Trump claims a debate with Harris will be easier than with Biden

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump expressed regret at not running again against President Joe Biden during a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, but expressed optimism that he can defeat Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

Trump spoke in Pennsylvania nearly four weeks after Biden ended his re-election campaign and chose Harris instead. The former president alluded to the fact that the vice president did not win any primaries this year and suggested that her boss “hates” her for becoming the Democratic nominee.

“Joe Biden hates them,” Trump said. “This was the downfall of a president. … I spent $100 million to fight Joe Biden, they told him he couldn't win. His performance at the debate was not the best ever.”

Trump's June 27 debate against Biden was the catalyst for the president's withdrawal from the race. Dozens of elected Democrats called on the president to end his campaign after he struggled in front of millions of viewers, and nearly three weeks later, he did so, reigniting the Democratic surge.

Since Harris, 59, launched her campaign on July 21, Trump, 78, has spent more time attacking his opponent personally than politically, which, combined with the momentum of a younger candidate entering the race, has led to much tighter poll numbers than when Biden, 81, was in the race. The latest New York Times/A Siena College poll shows the vice president leading in Arizona and North Carolina. The only Democrat to win the latter in the last 11 election cycles was Barack Obama in 2008.

Despite his downward trend in the polls, however, Trump said he was ready for the second of the two debates he agreed to in May, albeit with a changed lineup.

“By the way, I'm looking forward to the debate with her,” Trump said. “It will be easier. It will be easier than [Biden].”

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The rally was one of several Trump has held in Pennsylvania this year. The state's 19 electoral votes will likely determine who wins the White House – the state has voted for the Electoral College winner in each of the last four election cycles. Harris will also visit the state, beginning a bus tour in Pittsburgh on Sunday before the Democratic National Convention begins in Chicago on Sunday.

The two candidates are scheduled to debate on September 10, just under two months before Election Day. Trump's campaign has recruited former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who ran alongside Harris in the 2020 Democratic primary, to help him prepare.