So, Trump refused to participate in a virtual debate over a video link. And the result is the debate has been cancelled.
I think this is the wrong decision. They can hold the debate, invite both candidates to appear, under identical restrictions, and if one refuses to attend, then the other one may have his say unopposed.
This is pandering to Trump’s demands. They are allowing him to dictate the conditions for the debate. But even so, he will probably claim the cancellation is unfair to him.
Agreed. Biden had it right when he said he’d do the debate whether Trump showed up or not. It might be different if Trump had to admit he was still too sick to attend.
Sure, if Trump won’t allow a virtual debate, that means you can’t have an actual debate. But there’s no reason to sell it like that. Have Biden show up at the appointed time for a virtual debate, saying that Trump can call in if he wants to, or not.
It can’t be that he’s too sick.Trump is still going to in-person events. If he’s well enough to do that, he’s well enough to do a virtual one.
If they have the debate with only one candidate, accusations of favoritism will fly like, well…flies.
But there may be a better solution- invite one or two of the other candidates to the debate. Jo Jorgensen, Howie Hawkins and Dario Hunter would probably jump at the chance, Biden would look good for inviting the other parties to the debate…and Trump would look even more like the little boy who grabbed his ball and ran home crying.
New York Magazine ran a story with the headline “Trump Won’t Debate Unless There’s a Risk of Infecting Biden”, I thought that was pretty funny.
Accusations will fly regardless. I swear Biden and Trump could guess at a coin toss and Biden would be accused of rigging it.
My understanding is that both sides agree to a set of rules (hence the mods not having a mute button). I haven’t seen a list of rules, but assuming they don’t mention anything about going virtual or more specifically, if they mention that the debates are in person, ISTM, Trump has a legitimate out. I’m not saying he’s not being a brat about it, but it would be a loophole (written intentionally or otherwise) that he’d be utilizing.
Biden is just going to do a town hall meeting on his own, right?
I wasn’t saying he was actually too sick, just that it would be a reason why canceling a debate might be acceptable.
That said, I would argue that his in-person events are less mentally taxing and playing to a very forgiving crowd. Everything can be planned out to make him look his best. I could actually see a scenario where he could handle rallies but not handle debates, especially considering the mental side effects of the drugs he’s on.
IS he, though?
Yesterday he appeared on a White House balcony for 17 minutes. The appearance had been billed as a 30-minute speech—he couldn’t last that long.
It’s true that he has travel on his schedule, but that’s not the same thing as actually doing it.
I still believe he’s being propped up by the steroids–and not propped up particularly well. If this IS the case then his pulling out of debates makes a lot of sense–even if he’d agreed to do one virtually, he’d have to stay basically upright and able to talk for 90 minutes or so. That may not be possible for him.
Time will tell, I guess.
There was no chance Trump would agree to any debate where the moderator would be able to shut off his mic. His whole plan was to get Biden rattled so he (Biden) would start to stutter. Didn’t work in the first debate, so he’d have to do even more interruptions in the second.
I don’t know if the rules specified in person, but they did specify that each party would have a COVID test before the debate, and Trump refused. So the logical response would seem to be if you won’t agree to testing, then you can’t appear in person.
Last I heard he’s had two negative results and his doctor said he was no longer contagious. Whether that’s to be believed or not is a different issue, but ‘officially’ he’s recently produced negative test.
I think that “pandering to Trump’s demands” would have been saying “Oh, sorry” and having a live in-person debate instead as Trump actually wants. Trump needs these debates far more than Biden does and canceling them removes a sorely needed chance to change the race. Holding a rally or town hall that night is fine but no real substitution for a debate – for one thing, a one person event only really attracts those already converted to your camp. A debate gets everyone watching.