On Tuesday, September 10, 2024, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris underwent their first presidential debate with ABC News. During the debate, Donald Trump made various claims, however, the ABC News moderators fact-checked several of them.
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Despite being fact-checked in real-time, which led Trump to claim the debate was ‘three against one’, Germany later debunked another one of his claims.
Indeed, the former US President made a statement concerning Germany’s energy situation, but a day later, the country’s Foreign Ministry debunked it with a post on X. They also seemingly mocked Trump in their post.
Donald Trump fact-checked by Germany’s Foreign Ministry
As reported by MSNBC, during the presidential debate Donald Trump claimed that Germany was ‘back to building normal energy plants’ after trying other options. He said:
You believe in things like ‘We’re not going to frack, we’re not going to take fossil fuel.’ Germany tried that, and within one year, they were back to building normal energy plants.
However, the day after the debate, Germany’s Foreign Ministry shared a post on X debunking Trump’s claim. They explained that Germany’s energy system is ‘more than 50% renewables’ and that they are planning on ‘shutting down’ coal and nuclear plants and they 'will be off the grid by 2038'.
The country’s Foreign Ministry then seemingly mocked the former President. Indeed, Trump claimed that immigrants were ‘eating the pets’ which was fact-checked by the moderators during the debate.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry ended their post with ‘PS: We also don’t eat cats and dogs.’
Despite all the fact-checking of his wild claims, Trump still believes that he emerged victorious from the debate. Moreover, Kamala Harris has already requested a second debate but it seems Donald Trump isn’t on board and has specific reasons why.
Donald Trump doesn’t want a second presidential debate
As per BBC News, Kamala Harris, who has been accused of changing her accent by Trump supporters, quickly asked for a second presidential debate with her opponent, explaining that they ‘owe’ voters another because ‘what is at stake could not be more important’.
Donald Trump has since responded to Harris’s request and reportedly doesn’t believe a second debate is needed as he ‘clearly’ won the first one, which is the only reason Kamala wants a rematch.
Even though Trump claims he won, several polls suggest that Harris performed better than the former President, as reported by BBC News. Trump goes on to add that his opponent should ‘focus’ on her job as Vice President instead.
In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said that only when someone ‘loses a fight’ do they immediately request a rematch:
When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are 'I want a rematch’.
He then claims that polls ‘clearly show’ that he won the debate:
Polls clearly show that I won the debate against comrade Kamala Harris, the Democrats' radical left candidate... and she immediately called for a second debate.
Regardless of Donald Trump’s reluctance, Harris’s team is still pushing for a second debate, claiming they are ‘ready’.
Vice-President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?
Nonetheless, nothing has been confirmed yet and there is still over a month before the presidential vote, on November 5, 2024.
Read more:
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Sources used:
MSNBC: ‘Trump is brutally mocked by Germany over false debate claim’
BBC News: ‘Trump rules out another presidential debate against Harris’
Reuters: ‘Key quotes from the Harris-Trump debate’
AP News: ‘Trump falsely accuses immigrants in Ohio of abducting and eating pets’
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