Let us just get this straight….
Donald Trump IS gonna show up for at least one debate against Joe Biden probably….
If the Democratic is ANYBODY else?
He’ll show up anytime they ask him to……
This is just another Trump bullshit throwout for media consumption (and his effort to change things to his liking by punching at things like he always does)….
A failure to show would make him the laughing stock of the world…
President Donald Trump on Monday appeared to pledge to participate in debates with his eventual Democratic opponent during next year’s general election campaign, but signaled he may circumvent the nonpartisan commission historically responsible for organizing the forums.
“I look very much forward to debating whoever the lucky person is who stumbles across the finish line in the little watched Do Nothing Democrat Debates,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “My record is so good on the Economy and all else, including debating, that perhaps I would consider more than 3 debates.”
But he went on to criticize the Commission on Presidential Debates, accusing the non-profit entity charged with producing the quadrennial televised events of being “stacked with Trump Haters & Never Trumpers.”
The president also slammed the commission — which has sponsored all general election debates since 1988 — for acknowledging in September 2016 following his first debate with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton that “there were issues regarding Donald Trump’s audio that affected the sound level in the debate hall.”
Trump had complained to reporters in the post-debate spin room and during an interview with Fox News that his microphone during the broadcast was defective.
“3 years ago they were forced to publicly apologize for modulating my microphone in the first debate against Crooked Hillary. As President, the debates are up … to me, and there are many options, including doing them directly & avoiding the nasty politics of this very biased Commission,” Trump tweeted Monday.
“I will make a decision at an appropriate time but in the meantime, the Commission on Presidential Debates is NOT authorized to speak for me (or R’s)!” he concluded.
The president’s posts came after a report last week by The New York Times stating that Trump had discussed with advisers potentially skipping the debates because of his qualms with the commission. The group said in a statement Monday that the “televised general election debates are an important part of our democratic process,” and defended its record as “one of fairness, balance and non-partisanship.”…
image…fortune.com
First, it is too early to say that Biden will “probably@ be the Democratic nominee when he is polling at less than 30%.
It is possible that Trump fears Biden more than some of the other candidates. But I think if there is one person in particular that Trump would want to debate, it would be Biden. Biden has not had a good debate yet despite probably preparing for them more than the other candidates. He gets confused on the stage and goes into unrelated tangents. I have to assume at this point that Biden won’t get better than what he has shown this year.
Sanders does a great job of delivering a consistent message in an effective manner.
Warren has generally done well in debates and she comes across as the most knowledgeable.
Buttigieg thinks on his feet better than the other candidates and gives focused responses.
I don’t have a strong opinion on how Bloomberg would do at this point because he has been rather invisible in public settings so far. I am confident though that could change as he gets more into campaign mode.
As I will reiterate,way too much emphasis is placed upon these debates.
From what I’ve read , Zreebs analysis above is correct.
Yet, Bidens lackluster performance hasn’t seemed to have hurt him at all.So, really. What’s the big deal?
Now we are going to be treated to a typical Trump performance of “debating the debates!”
I maintain the view that ,rather than the Kennedy-Nixon debates(which was the closest we have ever come to areal intellectually centered debate on the issues) ,modern day “debates” are essentially campaign spectacles complete with cheering fans and a coterie of media people desperately trying to one up each other with who has the best “gotcha” question.
There is no evidence they have any particular effect on the campaigns or the final results but they have become sort of an institutionalized ritual that we go through in the modern day campaign.
Let the show go on!