The Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match has been rescheduled to November 15th at the suggestion of Tyson's medical team following news that his ulcer has recurred, but fans of the bloody sport won't have to wait too long for the epic battle.
On June 27, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will face off in the first of two scheduled debates on CNN, moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. As with any grudge match, organizers are carefully scrutinizing it, and the network is laying out a ton of rules and regulations to make sure everything goes smoothly. Well, as smoothly as possible.
Trump's “anytime, anywhere, anywhere” stance, which has seen him avoid debates thus far, has only heightened tensions that were already building leading up to his one-on-one with Biden. With Trump known for making outlandish statements whenever handed a microphone, CNN is hoping for a simple solution that would allow Biden to speak: a mute button.
According to The New York Times, the network's rules for the debate are as follows:
- There will be no opening statements.
- Biden and Trump will each have two minutes to answer questions, followed by one minute for rebuttals and responses to the rebuttals.
- A red light visible to the test taker will flash when there are 5 seconds left and turn solid red when time is up.
- When it is not your turn to speak, your microphone will be muted.
- He is prohibited from meeting with his advisers outside of broadcast hours.
- Candidates take the stage, without an audience, at a podium determined by a coin toss.
Writing it all out like this all seems reasonable, but once the cameras start rolling it's probably game on.
As the NYT points out, “After returning from fundraising trips in Europe and California, the Biden campaign has been devoting much of the final week before the debate to organizational preparations,” while Trump “has long favored a more free-flowing conversation, a more casual exchange of themes, ideas and one-liners among his advisers.” Reading between the lines reveals what many have already realized: the mute button does little to stop Trump from being Trump himself.
