Trump Begs Biden For More Debates, But Only If He Can Rig Them

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:03 pm

The Trump campaign is asking Joe Biden to do more than three debates, but only if Trump gets to choose the moderators for the debates.

Via The Washington Post:

President Trump’s campaign lobbied the presidential debate commission Thursday to schedule an additional contest between the president and former vice president Joe Biden this fall as Trump officials seek to cut his deficit in the polls.

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Trump representatives also argued that the two campaigns should have sway over debate moderators, rather than only the bipartisan debate commission, an argument that has previously been rejected by the organization’s chairman.

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“Six months after announcing he did not want to debate, Donald Trump — now trailing in the polls — wants to change the subject from his failed leadership, and launch a ‘campaign’ for many debates,” deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said in a statement. “But there’s a catch: he’ll only do it if he can pick the moderators.”

As a rule of thumb in campaigns, candidates who are winning don’t demand extra debates. It is uncertain why the Trump campaign wants more debates given that the President’s debate performances both in the primary and the general election were widely regarded as terrible.

The idea for more debates came from Rudy Giuliani, but the catch as the Biden campaign mentioned is that Trump will only do additional debates if he gets to pick the moderates, which means that Trump wants Fox News to hold a presidential debate moderated by Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.

Joe Biden doesn’t need more debates. As long as Trump remains the focus of the election, Biden will be favored to win in November. The Trump campaign is trying to use the debates to change the subject from the pandemic, failing economy, and the protests.

Trump is afraid to debate Biden with neutral moderators, but he knows that he is losing, which is why he wants more debates with rigged moderators.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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