The “will they or won’t they?” drama surrounding the possibility of presidential debates in 2024 took its latest twist on Wednesday, as President Biden issued a challenge to Donald Trump that the former president accepted.
Biden released a short video, saying “Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020, and since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate.” He boastfully said of the prospect of more debates this time, “Make my day, pal.” He also trolled Trump: “I hear you’re free on Wednesdays” — which is the one day of the week he isn’t in court in New York.
In a separate letter, the Biden campaign proposed two debates, which have now been slated for June 27 on CNN and for September 10 on ABC.
Team Biden doesn’t want the involvement of the Commission on Presidential Debates, doesn’t want an audience, doesn’t want RFK Jr. to participate, and wants the moderator to be able to cut off Trump’s mic if he interrupts Biden out of turn, as he did in the first debate of 2020. (Of course, Biden’s complaints on this are a bit rich given the way he constantly interjected and heckled Paul Ryan during their 2012 vice-presidential debate.)
Trump, in a post on Truth Social, with his usual bravado, accepted the challenge from “Crooked Joe Biden” and said he would do more than two. “Just tell me when, I’ll be there. ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!’”
Until Biden and Trump actually get on the debate stage, any planned debates could fall through. But for now, we are glad they are scheduled to occur.
Debates are an imperfect format, and recent cycles in particular have exposed the bias of the moderators. In 2012, CNN’s Candy Crowley notoriously came to the rescue of Barack Obama with a real time “fact check” of Mitt Romney in which Crowley got it wrong.
Still, it would be worthwhile for this year’s candidates to debate, as all presidential candidates have done since 1976.
Biden is an elderly individual suffering from noticeable signs of mental decline. There are serious doubts as to whether he is fit to serve a full second term, which would end with him at 86 years old. Voters deserve to see him stand up and take questions in an unscripted format in which he can be challenged by his opponent.
Trump, meanwhile, is no spring chicken himself. He skipped all of the debates during the primaries and did not have to answer many questions about what kinds of policies he would actually pursue in a second term. So far, his campaign has been dominated by his erroneous claims about the 2020 election having been stolen and his ongoing legal troubles, which currently include defending himself against the flimsy Alvin Bragg indictment surrounding hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels. Voters would benefit from seeing him in a debate setting having to field questions on substantive issues.
Barring something extraordinary, either Trump or Biden will be president next year. On net, holding a series of debates between them is a positive thing.