Is Donald Trump Required to Debate Kamala Harris if She's Chosen as the Democratic Nominee?

It's a longstanding tradition that candidates going head-to-head to win the U.S. presidency will, during the campaign trail, engage each other in a televised debate to discuss policies, qualifications, and in some cases, golf handicaps. However, following a recent announcement that Donald Trump is refusing to debate presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, that tradition has been called into question.

Trump has given multiple reasons as to why he will not debate Harris, ranging from her lack of endorsement by Obama — who has since come out in support of her — to her "radical left" views. But can he avoid her forever?

In an official statement from Trump's camp, it was initially declared that he would be backing out of their scheduled debate on September 10 due to the fact that, by that time, Harris would not yet be named as the official Democratic nominee. However, many felt that his logic was flawed because Joe Biden, who was originally supposed to be in Harris's place during the debate, would also not yet have been named as the nominee.

Amid insistence from the left — as well as Harris's own campaign team — that Trump's refusal to debate was based on fear and intimidation, he decided to change his story.

In an interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News, Trump stated his "real reason" for refusing the debate.

"I want to do a debate," he said, "but I also can say this: Everybody knows who I am, and now people know who she is. She's a radical left lunatic; she'll destroy our country. She wants open borders. ... They already know everything."

So, will Trump be able to avoid debating Harris forever? Maybe, but it won't look good for him.

According to the official Commission on Presidential Debates, there is no constitutional statute that mandates presidential candidates debate each other. However, they are now considered to be an intrinsic part of the election process, and if Trump continues to avoid debating Harris, it's likely that constituents will see this in a negative light.