The “there you go again” debate, right?
The consequences for not following CDC guidelines is that Trump got COVID. The consequences for that is that he can’t be in the room for a debate. If he doesn’t like the virtual format, no reason that the guy who DID follow CDC guidelines should be punished. Heck, they can move it back to being in person without Trump there.
I certainly hope that this is exactly what happens. Biden shows up, answers undecided’s questions, appears presidential, while our current president is out potentially starting up another superspreader event.
A town-hall type event should be conducted remotely in any case.
What would that even look like? How would we know the difference from his usual operational state?
He can’t infect people at the debate, so he opts for a rally so that he can infect even more people.
Is he trying to get Covid-19 renamed “Trumpis-19”?
Trump knows that Americans are supremely tired of COVID and are getting desperate for this all to be over.
His best shot right now is to downplay the virus and show us a light at the end of the tunnel. Even if the light is an oncoming train.
Pelosi is back to lighting up Trump to make him crazier than he already is:
I 
Nancy.
Would the debate still be held if Trump backed out? I can see the commission worrying about appearing partisan* if they give Biden an uncontested platform. Does it trigger the equal air time rule?
*Obviously, it isn’t partisan because both candidates have the opportunity to participate. But that might be an argument the commission isn’t interested in having.
No, it won’t. That’s why the Biden campaign used the language about finding another venue to take voter questions on that date. If Trump withdraws the event will be cancelled. Then he can decide if he wants to show up on the 22nd.
Trump is trying to get the second debate moved later (I guess hoping he can pass a COVID test and be symptom-free without the steroids by then), but the Biden camp is saying no dice at this point because it’s so close to the election and the dates were agreed to ages ago.
Reports out now that both parties agreed to postpone the 2nd debate until October 22, with the 3rd debate tentatively scheduled for the last week before the election.
I find that odd, and I’m not sure why Biden would agree to that. I guess he is very worried about any perception of “ducking” the debates. And I suppose the results from the first debate must have re-assured the campaign that they won’t help Trump in any meaningful way.
I’m just not sure why you would want to add any more events to the calendar that might meaningfully sway voters, particularly if you are winning. Perhaps I am too risk averse.
Moderators and moderation seems to be taking center stage in these debate conversations. More and more emphasis is being placed on the role of the moderator and whether or not they did their job well or not. Seems to me that candidates are becoming less and less inclined to follow rules of the debate or even answer questions asked. Moderators have been powerless to enforce rules or to keep responses on topic. This morning, the moderator said, “What I found interesting was the questions the candidates chose not to answer.” Really, Susan? You found that interesting? I bet people who watched the debate found that annoying and insulting to their intelligence. But as long as it kept your attention, Susan…
I guess my point is that I hope the next moderators are taking this in and are going to actually do their jobs.
I haven’t seen any indication that Biden has agreed to that; in fact, the latest news I can find says that his campaign rejected Trump’s reschedule demands:
The problem is that once the moderator says “Please Mr. President” or “Please Mr. Vice President” for the third time, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President realize that there are no actual consequences to breaking the rules and respond accordingly.
Where? The main news sites I’m looking at have recent stories saying that the Biden campaign swiftly rejected this proposal. And I can’t imagine why they would change that position.
Yeah, something’s not matching up. I saw it on 538, which said “President Trump has now agreed to participate in an in-person presidential debate on Oct. 22, an idea that the Biden campaign had initially proposed after Trump said he would not participate in the virtual debate scheduled for Oct. 15.” But their source link doesn’t say that, so I don’t know where they’re getting their info. The distinction might be that Biden originally proposed it, but now doesn’t agree.
I’m sure it’s not easy to moderate these maniacs. But there is room for improvement.
From the linked article:
“President Trump will have posted multiple negative tests prior to the debate, so there is no need for this unilateral declaration,” Stepien said in a statement. “The safety of all involved can easily be achieved without canceling a chance for voters to see both candidates go head to head.
In my mind I just pictured him saying next: “Here, give me a pen and I will write out a negative test result for each day until October 15 right now so you have them ahead of time.”
Wonderful. I do now see that they seem to have agreed to move the town hall to the 22nd, but no agreement at all about any additional debates after that. I guess we’ll see what shakes out over the next 24 hours.