Should Biden agree to more debates with Trump? Some Democrats say no after messy night
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will continue to debate President Donald Trump despite a chaotic first debate Tuesday night, his campaign confirmed.
“I don’t know how many different ways we can say it. Yes, we are going to do the debates,” Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said, according to The Hill. “I would imagine there will be some additional conversations [with the Commission on Presidential Debates]. But yeah, we are committing to attending the debates.”
Vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California, also said that Biden will continue to debate Trump in an interview with CNN.
“Joe Biden’s never going to refuse to talk to the American people,” Harris said when asked if the former Vice President should participate in future debates.
There are two more debates scheduled between Biden and Trump on Oct. 15 in Miami and Oct. 22 in Nashville. The first debate was filled with interruptions and falsehoods, with Trump continually going over his allotted time and flouting other debate rules, The Washington Post reported.
Chris Wallace, a Fox News anchor and debate moderator, at one point paused the debate to ask Trump to follow the rules agreed upon by his campaign.
“Mr. President, I am the moderator of this debate, and I would like you to let me ask my question and then you can answer it,” he said.
Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat, indicated he wasn’t sure if Biden should continue to debate Trump, Politico reported.
“I’m going to leave that to the campaign,” Coons said. “It was very hard to follow what was being said, and President Trump showed not just disrespect to the moderator, but to the American people who tuned in trying to figure out what his plans are.”
Simon Rosenberg, former senior consultant for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said there should be rule changes for the next debates.
“Of course, Biden and Harris should keep debating. But they should work to make sure Trump can’t repeat his performance tonight,” Rosenberg told Politico. “Moderators should have the ability to cut off his mic and split screens should be limited. Let them talk to the American people without the other facial expressions and interruptions registering.”
Robert Gibbs, former White House press secretary under President Barack Obama, said there should be “a plan for how this is going to work going forward including cutting off mics for interrupting,” according to The Hill.
“2020 is far too important to have to more episodes of that,” he said. “Because that was not a debate.”
The debate’s contentious moments included Trump’s refusal to condemn a white supremacist group, instead telling the far-right Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” Those comments reportedly drew praise from members of the Proud Boys.
Polls from CNN and CBS directly after the debate found Americans viewed Biden as the winner, although few were satisfied with the tone of the evening.
Critiques of the debate went beyond usual political circles. Jeremy Slater, writer of the highly-criticized movie “Fantastic Four,” said the debate was worse than his critically-panned film.
“That was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and I wrote FANTASTIC FOUR,” he posted on Twitter.
Trump’s reelection campaign has pushed for earlier and more debates, while Biden’s campaign reaffirmed its commitment to the original debate schedule of three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate, McClatchy news reported.
