August through November so we don't have a lot of time and the more debates that we can have are better uh so I wish he would say yes to another debate certainly he's been a good debater he was elected president and then only barely lost the second time so I you know I imagine his second debate will be better um but in terms of Harris as a candidate I think you know she is actually a quite strong candidate uh she's not necessarily evolving uh in her positions as much as America is starting to spend some time learning about her positions and how she'll continue uh the work that the Biden Harris Administration did uh and in that she'll have more questions to answer as people get to know her and a debate is a is a great way to answer those questions particularly when she's put side by side with Donald Trump uh and his policy positions right an issues probably H this before and also a lot of people saying that perhaps the debate would help her better Define herself we saw some of that on Tuesday night but given that this debate is likely not going to happen a second debate so what can she potentially do are we likely going to see perhaps or would you recommend more one-on-one interviews that she could potentially do with uh with TV stations people want to see her really unscripted if you understand what I mean yeah I think she needs to do more of that I think there's going to be a couple of opportunities you know the two times that she has spoken to a national audience uh one was the Democratic National Convention and the second time was the debate and in both times she performed that are lifestyle focused some that are political some that are in the business press because I think some of her business policies have gotten um unfortunate negative attention uh and inaccurate negative attention and so I think sitting down with specialty press is going to be important uh to tell her story both politically as well as personally and then the second thing I think is going to be uh to continue to be out there meeting voters so you know being not just in the uh the uh Battleground States but in some of the other states as well uh really giving speeches talking to voters uh letting them get to know uh what she's doing and and of course social media now is an important element of that so talking to some of the influencers uh in different Arenas um and and and finding different ways to reach important audiences of undecided voters uh or voters who are not quite sure what the difference will be between the two parties and if she can do that uh you know it looks like she's in a in a good position uh to win this of course she's very comfortable with uh social media influencers very comfortable chatting with them but why do you think that she's kind of shied away from doing more of those unscripted TV debates with say like you were saying you know specific targeted audiences like say on business channels or or other places it's kind of a repeat of what we've of what what we've really seen with B as well shying away from doing more of these one one-on-one debates so I I think there's uh three reasons for that uh the first is simply that um she only became the nominee a month ago and so uh there hasn't really been you know that leads into the second issue which is that once she was once President Biden decided to drop out of the race and and she was the um the person that he nomin he he supported and therefore she got the nomination there was the convention there was the uction to the people the debate prep uh and then the debate so I don't think she's had a lot of time um and so I think that's the second reason and the third reason is I think you know at least with the United States press uh some of them tend to focus on the horse race or on the on the political side and they don't actually serve as the best way for her to to talk about her herself or her position now I think there are some great um journalists in the United States who do ask serious questions and my hope is that she will sit down with them uh and have a serious more serious conversations uh as along with the one she's done uh but that also she'll reach out to other outlets uh perhaps that are popular uh and and sit down either do sit down interviews or more videos or something to reach people where they are okay uh Nish I'm going to ask you to take off your Democrat hat for a bit so purely from a strategic perspective for Trump uh you know do you think the risk of another debate really outweighs the advantages so best to put his put all of this negativity as far as the debate goes behind him as soon as possible people's memories can be shortlived as we know we still have about 50 days till voting day any damage from the debate perhaps will be you know any Fallout will be long forgotten how politically sound is this move for Trump on refusing to debate again so I think it's it's really unfortunate even even not from a non- perspective as I mentioned in the beginning under the US system we don't have a lot of opportunity uh you know in India there's the prime minister's question hour uh there's other times when the parties debate uh in the US system we don't have a lot of that with our with our leaders and so I think it is always good the more debates that they do uh particularly because the general election is only August through November first week of November you're talking about less than three months so I think even for Trump uh you know Trump is a known quantity that most Americans either love him or hate him uh but having said that there is a undecided middle who's trying to decide if they want to go back to the Trump years uh and and what they believe was the economic policies uh and then what do they want to stay with the Biden Harris Administration and all the amazing things that they've done as well and so I think you know even from a nonpartisan perspective uh it is important I think for Trump to have that debate uh and and stand by the policies that he may have whether it's Health Care immigration other things uh and and Define that so I think again for both candidates I think it's important but for different reasons uh M let's take a look at what uh Trump said about ABC being unfair and Harris getting questions in advance do you think that Trump has somewhat of a point there if not going to the ex of Harris getting the questions in advance but just by how the moderators handle the factchecking perhaps how fair do you think were the ABC hosts on debate night towards Trump yeah I think they were completely fair I don't buy that argument there's a there's been a a saying going on around TV which is um you know basketball analogy which is uh don't blame the referee if you're not making your jump shots and and certainly Trump did not perform well and did not not answer the questions uh and so now they're trying to blame the the moderators I think the moderators actually when you they did follow up with KLA Harris as well about some of her questions uh just as much as they did with Trump trump did not answer the questions about what his border plan would be he did not answer how he would end the war in Ukraine or end the war in Gaza and so I think they the idea that he was They Were Somehow tougher on him is just not true he didn't answer questions any more or less uh than K Harris did and certainly I think the the last I saw was that Trump got five more minutes of speaking time than Harris did so this idea the moderators favored Harris is I think um reflective of the the the poor results for Trump of the debate not of any real assessment of the moderators talking about lies and misleading claims let's take a quick look at some of what Harris said in the debate this week Harris said that I made it very clear in 2020 I will not ban fracking but if you go back really to 2020 she in fact did not say that she never explicitly stated her position she merely said Joe Biden will not end fracking or take for example the other statement that she made that you know Trump left office with the worst unemployment rate since the Great Depression but unemployment in fact had gone down when Trump left you think that Harris managed to get away with some of those claims compared to Trump uh so unemployment was higher at the end of the Trump years because obviously we're in the middle of of covid so I think you know that's partially a a political argument similar to the one about Harris she did not come against fracking but obviously the lien Harris Administration has been very focused on climate change and and fracking is something that uh causes climate change so I think that's the politics of it I think really speaking what we have in the United States is that both fracking and and um the uh exploration of gas exploration of oil the energy economy is a very large uh sector it is a very large sector in terms of employment and so even though most Americans believe that climate change is a problem and most Americans want to transition to solar and wind and other clean sources there's going to be a a pathway to do that it won't happen overnight even though we we need to do it faster and so I think what Harris has been trying to say uh is that look we allowed more fracking under the inflation reduction act which is the signature climate change uh legislation of the last Congress and of the Biden Paris Administration that as part of the transition there'll be more fracking there has been more fracking approved as we transition to a clean economy so I think in policy and practice they have tried their best to balance uh you know what needs to be done in the long term with what can be done uh immediately and so the political reaction to that is what it is um you know the the goal is to get away from that but uh nobody's Banning it either and so I think the Republican response is what you'd expect uh to parsing those two things similar to um you know the unemployment numbers in the middle of covid which obviously was a global pandemic right God I thanks very much indeed former advisor to the Biden Administration n Nish aaria joining us there thanks very much for your time