Democrats Rent News Homepages to Troll ‘Scared’ Trump

The Democratic Party plans to launch digital homepage takeovers of local news organizations in battleground states to hound Donald Trump for dodging a debate with Kamala Harris, the Daily Beast has learned.

“Trump is a convicted felon whose Project 2025 agenda would ban abortion nationwide,” a preview of the ad reads. “No wonder he’s afraid to debate.”

Starting on Saturday in Georgia, Trump’s image will be splashed across the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s website, his tongue out and teeth bared, as the former president and his running mate, J.D. Vance, are set to rally that evening in Atlanta. The attack builds on weeks of Democratic efforts to tie Trump to Project 2025, which his campaign has disavowed, and the controversial initiative’s plans to limit reproductive rights.

After Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, Trump said he would be happy to debate her—more than once, in fact. But then he wavered on doing the ABC News debate on Sept. 10, which had been scheduled before Joe Biden exited the race and Harris assumed his place. The Trump campaign said it would not finalize a debate agreement until the Democratic nominee was official.

Trump himself told Fox News he could “make a case” for not debating.

The vice president’s campaign had a field day with Trump’s hesitancy, promising to show up on Sept. 10 whether the former president does or not. “Well Donald, I do hope you’ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage,” Harris said at a rally in Atlanta on Tuesday. “Because as the saying goes, ‘If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.’”

The Democratic National Committee says it has approached seven major local newspapers in critical swing states about buying out their homepages if and when Trump visits. The DNC did not disclose the cost of the ad buy. Besides the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the news organizations to watch are the Detroit News, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Arizona Republic, the Raleigh News & Observer, the Las Vegas Sun and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Harris has seen sky-high enthusiasm since announcing her candidacy last month. While she has gained ground for the Democratic ticket in recent polls, she still trails in states that could determine the outcome of the election. The DNC is betting that hitting Trump where it hurts will help.

“Donald Trump boasted he’d debate ‘anytime, anywhere,’ but after 34 felony convictions and one campaign meltdown after another, he’s running scared and attempting to dodge his commitment to a September debate,” DNC Communications Director Rosemary Boeglin said in a statement.