Why Trump Eagerly Accepted Unfair Debate Rules

[mystery-ak]

   
Why Trump Eagerly Accepted Unfair Debate Rules
He just wants to get Biden on stage so tens of millions of voters can get an unfiltered look at the man.
by David Catron
May 19, 2024, 10:35 PM

Any experienced negotiator knows that, if his opening offer is immediately accepted, he has given away too much. Consequently, it must have rattled President Biden’s handlers when former President Trump instantly agreed to their debate proposal, despite its extravagant demands concerning format and rules. The Biden team very likely expected Trump to balk at some of those preconditions, which would have enabled them to portray his frequently repeated offer to debate “anytime, anywhere” as an empty bluff. Instead, he gleefully exclaimed, “Let’s get ready to rumble.” Moreover, he proposed additional encounters beyond those offered by the Biden campaign.

Tellingly, Biden’s people have declined to allow their candidate to face Trump in any other venue or on any other date than they initially proposed — CNN on June 27 and ABC on September 10. Trump has accepted two other debates, including one jointly hosted by NBC News and Telemundo. Considering Biden’s sagging support among Latino voters, his team should leap at the chance to communicate with this crucial voter bloc. Yet Biden’s campaign chair characterized Trump’s interest in this debate as a dirty trick: “No more games. No more chaos. No more debate about debates.” This suggests that the Biden campaign believes it has more to lose than to gain from participating in further debates.

And they are probably right. This is why Trump isn’t worried about debate rules other than the one requiring his opponent to show up. It will not have been lost on the former president that Biden’s debate challenge was issued in a 14-second video riddled with jump cuts. That such a short video required so much editing doesn’t bode well for Biden’s ability to remain coherent for two hours on live television. Another reason the Biden campaign refuses to consider additional debates may well be that they are in denial about how badly they are really doing in the polls. The Wall Street Journal’s Edward Lawrence asked Democratic pollster and former Clinton advisor Doug Schoen about it and his answer was unambiguous:

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https://spectator.org/why-trump-eagerly-accepted-unfair-debate-rules/

[PeteS in CA]

It is very possible that LIEden's handlers thought Trump would balk and they could make campaign ads from that.

While Dems and Never-Trumpers portray Trump as an out of control crazy, he's actually rather smart. He could easily foresee how within LIEden's rules the CNN and/or ABC and/or CBS ImModerators could put their thumb on the debate scale and be prepared to turn the ImModerators's arrogance against them and LIEden. LIEden might have a handler or three who could foresee Trump being able to do that ... might.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Trump is a terrible "debater", but these aren't debates with judges determining who made the best technical presentation.   His rather chaotic presentation style would be well-suited to throwing Biden off scripted remarks.

Of course, I still believe the questions will be fed to his team before the debate, and he'll have rehearsed, scripted answers.

[massadvj]

Trump is actually pretty good in a forum where the questioners are antagonistic toward him. I remember his press conferences as president. He would hang in there, dish it right back, and stay for quite a while. The public will see that these debates are rigged in Biden's favor, so Trump would use that to his advantage, planting himself as the underdog who faces down the establishment without fear. I think he will do fine.

The people who think Trump is terrible at debates and other communication do not understand that the audience has the intelligence of an 11-year old. Trump communicates at that level, and the fact that he cannot be beaten in a primary suggests that he is not wrong in his approach.

[240B]

Trump agreed IMMEDIATELY, because he knows Biden will NEVER actually show up to any debate. No matter what.
That's why Trump keeps saying, 'I will be surprised if he makes it to the podium.'