Presidential historian Allan Lichtman took a verbal jab at former President Donald Trump on Friday, mocking the Republican nominee for his apparent reluctance to debate Vice President Kamala Harris.
Lichtman, often dubbed the “Nostradamus” of U.S. presidential elections given his track record of accurately predicting the result, said on X (formerly Twitter) that “tough guy” Trump was “trying to duck out” of a potential debate after Trump’s campaign team said he would not commit to taking part. Trump had previously agreed to two debates with President Joe Biden, including the one on June 27 that many commentators believe was the beginning of the end of Biden’s re-election campaign.
In his post, Lichtman appeared to take a leaf out of Trump’s book by giving the former president a nickname: “Donald Duck.”
Newsweek has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
In contrast to the first debate, it looks like the second debate of 2024 with Kamala Harris may not happen. Tough guy Donald Trump is trying to duck out, “Donald Duck?”
— Allan Lichtman (@AllanLichtman) July 26, 2024
On Thursday, Harris told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland that she was willing to debate Trump, but that the Republican candidate was “backpedaling” on his commitment to do so.
Two days prior, Trump said that he would “absolutely” be willing to debate Harris, but that he was “not thrilled” with ABC hosting the encounter, which has been scheduled for September 10.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
On Thursday, however, the former president’s camp said they would not agree to a debate until Harris had been confirmed as the Democratic nominee.
Communications Director Steven Cheung said: “Given the continued political chaos surrounding Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, general election debate details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee.”
“It would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds,” Cheung’s statement continued.
While Harris will not be the official nominee until delegates cast their votes in early August, she has already secured the support of far more than the 1,976 delegates needed to win the first round of voting, according to the Associated Press.
Along with the endorsement of the current president and other high-profile Democrats, her nomination is all but secured.
Montinique Monroe/Getty Images
Lichtman has previously suggested that Vice President Harris was on track to secure the White House, based on his “Keys to the White House” election prediction model.
Lichtman, along with Russian seismologist Vladimir Keilis-Borok, created the system in 1981, utilizing methods that the latter designed for the prediction of earthquakes.
According to Lichtman, Harris meets eight criteria on the model’s 13-point checklist, implying that she is on course for victory come November 5.
Lichtman’s forecast holds a lot of sway in political circles, as his predictive method has been proven correct in all but one presidential elections since 1984.
The only outlier is the contentious 2000 election, when then-Vice President Al Gore clinched the popular vote, but fell five Electoral College votes behind then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
In 2016, Lichtman’s model forecasted Trump’s victory but inaccurately indicated that he would win the popular vote as well.
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this article? ContactLiveNews@newsweek.com.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
