President Joe Biden challenged former President Donald Trump to a pair of debates on Wednesday, May 15. Trump accepted the offer just minutes later.
“Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020,” Biden said. “Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate. Now, he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Make my day, pal. I’ll even do it twice. So, let’s pick the dates, Donald. I hear you’re free on Wednesday’s.”
“I am willing and ready to debate crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds– that’s only because he doesn’t get them. Just tell me when, I’ll be there. ‘Let’s get ready to rumble!!’”
The back-and-forth continued with Biden offering a date for their first face off: June 27. According to CNN, a Trump campaign official said the former president accepted the offer. Later in the morning, Biden and Trump said they had agreed to another debate on Sept. 10 after being invited by ABC News.
Meanwhile, Biden wants to forego the way presidential debates have been held for decades, which have been organized by the Bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates since 1988.
Biden proposed two televised presidential debates with a moderator from the broadcast host’s “regular personnel” and firm time limits on answers, equal speaking time and microphones only active during the candidate’s turn.
Biden’s campaign chair, Jen O’Malley, said that the decades-old tradition by the commission is not working and indicated Team Biden preferred a small, crowd-less event.
“The commission model of building huge spectacles with large audiences at great expense simply isn’t necessary or conducive to good debate,” O’Malley wrote. “The debates should be conducted for the benefit of American voters, watching on television or at home– not as entertainment for an in-person audience with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors, who consume valuable debate time with noise spectacles of approval or jeering.”
The commission already arranged one vice-presidential debate and a series of three presidential debates. Those debates would begin on Sept. 16 and they would be carried by broadcast and cable networks.
Biden’s campaign requested only broadcast networks who hosted the Republican Primary debates in 2016 and the Democratic Primary debates in 2020 be eligible to host the first debate. That would mean only CNN, ABC News, Telemundo or CBS News would be able to host the debate.
Biden’s proposal excludes Independent Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy and all other third-party candidates from potential debates. Under the commission’s rules, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would not qualify nor would any third-party candidate currently because they need to poll at least 15%.
The commission currently organizing debates faced criticism from both parties in recent years. Biden’s campaign complained about a lack of COVID-19 protocols, like masks, at his first debate with Trump in 2020. Trump tested positive for COVID-19 three days after the debate.
The Republican National Committee also called the commission biased because it started the 2020 debates after voting began and cited its board members criticizing Trump and failing to consult Trump’s campaign on formatting issues.
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