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President Joe Biden and Donald Trump agreed to debate in June.
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Biden also trolled the former president.
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The president’s campaign is selling a t-shirt that mocks Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump agreed Wednesday to an unprecedented presidential debate in June. They later agreed to a debate in September.
The two candidates quickly accepted CNN’s offer to participate in a June 27 debate at the news network’s Atlanta studios. It will easily be the first major televised presidential debate in history. There will be no audience, something that has not happened for decades. Debate moderators were not immediately announced.
The September debate will be held on September 10th. ABC will host this debate.
Unlike other recent debates, CNN’s June event appears to air exclusively on the network’s platforms. While viewers can watch the contest on CNN.com without a cable subscription, there is no indication that the live debate will be broadcast on competing networks. By comparison, 16 networks aired live coverage of the first presidential debate of 2020. An estimated 73.1 million people tuned in, according to Nielsen Media Data.
Presidential debates are traditionally one of the most watched television events of the year, a rare exception to the almost universal dominance that sporting events have on the live television calendar. It remains to be seen how ratings will be affected if only CNN airs the debate.
Earlier in the day, Biden’s campaign proposed two presidential debates outside the traditional nonpartisan organization that has scheduled such contests for decades. Trump’s campaign accepted Biden’s offer, but responded that the pair should face each other more than twice. The former president’s team proposed 4 debates, floating potential debates in July and August.
Both sides agreed to also hold the traditional single vice-presidential debate.
Biden sells merchandise to troll Trump
Biden’s re-election team began selling a “Free Wednesdays” shirt to promote his debate proposal before Trump accepted the June proposal. The shirt is a not-so-subtle reference to Trump’s ongoing criminal trial in Manhattan. Trump has been in court most of the week and has fell asleep throughout the trial.
One of the few exceptions is Wednesdays, when Judge Juan Merchan has scheduled breaks in the proceedings.
“Trump is acting like he wants to debate the president,” says the item description. “We heard he’s free on Wednesdays. Let’s do it!”
The shirt costs $32 and is the latest example of a growing trend in which campaigns try to make money from merchandise to meet short-lived trends. Non-traditional merchandise can be profitable for campaigns; Trump’s 2020 re-election brought in more than $450,000 from plastic straw sales alone.
In accepting Biden’s broad invitation, Trump said the pair should meet more than twice. Traditionally, presidential candidates face off three times, including a town hall-style debate.
“I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is reportedly afraid of crowds — that’s just because he doesn’t understand them,” Trump wrote on Truth, his social media platform. “Just tell me when, I’ll be there. ‘Let’s get ready for the Rumble!!!'”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the third-highest-ranked challenger, is unlikely to join Trump and Biden next month. Third-party presidential candidates have historically struggled to make it to the debate stage since the Commission on Presidential Debates began imposing a voting limit in 2000. In addition to imposing a voting limit, CNN requires all participants to qualify for go to the polls in sufficient time for states to obtain 270 Electoral College votes. Kennedy is nowhere near that level.
This is the biggest change in presidential debates in decades.
The debate committee has been choosing venues and moderators for decades. Its power was once unquestionable, but Republicans and Democrats have become critical of the organization. The Republican National Committee formally withdrew from the commission in 2022. The Trump campaign reinforced this criticism by criticizing the group for not scheduling a debate until September.
The Biden campaign agreed with this criticism. In a letter to the commission, Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon went even further. She criticized the organization for moving away from what presidential debates were supposed to be about.
“The Commission’s model of building big shows with big audiences and at big costs is simply not necessary nor conducive to good debate,” wrote O’Malley Dillon. “Debates should be conducted for the benefit of American voters, watching them on television and at home – not as entertainment for an in-person audience with noisy or disruptive supporters and donors, who consume valuable debate time with noisy spectacles of approval or mockery.”
Read the original article at Business Insider
