CNN
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He and Joe Biden will appear on the debate stage before voters decide who will occupy the Oval Office next year, following a full court pursuit by President Donald Trump's campaign and its allies. We may be one step closer to talks.
Biden made his strongest commitment to a general election debate on Friday, telling Howard Stern in a wide-ranging interview that he would be “happy to debate” Trump.
“I'm — somewhere. I don't know when, but I'd be happy to discuss him,” the president said.
In response, President Trump said on Truth Social: “Everyone knows he doesn't mean it, but just in case he did, he said, “Anywhere, Anytime,'' an old expression used by Fighters. , I'd like to say, anywhere.''
The exchange comes after Republicans have been pushing for weeks to hold a debate.
This call was made in press releases, campaign memos, talking points to Republican agents, and interviews with allies. The core argument is simple. Mr. Trump wants a debate, and Mr. Biden owes it to the American people to join Mr. Trump on stage as soon as possible.
“Will Joe Biden debate? That's an unresolved question. Donald Trump has made it clear every time he takes to the stage that he will debate Joe Biden anytime, anywhere, anywhere.” A passage from a public memo issued Thursday by co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris Lacivita read.
The day before, Kellyanne Conway, Trump's 2016 campaign manager, said Vice President Kamala Harris would absolutely not discuss who Trump would choose as his running mate as soon as it was announced. argued that it should be done.
And in a brief that agents received earlier this month and obtained by CNN, the Republican National Committee told supporters that “President Trump is ready to debate anytime, anywhere, anywhere,” and that “Americans… “They deserve a full opportunity to see both candidates.” on the same stage before starting voting. Earlier this month, the Trump campaign sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates, arguing that the debates should be held early. There are no responses to this campaign yet. More than a dozen news organizations, including CNN, also published an open letter earlier this month urging Trump and Biden to participate in a televised debate.
The bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced last year that the event was scheduled to begin in mid-September.However, the campaign cycle has not yet reached the stage where commissions can be evaluated. Where are candidates voting and which candidates are voting? They are participating in a vote to decide who can take the stage.
Trump and his team should call for a debate now, even as Republicans seek to damage the president on immigration and economic issues while the former president spends most of his time in court. I think this is a ripe discussion.
People familiar with the debate told CNN that Trump's team wants to get the former president on the debate stage as soon as possible for a variety of reasons. Earlier this month, the campaign asked the Commission on Presidential Debates to hold this year's general election debate “sooner.” The official said the debate will be scheduled after early voting begins in some areas, so Trump can appeal to voters before making a decision.
Part of the strategy is to force Biden's team to make early decisions about the debates. I don't see any downside to Trump's team.
“[Biden’s campaign] “We need to have a discussion, but I don't think we'll be able to catch up with Trump, but we also won't be able to explain to the American people why we're hiding from Donald Trump,” the source said.
Trump's team expressed confidence in the former president's ability to excel on the debate stage.
“They may have gagged Donald Trump in a courtroom, but they can't gag him on a debate stage,” said Chris Lacivita, Trump's co-campaign manager. Ta.
Trump's debate attendance record is mixed. He enthusiastically attended nearly all of the 2016 Republican primary debates and all of the general election debates. In 2020, former presidents were absent from the second general election debate after the Commission on Presidential Debates announced it would be held virtually amid the coronavirus pandemic. The former president absented himself from all Republican primary debates this term. But now the Trump campaign is pushing back on the idea that Biden doesn't need to attend in the fall because Trump didn't attend the primary debate.
“You're comparing apples to oranges,” said one senior adviser.
Calling for an early debate could also help eliminate third-party candidates who could pose problems for both Trump and Biden. Candidates must meet certain criteria regarding ballot access, voting, and constitutional eligibility to participate in the general election debate. Trump and Biden are almost certain to qualify for the general election debate, but will third-party candidates like Cornel West or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. meet the eligibility requirements? It's unclear. The Commission on Presidential Debates will not decide who is eligible to participate in the debate until after Labor Day.
The official insisted that Trump would debate regardless of whether there was a third-party candidate on stage.
The Biden campaign is in no rush to commit to a specific date or format for the general election debate, a person familiar with the campaign's thinking said.
Mr. Biden's team has viewed Mr. Trump's recent debate enthusiasm with some skepticism.
About two years ago, the Republican National Committee voted unanimously to withdraw from the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which oversees general election presidential debates, citing bias. The reversal followed months of pressure by then-Chairman Ronna McDaniel on behalf of President Trump to change various practices. At one point, McDaniel threatened to “ban future Republican candidates from participating in CPD-sponsored debates.” (She was kicked out of her job earlier this year.)
But with Biden and Trump securing enough delegates to win their respective party's nominations, Trump called for the first debate the day before Biden's State of the Union address, and again earlier this month. . It is not clear to the Biden campaign what has changed since Republicans withdrew from the committee.
The official said the campaign does not view the debates as a deciding factor in the election, but rather that the overall efforts it is making to get its message to voters, along with efforts such as organization building, office openings and paid media. He said that he believes that this is just one part of the ongoing efforts. said the official. The Biden campaign has maintained a split-screen strategy in recent weeks, seeking to show the president governing and campaigning in battleground states while Trump spends much of his time in court. .
Biden has previously conditioned his debate with his predecessor, telling reporters last month that “it depends on what he does,” without providing further details.
“If I were him, I'd want to argue too. He doesn't have anything else to do,” he said in February.
The Biden campaign views the 2020 debate experience with Trump as ultimately a positive for then-candidate Biden.
Strategists and operatives who have advised statewide candidates and presidential candidates on debates say they remain important, even though debate viewership has fluctuated over the years. Says. Still, the value of holding these debates goes beyond whether voters tune in to see the candidates side by side in real time.
“I think they're important in this election because people have beliefs about what Donald Trump would do, what they think about what he's done as president, but they're not going to do it on stage. We need to hear and get a chance to compare that to Joe Biden's record. They're diametrically opposed,” said Sen. Mitt Romney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in a presidential debate. said Brett O'Donnell, a veteran Republican debate coach who prepared him for the event.
But Mari Will, another longtime Republican debate coach, said there is also an incentive for Biden and Trump to hold back this time.
“If I were to give advice to either of them, I would say, 'Why?' … I would say, 'Why argue?' So it's good for the country for voters to be involved. I know that, but I think voters are already very involved,” Will said. “I think most people have already pretty much made up their minds. You can only persuade a narrow group of people. And most of them are already leaning and will probably go home before the election. So, That just leaves you at risk.”
Will further added that there is a risk that a candidate will fail or perform poorly in some way, essentially fostering a negative perception that will temporarily dominate the media cycle. continued.
“From my point of view, most of the time it's not about the people watching. It's about the media coverage that lasts for two or three days after that. Sometimes you can create an ad after that,” Will said. I did. “I tell candidates it's mostly about the story. You bring up things that people in the media can't help but write about.”
But skipping all debates would break the decades-old tradition of general election candidates debating before the election. The first general election television debate took place in his 1960. His interregnum lasted until 1976, and since then candidates from his two opposing parties and, in some cases, candidates from a third party have begun to participate in general election debates.
