“THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social Thursday.
Harris' campaign chairman, David Plouffe, responded by taunting Trump as “chicken."
“At long last we discover his spirit animal. The Chicken,” he wrote. “Let’s see if chicken man excises Hannibal Lecter out of his speech tonight. If he does, demonstrates he was humiliated on that point on Tuesday night. If he doesn’t, well, that would be awesome. Classic win, win.”
Trump told supporters at a rally in Tucson, Arizona, Thursday afternoon that two debates is enough—one against Joe Biden, the other against Harris. “And because they were successful, there will be no third debate," he said as the crowd cheered.
"It's too late anyway,” he added, “the voting's already begun, you gotta go out and vote."
He also told the New York Post in an exclusive interview , “We just don’t think that there’s any need for it" and he insisted, "I did well. I did really well."
After his initial announcement on his social media platform earlier in the day, the Twittersphere exploded with “bok bok chicken” jabs at Trump.
Harris herself hit back with more restraint.
“Two nights ago, Donald Trump and I had our first debate,” she posted on X . “We owe it to the voters to have another debate.”
And at a fiery rally in North Carolina Thursday afternoon, she told supporters, "Two nights ago Donald Trump and I had our first debate. And I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate.”
Numerous polls have suggested Harris bested Trump in the debate. After she started the evening by appearing to rattle him with a handshake, Harris spent the debate laughing at Trump, looking at him in disbelief, and baiting him to talk about issues that would not work in his favor.
She had few real stumbles, while the former president repeatedly spouted outlandish claims about illegal immigrants “eating the pets” and Democrats supporting killing babies. One of the GOP’s most prominent pollsters even suggested Trump’s performance might cost him the election.
But Trump is spinning the Democrats’ call for another debate as the response of a sore loser—not a candidate playing to her strengths.
“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH,’ he wrote in his Truth Social post.
Trump and his allies spent the day after the debate attacking its host, ABC News , for treating him unfairly, while the vice president’s giddy team sought a rematch as soon as the first debate ended.
“Under the bright lights, the American people got to see the choice they will face this fall at the ballot box: between moving forward with Kamala Harris, or going backwards with Trump,” campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon wrote in a statement Tuesday night. “That’s what they saw tonight and what they should see at a second debate in October. Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?”
Though Trump wavered on debating Harris after his knockout performance against Joe Biden , he said last month he was open to three debates with her in September. However, he already appeared to be changing his tune after walking off the stage Tuesday night, telling Sean Hannity, “If you won the debate, I sort of think maybe I shouldn’t do it. Why should I do another debate?”
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