The announcement has been made about the location of the pending debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris and it’s likely to bring back bad memories for his supporters.
ABC News announced that the debate will be held in the Democrat stronghold of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the National Constitution Center, Deadline reported.
“The debate will start at 9 p.m. ET, with an 8 p.m. pre-debate show, Race for the White House, with Martha Raddatz, Jonathan Karl, Mary Bruce and Rachel Scott,” the report said.
The vice president rejected the former president’s invitation to debate on September 4 on Fox News and on NBC on September 25, but said there may be another debate in October.
“The debate about debates is over,” her campaign said. “Donald Trump’s campaign accepted our proposal for three debates – two presidential and a vice presidential debate. Assuming Donald Trump actually shows up on September 10 to debate Vice President Harris, then Governor Walz will see JD Vance on October 1 and the American people will have another opportunity to see the vice president and Donald Trump on the debate stage in October.”
The chosen site for the debate — the city of Philadelphia — could outrage many Trump supporters. Not only is it a Democratic stronghold, but it’s also where, on Sept. 1, 2022, President Joe Biden gave a now infamous speech outside Independence Hall, bathed in red light, during which he decried Trump and his “MAGA” supporters as dangerous.
In it, he attacked “MAGA Republicans” and suggested they were a major threat to the stability of the country and its democratic institutions.
“We must be honest with each other and with ourselves,” Biden said during the speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, with a pair of U.S. Marines in the background. “Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”
“MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution,” he claimed without context or explanation. “They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election.”
“And they’re working right now, as I speak in state after state, to give the power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election-deniers to undermine democracy itself,” Biden continued.
“MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. They promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country,” the president said.
Meanwhile, Trump has added to his team in preparation for the debate. He has enlisted the assistance of former Democrat Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for his debate preparations, The New York Times reported.
Many know Gabbard from her frequent Fox News appearances, but some may not remember how she decimated the vice president during the 2020 Democrat Primary Debate.
“Senator Harris says she’s proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she’ll be a prosecutor president, but I’m deeply concerned about this record,” she said during the debate, which many believe was the death knell for the 2020 Harris campaign. “There are too many examples to cite, but she put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.”
“She blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so,” she said. “She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California and she fought to keep cash bail system in place that impacts poor people in the worst kind of way.”
WATCH:
5 years ago today, Tulsi Gabbard ended Kamala Harris 2020 presidential campaign after calling her out in a debate.
— End Tribalism in Politics (@EndTribalism) July 31, 2024
One would think that Tulsi being a young, veteran, woman, POC, and having 8 years of experience in Congress that she would’ve been the future face of the Democratic… pic.twitter.com/yvZeGjMXZm
Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed to The Times that Gabbard had joined the team.
