Trump: ‘There Will Be No Third Debate!’

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump spent Thursday afternoon on a social media spree, posting on Truth Social at least a dozen times in a two-hour period.

In one post, the former president asserted that “polls clearly show” that he won the presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, then he cited that as justification for refusing to participate in another debate against the Democratic nominee.

Trump provided no polling details to back up the claim, which runs contrary to the general consensus and instant polls on his debate performance.

“THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” he concluded in all caps in the post.

Harris responded shortly after, reminding Trump they’ve debated only once and saying the two “owe it to the voters” to debate again. Trump debated President Joe Biden in June, but Biden has since exited the campaign.

If, as Trump claims, declining a second debate against Harris is the surest sign he won the contest, the rest of the Republican Party didn’t get the memo. Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) suggested quite the opposite Tuesday before the debate began in Philadelphia.

“You want to know who won?” Collins asked, hypothetically. “Find out who refuses to do a second debate.”

In earlier rambling social media posts Thursday, Trump also endorsed Republicans Bernie Moreno, who’s running for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, and Kari Lake, who’s making a similar bid in Arizona.

Trump also shared numerous AI photos of cats throughout the day, amplifying a racist and completely false right-wing tale about Haitian immigrants in Ohio abducting and eating people’s pets.

It’s an odd subject for Trump to emphasize, given it’s the same lie that landed Trump in trouble during Tuesday night’s debate. Harris successfully goaded him into a bizarre meltdown on the subject, which quickly went viral.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs!” Trump shouted at the time as Harris, appearing to be both bemused and bewildered, listened. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

ABC News’ David Muir, one of the moderators at the debate, quickly jumped in to fact-check the claim as baseless, citing a direct report from the city manager of Springfield, Ohio.