Donald Trump, who continues to dodge opportunities to debate Vice President Kamala Harris again, mocked politicians for being “afraid” to debate in a clip resurfaced by CNN on Thursday.
“And you know, some of them don’t have the courage to do it. I don’t want to say who, but there are a few —,” the GOP nominee said in a 2011 appearance on Fox Business’ “Imus in the Morning” radio show.
Trump’s comments came as his plans to moderate a Newsmax-hosted Republican debate in Iowa in December fell apart.
Then-candidates Jon M. Huntsman Jr., Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and eventual 2012 Utah GOP presidential nominee Senator Mitt Romney refused to participate in the debate at the time, while Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum committed to the ultimately scrapped event.
“I mean, I’ve had a few call me and say, ‘Me, Donald, I’m just too nervous to do it,’” Trump told host Don Imus.
“And I say to myself, here is the man who should negotiate, or someone who should negotiate against China. These boys come out of the womb. They never cry. You know, they don’t even cry. And we have guys who are afraid to get into debates.”
Trump was going to give up the debate plans and claimed that candidates were “very concerned” that he could announce an independent presidential bid.
CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski, in an appearance on Erin Burnett OutFront, also pointed out a separate 2011 clip in which Trump told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly that Republicans who withdrew “had to be brave.”
Kaczynski noted that the candidates he criticized that year debated about 11 times prior to the canceled Newsmax event.
The former president has offered several reasons why he won’t debate Harris again after their only confrontation in September.
Trump, who notably skipped debates with fellow Republicans in the primaries, took to his Truth Social platform just two days after his debate with Harris to claim that the polls “clearly show” he won.
“THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” he wrote in a message at the time.
After Harris accepted an invitation to a proposed October 23 debate on CNN, the GOP nominee claimed that “too late” for such an affair and he didn’t want to hit her again.
He would later decline an invitation to a Fox News debate later this month, telling his social media platform that “there will be no rematch.” Harris would then agree to a sit-down interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, one of the proposed moderators for the network’s showdown, earlier this week.