WASHINGTON – Donald Trump's campaign says there will be more presidential debates between him and President Joe Biden to ensure more Americans have a “full chance” to see the candidates. It calls for the proposed showdown to begin as soon as possible. Act before you vote.
“While the Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced three presidential debates and a vice presidential debate later this year, we support these debates starting sooner.” Co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris Lacivita said in a statement. Thursday's letter.
More than 1 million Americans will likely have already voted by Sept. 16, when the first scheduled debate takes place, Wiles and LaCivita said. By the third debate on October 9, the camp predicted that number would jump to about 8.7 million. The second debate is scheduled for October 1st.
President Trump's advisers said the proposed calendar is “simply too slow” as more Americans vote early.
Bringing up the committee's schedule “will, and we would argue, ensure more Americans have ample opportunity to see the candidates before they begin voting.” to add There will be many more discussions in addition to the currently proposed schedule,” Wiles and Lacivita added.
They said the country “deserved” as many as seven presidential debates, citing the record numbers held by Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in the 1858 race for an Illinois Senate seat. .
Trump, who declined to participate in the Republican primary debate, said he was ready to face Biden “anytime, anywhere, anywhere” and would start “now.”
The letter comes amid speculation about whether the candidates will participate in traditional debates at all. Mr. Biden has not yet publicly committed to debating Mr. Trump in the general election, saying in March that “it depends on what he does.”
Trump and Biden only had two debates in 2020. When the committee changed from an in-person debate to a virtual one, President Trump withdrew from the debate (he was infected with the coronavirus at the time). It was not rescheduled. The Republican National Committee subsequently voted to withdraw from committee-sanctioned debates in 2022 and required candidates to pledge not to participate in debates.
Trump campaign attacks bipartisan commission founded by former RNC Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul Kirk for adding “additional structure” to debates did. The campaign criticized the committee for “cutting off” Trump's microphone on stage (the committee announced it would take similar action against both candidates after a chaotic first debate); “They chose a host who is clearly anti-Trump,” he said.
“In 2020, Americans were deprived of real, fulfilling debate,” Wiles and Lacivita said.
Mr. Trump had previously called for Mr. Biden to start the debate cycle earlier, a move the president objected to.
“If I were him, I'd want him to debate me,” Biden recently quipped to reporters in Nevada. “He has nothing else to do.”
