Donald Trump said that he could be regretting taking part in a televised debate against President Joe Biden during a rally in Bozeman, Montana, on Friday when he asked, “Why the hell did I debate him?” However, the former president did later say that Kamala Harris will be “easier to beat” in November.
Trump and Biden held what was initially intended to be the first of three debates between the two rivals in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27. During the head-tohead, Biden appeared at several points to lose his train of thought mid-sentence, sparking renewed concern over the 81-year-old’s age and mental agility. In the aftermath, a number of prominent Democrats, including members of Congress and actor George Clooney, urged Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. He duly did on July 21, and instead endorsed his Vice-President Kamala Harris.
After Biden left the White House race, Harris swiftly established herself as the Democratic Party‘s presumptive presidential candidate. She went on to poll ahead of Trump in more than a dozen polls and earlier this week became the favorite to win the 2024 presidential contest with a number of leading betting companies.
During Friday’s rally, Trump said : “We’re going to get Joe Biden out of the White House. What’s he doing there now?… You know he wanted to debate. If we didn’t have a debate, he’d still be there. Can you imagine? Why the hell did I debate him?”
Referring to Biden, Trump went on to add: “How did he do? Do you think he’s happy? I don’t think so. He’s not too happy. You know, they took it away from him, they really did. The guy had 14 million votes. She had none, but I’d rather run against her. I think she’s easier to beat I really do.”
Newsweek contacted representatives of Donald Trump‘s 2024 presidential election campaign and the White House press office for comment on Saturday by email outside of regular office hours.
Trump’s Montana rally was only the second he has held thus far in August, while, since Tuesday, Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, have held rallies in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona. They are due to hold another in Nevada on Saturday.
Speaking during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday, Trump said he has held relatively few public events over the past few weeks as he is “leading a lot.” He also wants to wait for the Democratic National Convention to finish on August 22 and is doing lots of radio and television interviews.
Asked “why haven’t you been campaigning this week?” Trump replied: “Because I’m leading by a lot and because I’m letting their convention go through and I am campaigning a lot. I’m doing tremendous amounts of taping here—we have commercials at a level that I don’t think anyone’s ever done before.
“Plus in certain cases—I see many of you in the room where I’m speaking to you on phones, I’m speaking to radio, I’m speaking to television. Television’s coming over here. Excuse me, what are we doing right now?”
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