Will Biden and Trump face off in a presidential debate?No commitment yet

Washington: Nikki Haley is challenging Donald Trump to a debate. Trump is challenging Joe Biden to debate. Biden is mocking Trump, at least publicly.

But there are real doubts whether they will face off on stage this year.

Biden’s reelection campaign has repeatedly refused to commit to joining debates with Trump, his likely opponent in the November election. Trump, meanwhile, is at odds with the Republican National Committee and has refused to participate in its primary debates. In 2020, he opposed the rules of the nonpartisan commission that has hosted general election debates since 1976.

While any disputes could be resolved in the fall, the uncertainty reflects how Biden and Trump are increasingly choosing to reach out to voters in environments they control rather than conduct nonpartisan interviews or potentially face disapproval. Events for friendly questions. Both Biden, 81, and Trump, 77, have sometimes confused names and countries and face widespread skepticism among voters about their age and readiness.

There is also lingering animosity over how their debate went four years ago.

Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a longtime Biden confidant, noted that he was in the room for the chaotic September 2020 debate when Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden and the moderator Man Chris Wallace.

“That’s too bad,” Coons said, his voice low.

He then questioned whether this year’s general election debate was worthwhile.

“It’s hard to imagine because the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign have said they will have nothing to do with the Commission on Presidential Debates, and given his prior conduct, it’s hard to imagine it being productive,” Coons said. .” “But ultimately this is a judgment on President Biden.”

The debate is not mandatory but is considered a traditional test for candidates without aids or teleprompters. The first televised presidential debate took place in 1960 between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, but it was not until 1976 that the League of Women Voters It became a regular event only after sponsorship of presidential debates began. They are now sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, a nonprofit founded in 1987 that outlines the rules for each debate and selects the venue, date and moderator.

Frank Fahrenkopf, co-chair of the committee, said it was too early to completely rule out the prospect of a debate in 2024.

“There’s a history of candidates being unhappy,” he said. “Nevertheless, it has been a part of American culture since 1976. There is no doubt that the American people expect the men and women who want to be president of the United States to appear on stage, answer questions and debate.”

California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, a member of the Biden campaign’s national advisory committee, also said Biden and Trump should debate.

“They’re about democracy,” Khanna said of the debates. “It’s important for the American people to understand the candidates’ different visions. Certainly the president should debate in the traditional three fall debates, and Donald Trump should debate that and not be afraid of that.”

While many political observers are anticipating a Biden-Trump rematch, Haley is still trying to get the former president’s attention in the Republican primary. The former U.N. ambassador asked Trump to “act manly” in what she called “the ultimate mental competency test,” referring to tests he was given for dementia praecox and other cognitive impairments while in the White House. During her campaign, someone showed up to the event wearing an inflatable chicken costume and holding a sign that read “Trump is too chicken to debate.”

But the Republican National Committee stopped scheduling primary debates after the fourth debate in Alabama in December. The final one-on-one debate between Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was hosted by CNN on January 10 in Iowa.

Trump is urging Haley to drop out of the primary and mocking Biden. He called on Biden to start the debate now “for the good of the country” even though the election is still eight months away.

“I want to debate him now because we should debate. We should debate for the good of the country,” Trump said on “The Dan Bongino Show” last week, adding that Biden “can’t do that, Because he can’t speak.”

Biden responded with a smile: “If I were him, I would want to debate me too. He has nothing else to do.”

Biden’s staff has repeatedly refused to commit him to the debate. His campaign visited Alabama for a news conference ahead of the final Republican primary debate. Asked whether Biden himself would hold a debate in the fall, deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks said officials would “look at the schedule.”

“We’re going to have these conversations,” Fulks said. “But now,” Fulks added, “our focus is on ensuring we continue to build events and infrastructure that will be competitive in 2024.”

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the Republican 2012 nominee who participated in three debates against President Barack Obama, said Trump and Biden “certainly “It should be debated.

“This is a democracy in the United States of America. We need to hear from those who want to be president and see if they have the mental capacity to see where they stand on the issues,” Romney said. “It’s one thing to say you passed the proficiency test. But it’s another thing to actually have the American people listen to your debate. I want to hear what President Biden and President Trump have to say.”

Romney dismissed Trump’s hostility to the debate commission and the Biden campaign’s noncommittal stance on the debates as “excuses.”

“People are always making excuses for not wanting to debate,” Romney said. “But there are a few old people who don’t want people to see their age.”

In at least one instance — albeit in a key swing state rather than a national election — Democrats skipped a debate and won the election.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs declined to debate Republican Kari Lake in 2022, citing a history of spreading false information about the election that her staff labeled Lake “Conspiracy theorists”. ” Regardless, Hobbs won a tight contest.

In addition to speaking to cheering supporters at rallies, sometimes for two hours at a time, Trump has also sought to pursue viral moments — visiting fraternities before college football games, hitting up sports bars and regularly attending mixed martial arts events.

Biden, meanwhile, has been holding fewer large rallies, focusing instead on smaller events, such as recent stops at boba tea shops and home kitchens. His team believes this will be more effective in a changing media landscape because TikTok videos and Instagram Stories at these events can reach more voters than TV ads and speeches.

Patrick Stewart is a political science professor at the University of Arkansas who wrote a book called “The Audience Decides: Applause, Laughter and Catcalls During the Trump Era Debates.” He said the debate may be even more necessary in the era of deepfakes, in which artificial intelligence generates manipulated videos or digital representations.

“If I can continue to watch it in real time, I trust my eyes,” Stewart said. “That’s why they’re so important, because viewers can make their own decisions by watching the candidates.”

But Jacob Thompson, a 29-year-old firefighter and police officer from Knoxville, Tennessee, who recently attended a Trump rally in Las Vegas, said Trump really doesn’t need to debate again because voters are familiar with his views and platform.

“We all know the real Donald Trump. We are all very proud of him,” he said. “People are going to be offended by what he says. He says a lot of things that I wish he hadn’t said. My opinion, though, is based on what he did.”

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Gomez Licon reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper (Phoenix), Darlene Superville (Las Vegas) and Jill Colvin (New York) contributed to this report.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from Yonhap News Agency-The Associated Press)