Trump has skipped debates before, including all the 2024 Republican presidential primary debates. He initially didn’t participate after suggesting the timing was too early and then questioning the venue of another before eventually making it clear he would not participate in any of those debates.

The Republican candidate also sought in the interview to clarify comments he made last week at a conservative event in which he told an audience of Christians that they “won’t have to vote anymore” after he’s elected.

He urged Christians, who he claims don’t vote in high numbers, to vote “just this time,” and said, “You won’t have to do it anymore.”

In four years, he said: “It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians,” he said.

He added moments later: “In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote.”

The comments drew alarm from Democrats and others who noted Trump’s pattern of using authoritarian language, his earlier comments that he would only be a dictator on “day one” and his behaviour after losing the 2020 presidential election, in which he refused to accept the results and sought to overturn them.

His campaign and supporters offered various explanations for Trump’s comments, and Ingraham prodded him to explain what he meant.

“They don’t vote and I’m explaining that to ’em. ‘You never vote.’ This time, vote. I’ll straighten out the country. You won’t have to vote anymore. I won’t need your vote,” Trump said.

Ingraham asked if he meant Christians won’t need to vote for him because he will only have four years in office.

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Trump started his answer by speaking about voting rates of Christians and gun owners, and Ingraham interrupted to ask him again.

“Don’t worry about the future. Vote, on, you have to vote on November 5th. After that, you don’t have to worry about voting anymore. I don’t care because we’re going to fix up, the country will be fixed and we won’t even need your vote anymore because frankly, we will have such love. If you don’t want to vote anymore, that’s okay,” Trump said.

In the same interview, Trump also backed his running mate, Senator JD Vance, over past comments about “childless cat ladies” that have gone viral and become a political headache for their White House campaign.

Vance’s 2021 comments criticising Harris and other Democrats as “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives” resurfaced after Trump selected the Ohio senator as his running mate earlier this month.

The comments prompted a backlash and warnings from some political strategists that they could cost the Trump campaign valuable votes in a close election that could be decided in a handful of states by a few thousand voters.

Trump said in the interview he did not place a higher value on people with families.

“You know, you don’t meet the right person, or you don’t meet any person. But you’re just as good, in many cases, a lot better than a person that’s in a family situation,” Trump said.

Harris has two stepchildren with her husband, lawyer Doug Emhoff. Emhoff’s ex-wife has called such attacks “baseless” and described Harris as a “loving, nurturing, fiercely protective” co-parent.

Trump said Vance, who had a tough upbringing in Ohio and was largely raised by his grandmother, was simply trying to show how much he values family life.

“He grew up in a very interesting family situation, and he feels family is good. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong in saying that,” Trump said.

AP, Reuters

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