Trump Wants Debates Earlier, More Often to Preempt Early Voting
JIM WATSON,SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
The Trump campaign on Thursday demanded the debate commission to schedule debates early and often, citing the need to preempt early voting.
President Joe Biden is noncommittal about debating former President Donald Trump. Nearly three-fourths of voters believe if Biden skips the presidential debates, it shows “weakness,” a Fox News poll recently found.
Trump originally announced in March that he would happily confront Biden on his record, pledging to debate anytime, anywhere, and anyplace.
The Commission on Presidential Debates already announced potential dates, venues, and requirements for the confrontation:
First presidential debate:
Monday, September 16, 2024
Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
Second presidential debate:
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Virginia State University, Petersburg, VA
Third presidential debate:
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
In a Thursday letter obtained by Breitbart News, Trump's campaign asked the commission to schedule the debates more often and sooner.
“While the Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced three presidential debates and a vice-presidential debate to occur later this year, we are in favor of these debates beginning much earlier,” Trump co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita wrote the commission.
Wiles and LaCivita said the debates should begin earlier in the 2024 cycle than usual because “voting is beginning earlier and earlier, and as we saw in 2020, tens of millions of Americans had already voted by the time of the first debate.”
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“By the date of the first proposed debate, September 16, 2024, over 1 million Americans will have likely voted,” they said. “By the date of the second proposed debate, October 1, 2024, the number of Americans who will have likely cast a ballot will be over 3 million, an increase of 225%.”
Wiles and LaCivita estimated that by the third scheduled debate on October 9, “approximately 8.7 million Americans will have already voted.”
They continued:
In 2020, the Commission ceded to the wishes of the Biden campaign on every front, refusing to move up the dates of the debates, failing to reschedule the debate canceled by COVID-19, cutting off President Trump’s microphone over and over in the middle of a debate, and in the case of the first debate, selecting a demonstrably anti-Trump moderator clearly positioned to aid Joe Biden. Fairness in such a setting is paramount and the Commission must ensure that the 2024 Commission-sponsored debates are truly fair and conducted impartially.
The Commission must move up the timetable of its proposed 2024 debates to ensure more Americans have a full chance to see the candidates before they start voting, and we would argue for adding more debates in addition to those on the currently proposed schedule. We have already indicated President Trump is willing to debate anytime, anyplace, and anywhere – and the time to start these debates is now.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is also in favor of frequent debates.
“The RNC has long pushed for reforms that foster truly free and fair debates,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley & Co-Chairman Lara Trump wrote in a statement. “Election calendars have become longer than ever before — and scheduling debates after millions of Americans have already cast their ballots does a grave disservice to voters who want to hear solutions to the economic, border, and crime crises created by Joe Biden.”
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“It’s no wonder that Biden wants to return to the basement and avoid accountability for his failures, but Americans deserve to see the contrast between his weaknesses and President Trump’s vision to Make America Great Again,” they wrote.
Establishment media networks are eager to host debates. In an “unusual” open letter endorsed by ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News, the networks urged Biden to debate Trump, citing the need to reduce polarization, according to a draft version obtained by the Times.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
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