COLLINS: Now, the Harris campaign is predicting to CNN tonight that they do think there will ultimately be another debate. We’re hearing from one official, who said they’re not taking Trump at face value, when he says the debate’s rough, arguing instead that he changes his position every day.
Trump’s own allies were telling me, just as of yesterday, they thought he would certainly show up for round two. We will all have to stay tuned.
But in the meanwhile, my lead source, tonight, is the former presidential candidate, and the former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, who I should note is here in his personal capacity, not as the Transportation Secretary.
What did you make of Trump saying today, no more debates, between him and Harris?
PETE BUTTIGIEG: Well, I remember back, when he was saying any time, any place. But what changed, of course, is he got beat. He doesn’t like being beat. He doesn’t like being embarrassed. So, I’m not totally surprised that he’s changed his position, backed off, and doesn’t want to go through that again.
COLLINS: Do you think that there will ultimately be another match? Do you think he’ll be able to? Because you and I talked about this last time. You said that you thought Trump was scared to go on the debate stage with her. Do you think there will ultimately be another one?
BUTTIGIEG: Hard to say. There may come a point, where the dynamics build against him, and he decides he needs to do something, anything, to shift attention from her winning message. Maybe that would motivate him to change his strategy. I’m beyond trying to predict what his strategy will be in the future.
What I do know is it was a great night for her, and it was a really rough night for him.
And I think the most important thing about it was that, if you watched the debate, he really talked about three things. He talked about himself, most of all. He talked about her quite a bit. And he talked about Joe Biden quite a bit.
She, as much as possible, was talking about you, about the American voter, about the American people.
And that’s the most important difference, in this whole campaign, that he is focused on himself, and to some extent, still, even now focused on Joe Biden.
And she is focused on the big question the voters are asking, which is, how’s my life going to be different under a Kamala Harris presidency, where she’s focused on things like affordability, a fairer tax code, protecting a woman’s right to choose, versus if he becomes president again, and we are thrown back to the kind of chaos that we experienced with him the first time around.
COLLINS: Do you think that she needs another debate, though? Because he’s obviously a pretty well-known quality — quantity. He already been president. He’s run again.
She’s much newer to the American electorate. And you see that in the polls, when it comes to those undecided voters. Does she need another debate, closer to Election Day, in your view?
BUTTIGIEG: Well, again, I think the debate went well for her, because it was an opportunity to actually talk about the difference in their visions and the difference in their records. But it’s not the only way to get that across.
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