Good question. First televised debate was between Nixon and Kennedy in 1960. To my knowledge, there have been such TV debated ever since between the Democratic and Republican candidates (sometimes more, as when Ross Perot participated in 1992 in at least one debate).
Edit: I stand corrected by Measure.
You may be right. but it would not be trump-like to outright refuse to debate. he will simply declare the rules to be unfair, demand changes no one will accept and then not debate. Now, trump is such a egomaniac that he might still debate- but if he refuses, those will be the reasons.
Now Trump is laying the groundwork for a loss to Biden during the debates by claiming he might throw it on purpose. The purpose of throwing the debate would be to lull the Democrats into a false sense of security ensuring they don’t select another candidate for 2024. One of the things I love about Trump is that he’s so predictable. No, I didn’t predict this specifcally, but when he’s not confident of victory he starts preparing his excuses ahead of time. He complained about rigged elections both before and after his victory in 2016, he started complaining about rigged elections in the months leading up to 2020, he complained about a rigged justice system in each of his various court cases.
Just yesterday I saw one of the Fox News goons hyping up the Hunter Biden conviction as proof thaf Joe is going to drop out at the convention and be replaced with Michelle Obama. It’s bizarre how they cling to certain ideas no matter how many times they fail to come true.
For Fox, it’s all about the ratings. They’re willing to spew just about any garbage so long as it keeps the ratings up.
I mean… have you guys been following the news from just the past week? Trump is frothing at the mouth like a mad dog, saying the craziest fucking shit. And this isn’t, “What a dick Trump is, how can he get away with it?” 2016-style purposeful trolling. This is implosion-caught-on-camera in real-time demented lock-him-up (in a prison, mental institution, or both) -type shit!
And he’s going to be debating Biden in a couple weeks? Yeah, right!
I can’t remember them all–they keep coming too fast.
You all know that he will come up with some condition such as always on mics that Biden just won’t accept and then complain that the debates are rigged against him. That is not a new prediction of course.
Both parties have already agreed to the rules and the debate is two weeks away. He’s running out of time if he intends to back out, which I remain sure he won’t.
I’m not sure, but, yes, the debate looks to be coming off. Trump will say it was run unfairly as an excuse for mediocre performance, not to get out it.
And I’m not sure Biden will beat Trump, in post-debate polling, as he did in 2020. Voters made up their minds, between Trump and Biden, a year or two back, and will say whomever they favor won the debate. We Democrats need RFK Jr in there to shake up the race, but he’s unlikely to qualify.
One of those parties is Trump, and his word isn’t worth shit.
The two major party candidates agreed to keep troll fake candidate RFK out:
RFK Jr. files complaint that CNN’s debate ‘colluded’ with Biden and Trump to keep him off the stage
And we need this dumbass to “shake up the race”? Not sure where to start with that.
But if he backs out now, he looks like a loser. And Convict Donald can’t stand looking like a loser.
Good.
A loser to who? He will claim that unreasonable demands were made, and the Trumpettes will believe him.
To himself. Like I’ve said before, he can come up with as many excuses for his cult as he wants, but he can’t spin his own feelings. He’ll have that voice in the back of his head saying “Everyone’s laughing at you” and he won’t be able to shake it. That’s why he keeps repeating his list of grievances any time he gets in front of a microphone - it’s to calm himself down, not for the benefit of his audience.
He will say that unreasonable demands were made and, because not getting what he wants is the very definition of “unreasonable”, he will believe his own bullshit.
He is not mentally capable of hearing that voice.
Consider the series of events:
IMO, Trump had the choice of looking like an insta-loser by refusing to debate Biden right after having challenged him, or looking like, yes, an excuse-making coward later when he drops out. If his instinct was that the latter was preferable, then I think he was right: time will have passed, somewhat diluting the L. It’s a somewhat mitigated self-own. He’s still going to look like a coward, however.
He’s gonna have to start a few weeks ago at the rate things are going. He’s had six weeks to try to set up an out and the only objection he’s made is an unserious mumble about making Biden take a drug test.
That voice is the ONLY thing he hears. Fear of being thought of as a loser is a major motivator for just about everything he does.
Jeez, he lost the 2020 United States presidential election, he lost a half-billion dollar civil lawsuit, he lost a criminal trial and was convicted on 34 counts—for a guy who doesn’t want to look like a loser, he sure looks like one.
I don’t care what he says between now and then, it seems to me that if he backs out for any reason (“Unfair rules! Biased media host!” etc.), then it will only hurt him. His hardcore base will still be with him, of course, but others might rethink their choices. Not necessarily for Biden, but to just not vote at all.
I think you’re absolutely right, but it’s still preferable to him to getting up on that debate stage. He knows that will be a massive L in slow motion.