Photo: Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, right, answers a question as President Donald Trump listens during the second and final presidential debate Oct. 22, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn.
Twelve news organizations on Sunday urged presumptive presidential nominees Joe Biden and Donald Trump to agree to debates, saying they were a “rich tradition” that have been part of every general election campaign since 1976.
While Trump, who did not participate in debates for the Republican nomination, has indicated a willingness to take on his 2020 rival, the Democratic president has not committed to debating him again.
Although invitations have not been formally issued, the news organizations said it was not too early for each campaign to say publicly that it will participate in the three presidential and one vice presidential forums set by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.
“If there is one thing Americans can agree on during this polarized time, it is that the stakes of this election are exceptionally high,” the organizations said in a joint statement. “Amidst that backdrop, there is simply no substitute for the candidates debating with each other, and before the American people, their visions for the future of our nation.”
ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, PBS, NBC, NPR and The Associated Press all signed on to the letter.
Biden and Trump debated twice in 2020. A third debate was canceled after Trump, then president, tested positive for COVID-19 and would not debate remotely.
Asked on March 8 whether he would commit to a debate with Trump, Biden said, “it depends on his behavior.” The president was visibly miffed by his opponent in the freewheeling first 2020 debate, at one point saying, “will you shut up?”
Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a letter this past week that “we have already indicated President Trump is willing to debate anytime, any place and anywhere — and the time to start these debates is now.”
They cited the seven 1858 Illinois Senate debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, saying “certainly today’s America deserves as much.”
The Republican National Committee voted in 2022 to no longer participate in forums sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. The Trump campaign has not indicated it would adhere to that, but did have some conditions. The campaign managers said the commission selected a “demonstrably anti-Trump moderator” in then-Fox News host Chris Wallace in 2020 and wants assurances the commission debates are fair and impartial.
The Trump campaign also wants the timetable moved up, saying that many Americans will have already voted by Sept. 16, Oct. 1 and Oct. 9, the dates of the three debates set by the commission.
The Biden campaign declined comment on the news organizations’ letter, pointing to the president’s earlier statement. There was no immediate response from the Trump campaign.
But on Saturday, Trump held a rally in northeast Pennsylvania with two lecterns set up on the stage: one for him to give a speech, the other to symbolize what he said was Biden’s refusal to debate him. The second lectern had a placard that read, “Anytime. Anywhere. Anyplace.”
Midway through his campaign speech, Trump turned to his right and pointed to the second lectern.
“We have a little, look at this, it’s for him,” he said. “See the podium? I’m calling on Crooked Joe Biden to debate anytime, anywhere, any place. Right there. And we have to debate because our country is going in the wrong direction so badly and while it’s a little bit typically early we have to debate. We have to explain to the American people what the hell is going on,” Trump said.
C-SPAN, NewsNation and Univision also joined the letter calling for debates. Only one newspaper, USA Today, added its voice. The Washington Post declined a request to join.
Certainly the broadcasters could use the juice that debates may bring. Television news ratings are down significantly compared with the 2020 campaign, although there are other factors involved, such as cord-cutting and the pandemic, that increased interest in news four years ago.
There were no Democratic debates this presidential cycle, and Trump’s refusal to participate in the GOP forums depressed interest in them.
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Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
2 thoughts on “News organizations urge Biden and Trump to commit to presidential debates during the 2024 campaign – Associated Press”
Oh come on, we all know Biden can’t talk, all he can do it read what Harris has written down for him. Biden not reading script is a total disaster. You already know that an open debate between Trump and Biden will never happen. What a joke he and the democratic party is. God bless, and keep Donald J Trump safe, healthy, strong and may he be elected as our next president in November.
Is there anyone on this green earth who can name just one thing that that is positive that Biden and the democrats have done? Not one thing, nothing but total destruction of the United States. With Biden’s record for the past four years the democrats know they are going to lose the election this November. They have set out to destroy everything, i.e. inflation, high interest rates, gas prices, illegals, stock market, crime, civil unrest, wars in other countries, homelessness, and more in the United States and if they should pull it off to win in November we can all kiss the way it was goodbye. We will be the new United States of China! Only a republican (Donald J Trump) has the fortitude to get us ALL out of this mess. Until then just CYOA because we are in for a bad ride.
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